General relation conditions

Format 1: general relation condition

operand-1

The subject of the relation condition. Can be an identifier, literal, function-identifier, arithmetic expression, or index-name.

operand-2

The object of the relation condition. Can be an identifier, literal, function-identifier, arithmetic expression, or index-name.

An alphanumeric literal can be enclosed in parentheses within a relation condition.

The relation condition must contain at least one reference to an identifier.

The relational operators, shown in Table 1, specify the type of comparison to be made. Each relational operator must be preceded and followed by a space. The two characters of the relational operators >= and <= must not have a space between them.

In a general relation condition, data items, literals, and figurative constants of class alphabetic, alphanumeric, DBCS, national, and numeric are compared using the following comparison types:

Table 2 and Table 3 show the permissible pairs for comparisons with different types of operands. The comparison type is indicated at the row and column intersection for permitted comparisons, using the following key:

Alph

Comparison of alphanumeric characters (further described in Alphanumeric comparisons)

DBCS

Comparison of DBCS characters (further described in DBCS comparisons)

Nat

Comparison of national characters (further described in National comparisons)

Num

Comparison of algebraic value (further described in Numeric comparisons)

Group

Comparison of alphanumeric characters involving an alphanumeric group (further described in Group comparisons)

(Int)

Integer items only (combined with comparison type Alph, Nat, Num, or Group)

Blank

Comparison is not allowed

For rules and restrictions for comparisons involving index-names and index data items, see Comparison of index-names and index data items.

Introduction to Table 2: This table is organized in the following manner:

• In the first column, under "Type of data item or literal", each row identifies a type of operand. In some cases, the type of operand references a grouping of operands that have common properties for comparison. For example, the row for "Alphanumeric character items" references all the types of operands that are listed in the cell, as follows:
  • Data items of category:
    • Alphanumeric
    • Alphanumeric- edited
    • Numeric-edited with usage DISPLAY
  • Alphanumeric functions
• Subsequent column headings refer to the type of an operand or a grouping of operands. For example, the column heading "Alphabetic and alphanumeric character items" refers to the types of operands identified as "Alphabetic data items" and all the types of operands that are grouped under the operand titled "Alphanumeric character items".
• Literals are listed as a type of operand only in the first column. They do not appear as column headings because literals cannot be used as both operands of a relation condition.