[RESOLVED] how do you write != in sql ?

[steamPunk]

how would i do this in correct syntax :

"SELECT * FROM comm_en WHERE client_id='$client_id' AND tmp!=''"

basically it's looking for non-empty fields

thanks

[benracer]

Some thing like...
"SELECT * FROM comm_en WHERE client_id='$client_id' AND tmp NOT LIKE '%whatever%'"

This is what is used in a search, The LIKE and the % round the word will not select any row (tmp column) that contains the word whatever even if it is in the middle of a sentence.

[laserlight]

Perhaps you are looking to write:

SELECT * FROM comm_en WHERE client_id='$client_id' AND tmp<>''

[steamPunk]

so if i did

"SELECT * FROM comm_en WHERE client_id='$client_id' AND tmp NOT LIKE ''"

then it should return all rows that are not like nothing - therefore must contain something ?? or am i barking up the wrong tree ?

[steamPunk]

laserlight wrote:

Perhaps you are looking to write:

SELECT * FROM comm_en WHERE client_id='$client_id' AND tmp<>''

i might be but i've never seen that one before - does <> mean 'nothing' ?

[laserlight]

It means "not equal to". I had the impression that != should also work though, but maybe that is SQL dialect specific.

[steamPunk]

i think you're right - I just tried again with != and it worked this time ....

when i tried that before I got a message saying i had a syntax error near !=

i assumed that was the problem but maybe it was something else

thanks anyway for your help

[Lars_Berg]

<>

is standard SQL.

!=

is a vendor specific extension.

[bradmasterx]

it works in sql for me im using mysqli though,
SELCT * FROM table WHERE acc!='admin'

works for me

[laserlight]

it works in sql for me im using mysqli though,

The MySQLi extension does not matter here. Lars Berg's point is that != is an language extension to standard SQL for MySQL and possibly some other SQL dialects.