Arithmetic Operators

The arithmetic operators in MySQL work only on numbers, and not on strings. However, MySQL will convert a string as a number when in a numeric context if it can. If it can’t convert a particular string, it will convert it to 0. The arithmetic operators allowed are listed in Table B-1.

Table B-1. Arithmetic operators

Operator

Use

+

Addition

-

Subtraction and negation

*

Multiplication

/

Division

DIV

Division of integers

%

Modulo division

The minus sign may be used for subtracting numbers or for setting a number to a negative. The DIV operator converts values to integers and returns only integers. It doesn’t round fractions that would be returned, but truncates them.

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