comparing the varchar data type value

  • Hi,

    DECLARE @Name_1 varchar(50)

    DECLARE @Name_2 Varchar(50)

    SET @Name_1 = 'Shrideshi'

    SET @Name_2 = 'CheatExam'

    IF @Name_1 < @Name_2

    BEGIN

    SELECT '"Shirideshi" less than "cheat exam"'

    END

    ELSE

    BEGIN

    SELECT ' "shrideshi greater than "cheat exam" '

    END

    result :

    "shrideshi greater than "cheat exam"

    can any body explain me , how this out put comes when executing the code?

    thanks

  • I am not sure but it is comparing single character's ascii value from each variable one by one from lefttoright and when ever it will get greater result it will come out.

    so try like this.

    DECLARE @Name_1 varchar(50)

    DECLARE @Name_2 Varchar(50)

    SET @Name_1 = 'cheatexan'

    SET @Name_2 = 'CheatExam'

    IF @Name_1 < @Name_2

    BEGIN

    SELECT @Name_1 + ' less than ' + @Name_2

    END

    ELSE

    BEGIN

    SELECT @Name_1 + ' greater than ' + @Name_2

    END

    result will be

    cheatexan greater than CheatExam

    here n is coming after M so @Name_1 is greather than @Name_2

    and If you try with this.

    DECLARE @Name_1 varchar(50)

    DECLARE @Name_2 Varchar(50)

    SET @Name_1 = 'cheatexal'

    SET @Name_2 = 'CheatExam'

    IF @Name_1 < @Name_2

    BEGIN

    SELECT @Name_1 + ' less than ' + @Name_2

    END

    ELSE

    BEGIN

    SELECT @Name_1 + ' greater than ' + @Name_2

    END

    give result like this

    cheatexal less than CheatExam

    here L is coming before M so @Name_1 is less than @Name_2

  • Alphabetically 'S' is greater than 'C'

    If you think you're comparing the lengths of the strings, you're not. You need to use LEN to see the number of characters or DATALENGTH to see the length of the data (which can be different if you have unicode).

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
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  • So... which exam are you cheating on ?? 😛

    __________________________________________________

    Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. -- Friedrich Schiller
    Stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down. -- Stephen Stills

  • String manipulation is a basic and often used part of any programming language including TSQL. I'd recommend reading about collation as well as the String functions.

  • 😉

  • Thanks All..

  • To answer why you get the else select statement in the output,whenever you compare strings for less than or greater, the comparison occurs between the ASCII values generated for the string. In your example, the ASCII value for 'Shrideshi' is 83 and ASCII value for 'CheatExam' is 67. The comparison thus becomes if 83 < 67 print statement1 else print statement 2. As the comparison evaluates to false the else part statement gets printed.

  • Your code appears to use the ASCII character however, this previous answer looks incorrect. the ascii value for CHEAT = 67 and ascii value for CZZZZZZZZZZ=67

    if you do select ascii('Cheat') your result returns only the ascii values for the first character C which is 67

    the way i see it is as below

    select ascii('C')+ascii('h')+ascii('e')+ascii('a')+ascii('t')

    select ascii('c')+ascii('h')+ascii('e')+ascii('a')+ascii('t')

    so Cheat is < than cheat

    ***The first step is always the hardest *******

  • It's not a strictly ASCII sort. SQL can and will treat "C" and "c" as equivalents.

    __________________________________________________

    Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. -- Friedrich Schiller
    Stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down. -- Stephen Stills

  • Unless you have case sensitive collation for the database, the first thing SQL Server does on a string compare is convert both sides to upper case, then it compares the 2 strings. The the compare goes left to right converted byte by converted byte.

    Take this example:

    DECLARE

    @S1VARCHAR(50)

    , @S2varchar(50)

    SELECT @S1 = 'aaaa1', @S2 = 'AAAA2'

    IF @S1 > @S2

    PRINT '@S1 is greater'

    ELSE IF @S2 > @S1

    PRINT '@S2 is greater'

    ELSE

    PRINT 'They are equal'

    Lower case 'a' has a higher ASCII value than upper case 'A' yet the print will be @S2 is greater. If you change @S1 = 'aaaa2' then they will be equal.

    Todd Fifield

  • can you elaborate a bit more please if i search for the ascii value of c and C the values are different

    c=99 and C=67

    ***The first step is always the hardest *******

  • glen.wass (6/16/2011)


    can you elaborate a bit more please if i search for the ascii value of c and C the values are different

    c=99 and C=67

    Unless you have case sensitive collation for the database, the first thing SQL Server does on a string compare is convert both sides to upper case, then it compares

    I think he covered it pretty well. It does the same thing on a sort. Just accept that c = C, unless you have case-sensitive collation.

    __________________________________________________

    Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. -- Friedrich Schiller
    Stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down. -- Stephen Stills

  • Yes i have not noticed that thread until after i had replied 🙂

    ***The first step is always the hardest *******

  • You might as well refer to Grant's answer above as to what the answer in this case can be attributed to.

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