This was intended as a meme but is actually a good representation of what "Null" is. In C#, when you declare string s = "My shit"; it means that "s" is a reference to a memory location that holds the data "My shit". string s = null; means that the reference "s" exists but it's not pointing to any object, as in it holds nothing. Answer from abd53 on reddit.com
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MariaDB
mariadb.com › docs › server › reference › data-types › null-values
NULL Values | Server | MariaDB Documentation
These are all valid values, and are not NULL values. 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.
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › sql › sql_null_values.asp
SQL NULL Values - IS NULL and IS NOT NULL
String Functions: Asc Chr Concat ... Plan SQL Bootcamp SQL Certificate SQL Training ... A field with a NULL value is a field with no value....
Discussions

What is Null?
This was intended as a meme but is actually a good representation of what "Null" is. In C#, when you declare string s = "My shit"; it means that "s" is a reference to a memory location that holds the data "My shit". string s = null; means that the reference "s" exists but it's not pointing to any object, as in it holds nothing. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/learnprogramming
60
34
July 5, 2024
What is NULL in SQL? - Stack Overflow
I am confuse about what is the value of NULL in SQL. NULL I think is empty. So will it contain any garbage value or unknown value or like 0 in integer or blank in character? More on stackoverflow.com
🌐 stackoverflow.com
What is the best way to handle null values?
The best way is to understand why it's null in the first place. Some null values are valid, some null values are supposed to be 0 or some default value, some field contains null values due to crappy data pipelines and can be recovered by getting data from the source. It's also best to study the null values distribution, does it occur randomly or there's a pattern? Are the fields correlated with another field such that the information can be represented by another field (if weight has too many missing values, can we use height as the input)? Can we study the impact of removing the field or adding the field to the training set? More on reddit.com
🌐 r/learnmachinelearning
6
3
October 9, 2023
Retrofit: Null value in Field is dropped on Put / Patch Request
If you're using gson as your converter factory then I believe you need to enable null serialization. GsonConverterFactory.create( GsonBuilder().serializeNulls().create() ) More on reddit.com
🌐 r/androiddev
5
3
May 22, 2021
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Tutorialspoint
tutorialspoint.com › sql › sql-null-values.htm
SQL - NULL Values
SQL uses the term NULL to represent a non-existent data value in the database. These values are not the same as an empty string or a zero. They don't hold any space in the database and are used to signify the absence of a value or the unknown value in a data field.
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Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com › en-us › dotnet › framework › data › adonet › sql › handling-null-values
Handling Null Values - ADO.NET | Microsoft Learn
September 15, 2021 - A null value in a relational database is used when the value in a column is unknown or missing. A null is neither an empty string (for character or datetime data types) nor a zero value (for numeric data types).
Top answer
1 of 5
3

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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Esri Support
support.esri.com › en-us › gis-dictionary › null-value
Null Value Definition | GIS Dictionary
The absence of a recorded value for a field. A null value differs from a value of zero in that zero may represent the measure of an attribute, while a null value indicates that no measurement has been
Find elsewhere
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DbSchema
dbschema.com › blog › tutorials › sql-null-values
SQL NULL Values Explained with Examples
August 22, 2023 - In other words, NULL signifies the absence of any value. The IS NULL operator in SQL is used to check whether a column value is NULL or not.
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Upwork
upwork.com › resources › articles › {name}
Null in Java: Understanding the Basics - Upwork
August 5, 2024 - In Java, null is a literal, a special constant you can point to whenever you wish to point to the absence of a value.
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Biztory
biztory.com › blog › 7-things-you-should-know-about-null-values
7 Things to know about NULL values - Biztory | Biztory
A NULL value is a special marker used in SQL to indicate that a data value does not exist in the database. In other words, it is just a placeholder to denote values that are missing or that we do not know.
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Logit
logit.io › blog › post › null-in-java
The Concept Of Null In Java
February 4, 2025 - Null is a reserved word (keyword) in Java for literal values. It is a literal similar to the true and false. In Java, null is a keyword much like the other keywords public, static or final.
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IBM
ibm.com › docs › en › rbd › 9.6.0
Null values and the nullable type
We cannot provide a description for this page right now
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freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org › news › a-quick-and-thorough-guide-to-null-what-it-is-and-how-you-should-use-it-d170cea62840
A quick and thorough guide to ‘null’: what it is, and how you should use it
June 12, 2018 - Technically speaking, the memory location assigned to the reference contains the value 0 (all bits at zero), or any other value that denotes null in the given environment. As we learned in the previous section, operations involving null are extremely fast and easy to perform at run-time. ... Initialize or set a reference to null (e.g. name = null): The only thing to do is to change the content of one memory cell (e.g.
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Safe
docs.safe.com › fme › html › FME-Form-Documentation › FME-Terminology › Confluence-Topics › null__NULL__Null___null_.htm
null, NULL, Null,
An attribute can be null, as can an FME parameter. In both cases, it means that “we don’t know, yet, what value this has.” Any data type can be null, including numeric, string, Boolean, and so forth. Null is not same thing as missing or empty.
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Tsql
tsql.nu › t-sql-code › what-is-null
What is NULL? – tsql.nu
October 31, 2019 - It can also be used to indicate that a value is UNKNOWN. I can usually understand which type of NULL is where. Sometimes I have to make an assumption, but usually I know if NULL means “MISSING” or “UNKNOWN”. That’s because I know the business requirements.
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Quora
quora.com › What-are-the-disadvantages-of-using-null-values-and-why-do-they-exist-in-programming-languages
What are the disadvantages of using null values, and why do they exist in programming languages? - Quora
Answer (1 of 2): A NULL value means “no value” in general. The exact definition depends on the language. “No value” is different from an empty string or a zero. Those are values.
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Code Like A Girl
code.likeagirl.io › the-mystery-of-null-values-why-they-matter-and-how-to-tackle-them-c0c06fe08248
The Mystery of NULL Values: Why They Matter and How to Tackle Them | by Luchiana Dumitrescu | Code Like A Girl
September 23, 2024 - When I first encountered the concept ... way to indicate that there is nothing. These small intruders ( NULL values) within our data represent missing or unknown data....
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › mysql › mysql_null_values.asp
MySQL NULL Values - IS NULL and IS NOT NULL
A field with a NULL value is one that has been left blank during record creation!
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Tableau
help.tableau.com › current › pro › desktop › en-us › datafields_specialvalues.htm
Handling Null and Other Special Values - Tableau
Alternatively, open the Analysis menu and select Special Values > Hide. If you've hidden the special values indicator and want to bring it back, open the Analysis menu and select Special Values > Show. A null value is a field that is blank, and signifies missing or unknown values.