Comparison Operators

Description

Used to compare expressions.

Syntax

result = expression1 comparisonoperator expression2
result = object1 Is object2
result = string Like pattern

Comparison operators have these parts:

Part	Description

result	Any numeric variable.
expression	Any expression.
comparisonoperator	Any comparison operator.
object	Any object name.
string	Any string expression.
pattern	Any string expression or range of characters.

Remarks

The Is and Like operators have specific comparison functionality that differs from the operators in the following table. The following table contains a list of the comparison operators and the conditions that determine whether result is True, False, or Null:

Operator	Description	True if	False if	Null if

<	Less than	expression1 < expression2	expression1 >= expression2	expression1 or expression2 = Null
<=	Less than or equal to	expression1 <= expression2	expression1 > expression2	expression1 or expression2 = Null
>	Greater than	expression1 > expression2	expression1 <= expression2	expression1 or expression2 = Null
>=	Greater than or equal to	expression1 >= expression2	expression1 < expression2	expression1 or expression2 = Null
=	Equal to	expression1 = expression2	expression1 <> expression2	expression1 or expression2 = Null
<>	Not equal to	expression1 <> expression2	expression1 = expression2	expression1 or expression2 = Null

When comparing two expressions, you may not be able to easily determine whether the expressions are being compared as numbers or as strings. The following table shows how the expressions are compared or what results when either expression is not a Variant:

If	Then

Both expressions are numeric data types (Integer, Long, Single, Double, or Currency)	Perform a numeric comparison.
Both expressions are String	Perform a string comparison.
One expression is a numeric data type and the other is a Variant that is, or can be, a number	Perform a numeric comparison.
One expression is a numeric data type and the other is a string Variant that can't be converted to a number	A Type Mismatch error occurs.
One expression is a String and the other is any Variant (except a Null)	Perform a string comparison.
One expression is Empty and the other is a numeric data type	Perform a numeric comparison, using 0 as the Empty expression.
One expression is Empty and the other is a String	Perform a string comparison, using a zero-length string as the Empty expression.

If expression1 and expression2 are both Variant expressions, their underlying type determines how they are compared. The following table shows how the expressions are compared or what results from the comparison, depending on the underlying type of the Variant:

If	Then

Both Variant expressions are numeric	Perform a numeric comparison.
Both Variant expressions are strings	Perform a string comparison.
One Variant expression is numeric and the other is a string	The numeric expression is less than the string expression.
One Variant expression is Empty and the other is numeric	Perform a numeric comparison, using 0 as the Empty expression.
One Variant expression is Empty and the other is a string	Perform a string comparison, using a zero-length string as the Empty expression.
Both Variant expressions are Empty	The expressions are equal.

Note

If a Currency is compared with a Single or Double, the Single or Double is converted to a Currency. This causes any fractional part of the Single or Double value less than 0.0001 to be lost and may cause two values to compare as equal when they are not. When a Single is compared to a Double, the Double is rounded to the precision of the Single.

See Also

Is Operator, Like Operator, Operator Precedence, Option Compare Statement.

Example

This example shows various uses of comparison operators, which you use to compare expressions.

MyResult = (45 < 35)    ' Returns False.
MyResult = (45 = 45)    ' Returns True.
MyResult = (4 <> 3)    ' Returns True.
MyResult = ("5" > "4")    ' Returns True.
Var1 = "5" : Var2 = 4    ' Initialize variables.
MyResult = (Var1 > Var2)    ' Returns True.
Var1 = 5 : Var2 = Empty
MyResult = (Var1 > Var2)    ' Returns True.
Var1 = 0 : Var2 = Empty
MyResult = (Var1 = Var2)    ' Returns True.