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W3Schools
w3schools.com โ€บ sql โ€บ sql_null_values.asp
SQL NULL Values - IS NULL and IS NOT NULL
It is not possible to test for NULL values with comparison operators, such as =, <, or <>. We will have to use the IS NULL and IS NOT NULL operators instead. SELECT column_names FROM table_name WHERE column_name IS NULL; SELECT column_names FROM table_name WHERE column_name IS NOT NULL; Below is a selection from the Customers table used in the examples:
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MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org โ€บ en-US โ€บ docs โ€บ Web โ€บ JavaScript โ€บ Reference โ€บ Operators โ€บ null
null - JavaScript | MDN
typeof null; // "object" (not "null" for legacy reasons) typeof undefined; // "undefined" null === undefined; // false null == undefined; // true null === null; // true null == null; // true !null; // true Number.isNaN(1 + null); // false Number.isNaN(1 + undefined); // true
special marker and keyword in SQL indicating that something has no value
Null (SQL) - Wikipedia
NULL is a special marker used to indicate that a data value does not exist in the database. Introduced by the creator of the relational database model, E. F. Codd, SQL null โ€ฆ Wikipedia
Factsheet
Null (SQL)
Notation ฯ‰
Factsheet
Null (SQL)
Notation ฯ‰
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Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org โ€บ wiki โ€บ Null_(SQL)
Null (SQL) - Wikipedia
January 7, 2026 - In an Oracle RDBMS, for example, NULL and the empty string are considered the same thing and therefore 'Fish ' || NULL || 'Chips' results in 'Fish Chips'. Since Null is not a member of any data domain, it is not considered a "value", but rather a marker (or placeholder) indicating the undefined ...
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Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com โ€บ en-us โ€บ dotnet โ€บ framework โ€บ data โ€บ adonet โ€บ sql โ€บ handling-null-values
Handling Null Values - ADO.NET | Microsoft Learn
Use the IS NULL or IS NOT NULL predicate to test for a null value. This can add complexity to the WHERE clause. For example, the TerritoryID column in the AdventureWorks Customer table allows null values.
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org โ€บ sql โ€บ sql-null-values
NULL values in SQL - GeeksforGeeks
May 2, 2017 - Attribute Not Applicable: The value is undefined for a specific record. Setting a NULL value is appropriate when the actual value is unknown, or when a value is not meaningful.
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Tutorialspoint
tutorialspoint.com โ€บ home โ€บ sql โ€บ sql null values
Understanding SQL NULL Values
November 29, 2009 - The value is not yet known. Since the NULL values are basically non-existent, you cannot use comparison operators such as = , <, or > with them.
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DbSchema
dbschema.com โ€บ blog โ€บ tutorials โ€บ sql-null-values
SQL NULL Values Explained with Examples
Using = NULL instead of IS NULL: As mentioned earlier, = NULL does not work as expected. Always use IS NULL to check for NULL values. Treating NULL as an empty string or zero: NULL is a special marker and should not be confused with an empty string or zero.
Find elsewhere
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Biztory
biztory.com โ€บ blog โ€บ 7-things-you-should-know-about-null-values
7 Things to know about NULL values - Biztory | Biztory
October 25, 2025 - If a value appears suspiciously often or seems impossible; it might be an attempt to input NULL values. ... Just to name a couple of examples: I once saw a database where all of the customers who made a purchase before 2005 had an age of 27.
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freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org โ€บ news โ€บ a-quick-and-thorough-guide-to-null-what-it-is-and-how-you-should-use-it-d170cea62840
A quick and thorough guide to โ€˜nullโ€™: what it is, and how you should use it
June 12, 2018 - The basic rule is simple: null should only be allowed when it makes sense for an object reference to have 'no value associated with it'. (Note: an object reference can be a variable, constant, property (class field), input/output argument, and so on.) For example, suppose type person with fields name and dateOfFirstMarriage:
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Navicat
navicat.com โ€บ en โ€บ company โ€บ aboutus โ€บ blog โ€บ 1312-the-null-value-and-its-purpose-in-relational-database-systems
The NULL Value and its Purpose in Relational Database Systems
When writing queries, there are times that you'll want to filter out rows with NULL values. Other times, you'll specifically want to retrieve rows that contain NULLs. Here's how to do both: Queries can filter out nulls using the IS NOT NULL clause. Here's an example that excludes films from the Sakila database that contain a NULL original_language_id:
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MariaDB
mariadb.com โ€บ docs โ€บ server โ€บ reference โ€บ data-types โ€บ null-values
NULL Values | Server | MariaDB Documentation
When a table is created or the format altered, columns can be specified as accepting NULL values, or not accepting them, with the NULL and NOT NULL clauses respectively. For example, a customer table could contain dates of birth.
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DataLemur
datalemur.com โ€บ sql-tutorial โ€บ sql-null
Handling NULL Values | DataLemur
In the realm of databases, values ... Employee Records: In a human resources database, some employees might not have entered their emergency contact information yet, resulting in NULL values in that column....
Top answer
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In simple worlds you can say that Null is not a data value, but a marker for an unknown value.

