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NULL in Expressions

NULL is not a value in SQL, but a state indicating that the value of the element either is unknown or it does not exist.It is not a zero, nor a void, nor an “empty string”, and it does not act like any value.

When you use NULL in numeric, string or date/time expressions, the result will always be NULL.When you use NULL in logical (Boolean) expressions, the result will depend on the type of the operation and on other participating values.When you compare a value to NULL, the result will be unknown.

Important

In SQL, the logical result unknown is also represented by NULL.

Consult theFirebird Null Guidefor more in-depth coverage of Firebird’s NULL behaviour.

Expressions Returning NULL

Expressions in this list will always return NULL:

1 + 2 + 3 + NULL
'Home ' || 'sweet ' || NULL
MyField = NULL
MyField <> NULL
NULL = NULL
not (NULL)

If it seems difficult to understand why, remember that NULL is a state that stands for “unknown”.