2.2.4 Operators
This subsection lists and explains the operators that are available for use. It also explains how to specify class.property values to perform fuzzy searches.
- Organization of this subsection
(1) Available operators
There are three types of operators that you can use. A character string concatenation operator, which is a binary operator that joins two character strings; an assignment operator, which assigns the operation result on its right side to the value on its left side; and relational operators, which compare a class.property value or variable on the operator's right side to the one on its left side. The following table lists and describes the operators that are available.
|
Operator |
Description |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Binary operator |
+ |
Joins the character string immediately following it to the character string immediately preceding it. You can specify a constant, a variable, or an embedded function as the character string. If you specify an embedded function, the join operation is performed on the character string that the embedded function returns. You can also join several character strings by using more than one + operator, as in A+B+C. |
|
Assignment operator |
= |
Assigns the constant or operation result on its right side to the value on its left side. If you specify an embedded function, this operator assigns the value returned by the embedded function. |
|
Relational operators |
= |
Compares the value on its right side to the value on its left side, and returns a logical true if the values match. |
|
!= |
Compares the value on its right side to the value on its left side, and returns a logical true if the values do not match. |
|
|
> |
Compares the value on its right side to the value on its left side, and returns a logical true if the value on its left side is greater than the value on its right side. |
|
|
>= |
Compares the value on its right side to the value on its left side, and returns a logical true if the value on its left side is greater than or equal to the value on its right side. |
|
|
< |
Compares the value on its right side to the value on its left side, and returns a logical true if the value on its left side is less than the value on its right side. |
|
|
<= |
Compares the value on its right side to the value on its left side, and returns a logical true if the value on its left side is less than or equal to the value on its right side. |
|
|
<> |
This operator produces the same results as the != operator. It compares the value on its right side to the value on its left side, and returns a logical true if they differ. |
|
|
LIKE# |
This operator is used to specify condition expressions for performing fuzzy searches. It compares a character string on its right side that contains one or more wildcard characters to a class.property value on its left side, and returns a logical true if they match. For details about the wildcard characters that can be specified, see (2) Wildcard characters that can be specified in a condition expression of a fuzzy search, below. |
|
|
NOT_LIKE# |
This operator is used to specify condition expressions for performing fuzzy searches. It compares a character string on its right side that contains one or more wildcard characters to a class.property value on its left side, and returns a logical true if they do not match. For details about the wildcard characters that can be specified, see (2) Wildcard characters that can be specified in a condition expression of a fuzzy search, below. |
|
- #
-
Cannot be used in an [IF] tag.
(2) Wildcard characters that can be specified in a condition expression of a fuzzy search
Using the relational operators LIKE and NOT_LIKE, you can perform fuzzy searches on class.property values by specifying the % (percent) and _ (underscore) wildcard characters in the character string on the right side of the operator.
The following bullets explain how to use these wildcard characters.
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% (percent)
Finds character strings that contain zero or more instances of any character at the position specified. A few specification examples are given below:
-
To find character strings in class.property values that begin with ABC (leading match search), specify ABC%.
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To find character strings in class.property values that end with ABC (trailing match search), specify %ABC.
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To find character strings in class.property values that include ABC, specify %ABC%. This search condition finds character strings that include ABC anywhere in the character string.
-
-
_ (underscore)
Finds character strings that contain a single instance of any character at the specified position. For example, to find five characters that contain ABC beginning from the third character, such as AAABC, specify two contiguous underscores, as in __ABC. This specification also finds character strings such as BBABC and CCABC.
If you do not use either wildcard character % (percent) or _ (underscore) following LIKE or NOT_LIKE, the system searches for perfect matches. In this case, LIKE is equivalent to =, and NOT_LIKE is equivalent to !=.
- Note
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To find character strings that contain a percent (%) or underscore (_) character, specify a forward slash (/) immediately preceding the character, such as /% or /_. To indicate a forward slash (/), specify two contiguous forward slashes, such as //.