SQL (Structured Query Language) - AND and OR Conjunctive Operators

The SQL AND & OR operators are used to combine multiple conditions to narrow data in an SQL statement. These two operators are called as the conjunctive operators.

These operators provide a means to make multiple comparisons with different operators in the same SQL statement.

The AND Operator

The AND operator allows the existence of multiple conditions in an SQL statement's WHERE clause.

Syntax

The basic syntax of the AND operator with a WHERE clause is as follows −

SELECT column1, column2, columnN 
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition1] AND [condition2]...AND [conditionN];

You can combine N number of conditions using the AND operator. For an action to be taken by the SQL statement, whether it be a transaction or a query, all conditions separated by the AND must be TRUE.

Example

Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example, which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS table, where the salary is greater than 2000 and the age is less than 25 years −

SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY 
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY > 2000 AND age < 25;

This would produce the following result −

+----+-------+----------+
| ID | NAME  | SALARY   |
+----+-------+----------+
|  6 | Komal |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy | 10000.00 |
+----+-------+----------+

The OR Operator

The OR operator is used to combine multiple conditions in an SQL statement's WHERE clause.

Syntax

The basic syntax of the OR operator with a WHERE clause is as follows −

SELECT column1, column2, columnN 
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition1] OR [condition2]...OR [conditionN]

You can combine N number of conditions using the OR operator. For an action to be taken by the SQL statement, whether it be a transaction or query, the only any ONE of the conditions separated by the OR must be TRUE.

Example

Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

The following code block hasa query, which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS table, where the salary is greater than 2000 OR the age is less than 25 years.

SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY 
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY > 2000 OR age < 25;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | SALARY   |
+----+----------+----------+
|  3 | kaushik  |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+----------+