This page has 0 threads | Add post

Blogs

Finding our blogs useful? Please consider helping us to share more!

Using Criteria in SQL Queries Part two of a six-part series of blogs
When you write queries in SQL it's immensely useful to be able to show records matching criteria that you've set. You can do this using the WHERE clause and this blog teaches you how to use it! Using Criteria in SQL Queries Criteria Using Numbers (this blog) Criteria Using Text Date Criteria in SQL Server Using AND, OR and NOT in SQL Server Queries Using NULL in Criteria This blog is part of our online SQL tutorial blog - however, Wise Owl also run SQL courses for up to 6 people.

Using Criteria in SQL Queries

Part two of a six-part series of blogs

When you write queries in SQL it's immensely useful to be able to show records matching criteria that you've set. You can do this using the WHERE clause and this blog teaches you how to use it!

Using Criteria in SQL Queries
Criteria Using Numbers (this blog)
Criteria Using Text
Date Criteria in SQL Server
Using AND, OR and NOT in SQL Server Queries
Using NULL in Criteria

This blog is part of our online SQL tutorial blog - however, Wise Owl also run SQL courses for up to 6 people.

Posted by Andrew Gould on 16 January 2013

Criteria Using Numbers

Numbers are perhaps the easiest type of data for which to write criteria, which is why we're using them as a starting point.

Comparison Operators for Numbers

You can use a range of different symbols, known as operators, for comparing numbers: the table below shows you the main ones you're likely to use:

Operator	Alternative	What it means
=		Equal to
<>	!=	Not equal to
>		Greater than
<		Less than
>=	!<	Greater than or equal to (or not less than)
<=	!>	Less than or equal to (or not greater than)

The operator always sits between the two values you are comparing. For example, the query below compares the value of the FilmRunTimeMinutes field with the value 180:

SELECT

FilmName

,FilmRunTimeMinutes

FROM

tblFilm

WHERE

FilmRunTimeMinutes >= 180

The query shows all of the films whose running time is greater than or equal to 180:

The shortest film in this list is 180 minutes long.

Finding Numbers Within a Range

You can use the BETWEEN keyword to find numbers that fall between an upper and lower limit. The example below would find all of the films whose running time is between 90 and 100 minutes.

SELECT

FilmName

,FilmRunTimeMinutes

FROM

tblFilm

WHERE

FilmRunTimeMinutes BETWEEN 90 AND 100

A selection of the results from this query are shown below:

You can see from the diagram that films lasting exactly 90 and 100 minutes are included in the results of the query.

Finding Numbers in a List of Values

You can use the IN keyword to find records that match any values in a list of numbers. The example below looks for films whose running time is exactly 100, 150 or 200 minutes:

SELECT

FilmName

,FilmRunTimeMinutes

FROM

tblFilm

WHERE

FilmRunTimeMinutes IN (100,150,200)

Note that the list of numbers must be enclosed in a set of parentheses. The results of this query are shown in the diagram below:

There aren't any films with a running time of exactly 200 minutes.

What's Next?

Now that you've seen how easy it is to write criteria using numbers it's time to see a few of the quirks of writing criteria involving text.

Parts of this blog
Using Criteria in SQL Queries Criteria Using Numbers (this blog) Criteria Using Text Date Criteria in SQL Server Using AND, OR and NOT in SQL Server Queries Using NULL in Criteria

Some other pages relevant to the above blogs include:

This blog has 0 threads

Add a new post

Book any course as classroom, onsite or online training, or as one-to-one consultancy

Free resources

Paid services

Getting help

Where we are

Where you are

Online

Transparent reviews

Delivery of courses

Nicer to work with

Reliable and established

Our training courses

C#

Excel

MySQL

Power Apps

Power Automate

Power BI and DAX

Python

Report Builder

SQL

SQL Server

VBA Macros

Other training resources

Blogs

Exercises

YouTube tutorials

YouTube shorts

Test your skills

Consultancy

Courseware

Self-paced courses

Newsletters

Publications

Our training venues

London

Manchester

Across the UK

At your site

Online

Why we are different

Hundreds of published reviews

Small class sizes

Outstanding courseware

Online classroom

(Almost) no cancellations

Wise Owl trainers only

Genuine integrity

Invoices after training

30+ years of Wise Owl

Our top 100 clients

BLOGS BY TOPIC

BLOGS BY AUTHOR

Criteria Using Numbers

Comparison Operators for Numbers

Finding Numbers Within a Range

Finding Numbers in a List of Values

What's Next?

Head office

London

Manchester