7.2.3 Transpositions

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7.2.3.1 AND Relations

7.2.3.2 OR Relations

7.2.3.3 UNION Queries

7.2.3.4 NOT (<>) Relations

MySQL supports transpositions (reversing the order of operands around a relational operator) for simple expressions only. In other words:

WHERE - 5 = column1

becomes:

WHERE column1 = -5

However, MySQL does not support transpositions where arithmetic exists. Thus:

WHERE 5 = -column1

is not treated the same as:

WHERE column1 = -5

Transpositions to expressions of the form column = constant are ideal for index lookups. If an expression of this form refers to an indexed column, then MySQL always uses the index, regardless of the table size. (Exception: If the table has only zero rows or only one row, it is a constant table and receives special treatment. See Section 7.2.1.4, “Constants and Constant Tables”.)