I am trying to pull all rows where two fields don't match. I understand that nulls are essentially "unknowns" and so have taken steps to define nulls as 0's. As below.
Select ifnull(field1, 0), ifnull(field2, 0)
from table
where field1 != field2
Can anyone tell me why this doesn't work? I still get no results even though i feel i am defining nulls as "0" with ifnull(field1, 0) correctly.
It doesn't work because that is how NULL values work in relational databases. Almost all comparisons return NULL, which is treated as false.
Also, what you do in the SELECT has no impact on the WHERE. The fields are still coming from the original table.
More importantly is what you can do. The simplest method is to use a NULL-safe comparison:
where not field1 <=> field2
Because 0 is inserted after and not before you select
Should be instead:
Select * from
((Select *,ifnull(field1, 0) new_field1, ifnull(field2, 0) new_field2
from table) As query)
WHERE new_field1 != new_field2;
You should move the IFNULL() down to the WHERE clause like this:
Select ifnull(field1,0) as 'Field1', ifnull(field2, 0) as 'Field2'
from table
where ifnull(field1,0) != ifnull(field2,0)
Related
I have a simple query that selects one field and only one row, thus one value.
Is there any way to make it return NULL if the query results in an empty set? Instead of returning zero rows?
I think I need to use something with NOT EXISTS, THEN NULL but not certain about it.
select
(Your entire current Select statement goes here) as Alias
from
dual
dual is a built in table with a single row that can be used for purposes like this. In Oracle this is mandatory. MySQL supports it, but you can also just select a single value without specifying a table, like so:
select
(Your entire current Select statement goes here) as Alias
In either case you're selecting a single value. This means that:
If your select returns one value, that value is returned.
If your select statement returns one column, but no rows, NULL will be returned.
If your select statement returns multiple columns and/or multiple rows, this won't work and the query fails.
An easy way to do this is with aggregation:
select max(col)
from t
where <your condition here>
This always returns one row. If there is no match, it returns NULL.
Late reply but I think this is the easiest method:
SELECT
IFNULL((SELECT your query), NULL)
Use a UNION with a NOT EXISTS(original where clause)
select col1
from mytable
where <some condition>
union
select null
where not exists (
select * from mytable
where <some condition>)
You can use COALESCE for example:
SELECT COALESCE(Field1,NULL) AS Field1 FROM Table1
Edit 1:
sorry i mistake with return field as null not result set,for result set return as null use Union and Exist Function like this:
SELECT NULL AS Field1 FROM Table1 WHERE not EXISTS(SELECT Field1 FROM Table1 WHERE Field2>0)
UNION
SELECT Field1 FROM Table1 WHERE Field2>0
These two MySQL functions do the same thing:
IFNULL(column_name, 'test') = 'test'
or
NULLIF(column_name, 'test') IS NULL
Which one is more efficient?
Purpose of NULLIF and IFNULL is not same, so performance comparison does not make any sense.
NULLIF is used to return null if the expression has a specific value, whereas IFNULL is used to return text if expression is null.
Example:
SELECT IFNULL(field,'empty') from table1;
Since null does not make much sense to end user.
insert into table1 (field) values (nullif(field,'empty'));
Since null has a special meaning in database.
They are both as efficient as each other - the functions have about the same overhead as each other.
But this is more efficient than either:
(column_name is null
or column_name = 'test')
Because the function doesn't need to be invoked.
You may find putting the more commonly encountered test first improves performance.
With questions like this, the simplest and more reliable way to discover relative performance is to just try them and compare query timings. Make sure you have production-sized and realistic-valued datasets so the test is fair.
they are used for different purpose, performance comparison doesn't make any sense.
select if(a,b,c); # a ? b : c # if a!=0 and a is not null then b else c
select ifnull(a,b); # a ? a : b # if a is not null then a else b
select nullif(a,b); # a=b ? null : a # if a=b then null else a
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/control-flow-functions.html
I have two fields that I'm comparing with MySQL's function COALESCE(). For example, COALESCE(Field1, Field2). The problem is, Field1 is sometimes blank but not null; since it's not null COALESCE() selects Field1, even though its blank. In that case, I need it to select Field2.
I know I can write a if-then-else (CASE) statement in the query to check for this, but is there a nice simple function like COALESCE() for blank-but-not-null fields?
SELECT IFNULL(NULLIF(Field1,''),Field2)
NULLIF returns a NULL if Field1 is blank, while IFNULL returns Field1 if it's not blank or NULL and Field2 otherwise.
