Comparison Operators

Used to compare expressions.

Syntax

result = expression1 comparisonoperator expression2

result = object1 Is object2

result = string Like pattern

Part	Description
result	Required; any numeric variable.
expression	Required; any expression.
comparisonoperator	Required; any comparison operator.
object	Required; any object name.
string	Required; any string expression.
pattern	Required; any string expression or range of characters.

Remarks

The following table contains a list of the comparison operators and the conditions that determine whether result is True, False, or Null:

Operator	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

Note The Is and Like operators have specific comparison functionality that differs from the operators in the table.

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 the result when either expression is not a Variant:

If	Then
Both expressions are numeric data types (Byte, Boolean, Integer, Long, Single, Double, Date, Currency, or Decimal)	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 the result 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.

When a Single is compared to a Double, the Double is rounded to the precision of the Single.

If a Currency is compared with a Single or Double, the Single or Double is converted to a Currency. Similarly, when a Decimal is compared with a Single or Double, the Single or Double is converted to a Decimal. For Currency, any fractional value less than .0001 may be lost; for Decimal, any fractional value less than 1E-28 may be lost, or an overflow error can occur. Such fractional value loss may cause two values to compare as equal when they are not.