Operators
An operator is a symbol specifying an action that is performed on one or more expressions. Operators are used most often in DELETE , INSERT, SELECT, or UPDATE statements, but also are used frequently in the creation of database objects, such as stored procedures, functions, triggers, and views.
Operators typically fall into these categories:
- Arithmetic operators
Supported by all databases
- Assignment operators
Supported by all databases
- Bitwise operators
Supported by Microsoft SQL Server
- Comparison operators
Supported by all databases
- Logical operators
Supported by DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, and PostgreSQL
- Unary operators
Supported by DB2, Oracle, and SQL Server
Arithmetic operators
Arithmetic operators perform mathematical operations on two expressions of any datatypes in the numeric datatype category. See Table 2-2 for a listing of the arithmetic operators.
|
Arithmetic operator |
Meaning |
|
+ |
Addition |
|
- |
Subtraction |
|
* |
Multiplication |
|
/ |
Division |
|
% |
Modula (SQL Server only); returns the remainder of a division operation as an integer value |
Tip
In DB2, Oracle, and SQL Server, the + and - operators also can be used to perform arithmetic operations on date values.
Assignment operators
Except in Oracle, which uses :=, the assignment operator (=) assigns a value to a variable or the alias of a column heading. In SQL Server, the keyword AS may serve as an operator for assigning table- or column-heading aliases.
Bitwise operators ...
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