I know I'm late to the party here, but there is a way to do this while still using COALESCE(). This would then work if your value was NULL or ''.
Select COALESCE(NULLIF(Field1,''), Field2)
You can use a CASE expression:
CASE WHEN Field1 <> '' THEN Field1 ELSE Field2 END
Use CASE, for comparing both NULL and Blank.
SELECT CASE
WHEN Field1 IS NULL
OR LEN(LTRIM(RTRIM(Field1))) < 1
THEN Field2
ELSE Field1
END;
For comparing blank, do not use '', use LEN, LTRIM, RTRIM. Sometimes, blank may be with more than one spaces.
I have a column called CODE in a MySQL table which can be NULL. Say I have some rows with CODE='C' which I want to ignore in my select result set. I can have either CODE=NULL or CODE!='C' in my result set.
The following query does not return a row with CODE as NULL:
SELECT * from TABLE where CODE!='C'
But this query works as expected and I know it is the right way to do it.
SELECT * from TABLE where CODE IS NULL OR CODE!='C'
My question is why does having only CODE!='C' does not return rows where CODE=NULL? Definitely 'C' is not NULL. We are comparing no value to a character here. Can someone throw some light as why it doesn't work that way?
In MySQL, NULL is considered as a 'missing, unknown value', as opposed to no value. Take a look at this MySQL Reference on NULL.
Any arithmetic comparison with NULL does not return true or false, but returns NULL instead., So, NULL != 'C' returns NULL, as opposed to returning true.
Any arithmetic comparison with 'NULL' will return false. To check this in SQL:
SELECT IF(NULL=123,'true','false')
To check NULL values we need to use IS NULL & IS NOT NULL operator.
Based on my tests and the documentation here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/comparison-operators.html
You can compare null and get a boolean result using <=>
NOTE: it looks like NOT EQ operator, but it's EQ operator
For example:
select x <=> y;
or
select #x <=> #y;
This also compares string vs null, string vs string, etc.
In SQL, the NULL value is a special value, not comparable with any other one.
The result of a direct comparison with a NULL is always NULL, although (unfortunately) you may find FALSE in some implementation.
To test a null value you should use IS NULL and IS NOT NULL.
SELECT *
FROM `table_name`
WHERE IFNULL(`column_name` != 'C', TRUE)
The specified problem can also appear in joins and the above answers aren't particularly helpful. The way I prefer to do it is by coalescing to otherwise impossible value. For example, this
select foo from bar
inner join baz on bar.x = baz.y
won't work if bar.x and baz.y are both nulls (join won't bring results). The workaround is to use e.g.
select foo from bar
inner join baz on coalesce(bar.x, -1) = coalesce(baz.y, -1)
where -1 is "impossible" value meaning it can never appear in the data set.
select * from user where application_id='1223333344' and name is null;
I use:
SELECT * from TABLE where NOT(CODE <=> 'C')
how to deal with NULL value in mysql where in CLAUSE
i try like
SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE field IN(1,2,3,NULL)
it not working
only work like :
SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE field IN(1,2,3) OR field IS NULL
how can i get it work in WHERE IN ? it is possible ?
There is a MySQL function called COALESCE. It returns the first non-NULL value in the list, or NULL if there are no non-NULL values.
If you for example run SELECT COALESCE(NULL, NULL, -1); you will get -1 back because it's the first non-NULL value.
So the trick here is to wrap your expression in COALESCE, and add a value as the last parameter that you also add in your IN function.
SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE COALESCE(field,-1) IN (1,2,3,-1)
It will only match if field is 1,2 or 3, or if field is NULL.
As by my understanding you want to pull every record with 1,2,3 and null value.
I don't think its possible to put null in the IN operator. Its expects values and null is well.. not a value. So You really have to put the OR with the null to get the desired result.
Maybe this information from the MySQL Reference Manual helps:
To comply with the SQL standard, IN returns NULL not only if the expression on the left hand side is NULL, but also if no match is found in the list and one of the expressions in the list is NULL.
Using UNION as a subquery in IN operator can get tableIds as a list and from that can get results with the NULL value.
eg:
SELECT * FROM
mytable
WHERE mytable.id IN(
SELECT mytable.id
FROM mytable
where mytable.field IS NULL
UNION
SELECT mytable.id
FROM mytable
WHERE mytable.field IN(1,2,3)
)
Following statement should help:
SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE COALESCE(field,0) IN (1,2,3,0)