So any mathematical operations performed on NULL will result in NULL. For example,

10 + NULL = NULL

Similarly if you do string concatenation with string you get:-

'String ' || NULL || 'Concatenation'   -- Result is NULL

So you can say that Null means either "not applicable" or "don't know": it is not the same as zero (0) or any other default value, but more importantly, null is treated quite differently from other values in SQL, because it literally has no value.

An example to explain what it means when we say that NULL means UNKNOWN VALUE:

StudentName TestResult
X             78
A             89
B             67
C             NULL

So you can see that the student C got NULL marks in the test. So what does that mean?

Now one can say that the student does not sit in the test or it may be that the student's data is not avaialable. But it definitely does not mean that the student got 0(as if you assign 0 to the student then it would mean that the student appeared in the test and got zero) marks in the test. All we can say that the data for the student is

UNKNOWN or NULL

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A field with a NULL value is a field with no value. It is very important to understand that a NULL value is different than a zero value or a field that contains spaces.

If a column in a table is optional, we can insert a new record or update an existing record without adding a value to this column. This means that the field will be saved with a NULL value.

NULL values are treated differently from other values.

NULL is used as a placeholder for unknown or inapplicable values. Read more about this here.

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Khoury College of Computer Sciences
khoury.northeastern.edu โ€บ home โ€บ kenb โ€บ MeaningOfNull.html
The Meaning of Null in Databases and Programming Languages
There are a number of variations on this. Here are a few of them: The value does exist somewhere, but the database does not have it. The value has not yet been determined, but it presumably will be determined at some point. For example, a customer has yet to make a decision about a feature.
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Modern SQL
modern-sql.com โ€บ concept โ€บ null
Modern SQL: NULL โ€” purpose, comparisons, NULL in expressions, mapping to/from NULL
For example, the SQL language itself uses the null value for the absent values resulting from an outer join.2 Although exceptions exist,3 it is not generally possible to tell why ...
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DB Vis
dbvis.com โ€บ thetable โ€บ the-definitive-guide-to-the-null-sql-server-value
The Definitive Guide to the NULL SQL Server Value
September 12, 2024 - For example, assume a column for a middle name is nullable. In this case, NULL values indicate that the person either does not have a middle name or this information has not been provided yet.
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Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com โ€บ en-us โ€บ dotnet โ€บ csharp โ€บ language-reference โ€บ keywords โ€บ null
null keyword - C# reference | Microsoft Learn
Console.WriteLine($"t.Equals(s) is {t.Equals(s)}"); // Equality operator also returns false when one // operand is null. Console.WriteLine($"Empty string {(s == t ? "equals" : "does not equal")} null string"); // Returns true. Console.WriteLine($"null == null is {null == null}"); // A value type cannot be null // int i = null; // Compiler error!
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MySQL
dev.mysql.com โ€บ doc โ€บ refman โ€บ 8.4 โ€บ en โ€บ null-values.html
MySQL :: MySQL 8.4 Reference Manual :: 11.1.7 NULL Values
For sorting with ORDER BY, NULL values sort before other values for ascending sorts, after other values for descending sorts.