Skip to content

ABAP Keyword Documentation →  ABAP - Reference →  Processing External Data →  ABAP Database Accesses →  Open SQL →  Open SQL - Read Accesses →  SELECT →  SELECT - WHERE →  WHERE - sql_cond 

sql_cond - Relational Operators

Other versions: 7.31 | 7.40 | 7.54

Syntax


... col1 operator {dobj} 
                | {col2} 

                |
{[ALL|ANY|SOME] subquery} ...

Effect

The relational expression compares the content of the column col1 with the content of one of the following operands, in accordance with the relational operator operator:

  • A host variable or a literal. The name of a host variable should be prefixed with the escape character @. The content of the operand should match the data type of the column in accordance with the rules for lossless assignments. This is checked by the strict modes of the syntax check from Release 7.40, SP08 and can raise an exception.
  • Another column col2 of a database table or view specified after a FROM In this case col2 must be specified using the column selector as data_source~comp or tabalias~comp.

The following table shows the possible relational operators.

operator Meaning
=, EQ True, if the content of col1 is the same as the content of the second operand.
<>, NE True, if the content of col1 is not the same as the content of the second operand.
<, LT True, if the content of col1 is less than the content of the second operand.
>, GT True, if the content of col1 is greater than the content of the second operand.
<=, LE True, if the content of col1 is less than or the same as the content of the second operand.
>=, GE True, if the content of col1 is greater than or the same as the content of the second operand.

Note the following when using these operators:

  • If the second operand is a column of a database table or view specified after FROM, the types and length of both operators must be equal; otherwise the result depends on the database system.
  • In greater than/less than comparisons with character-like columns, the result can depend on the code page used by the database system.
  • In the case of columns that contain nothing but a blank character, it is the platform that determines how this blank is saved:
  • In the SAP HANA database and in MaxDB a single blank is saved as an empty string and not as specified by the code page in question.
  • In all other database and in SAP buffering, a single blank is saved in accordance with the code page.
This means that the behavior produced when a value of this type is selected using size comparisons is determined by the platform and by buffering. More specifically, a single blank in the SAP HANA database and in MaxDB is not found in the interval of all possible characters.


Notes

  • Host variables without the escape character @ are obsolete. The escape character @ must be specified in the strict modes of the syntax check from Release 7.40, SP05.

  • The obsolete forms ><, =<, and => of relational operators may still appear outside of classes.

  • Size comparisons for character-like columns should be avoided to prevent platform-dependent behavior. An exception here are simple cases, such as columns that contain only digits.


Example

Gets flights with a seat occupancy that is less than the entered value.

DATA seatsocc TYPE sflight-seatsocc. 
cl_demo_input=>request( CHANGING field = seatsocc ). 

SELECT carrid, connid, fldate 
       FROM sflight 
       WHERE seatsocc < @seatsocc 
       INTO TABLE @DATA(sflight_tab).

Example

Gets overbooked flights.

SELECT carrid, connid, fldate 
       FROM sflight 
       WHERE seatsocc > sflight~seatsmax 
       INTO TABLE @DATA(sflight_tab).