Documentation Source Text

	<LI><P>When two BLOB values are compared, the result is always
	determined using memcmp().</P>
</UL>

<P>SQLite may attempt to convert values between the numeric storage
classes (INTEGER and REAL) and TEXT before performing a comparison.
For binary comparisons, this is done in the cases enumerated below.

The term "expression" used in the bullet points below means any
SQL scalar expression or literal other than a column value.  Note that
if X and Y.Z are a column names, then +X and +Y.Z are considered
expressions.</P>
<UL>
	<LI><P>When a column value is compared to the result of an
	expression, the affinity of the column is applied to the result of
	the expression before the comparison takes place.</P>





	<LI><P>When two column values are compared, if one column has







	INTEGER or REAL or NUMERIC affinity and the other does not, 
        then NUMERIC affinity is applied to any values with storage
        class TEXT extracted from the non-NUMERIC column.</P>


	<LI><P>When the results of two expressions are compared, no




        conversions occur.  The results are compared as is.  If a string
        is compared to a number, the number will always be less than the
        string.</P>
</UL>

<P>
In SQLite, the expression "a BETWEEN b AND c" is equivalent to "a &gt;= b
AND a &lt;= c", even if this means that different affinities are applied to
'a' in each of the comparisons required to evaluate the expression.
</P>

	<LI><P>When two BLOB values are compared, the result is always
	determined using memcmp().</P>
</UL>

<P>SQLite may attempt to convert values between the numeric storage
classes (INTEGER and REAL) and TEXT before performing a comparison.


Whether or not any conversions are attempted before the comparison takes
place depends on the nominal affinity assigned to the expressions on
either side of the binary operator. Affinities are assigned to expressions
in the following cases:
<UL>
	<LI><P>An expression that is a simple reference to a column value
	has the same affinity as the column it refers to. Note that if X and Y.Z 
	are column names, then +X and +Y.Z are considered expressions.</P>
	<LI><P>An expression of the form "CAST(&lt;expr&gt; TO &lt;type&gt;)"
	is assigned an affinity as if it were a reference to a column declared
	with type &lt;type&gt;
</UL>


<P>Conversions are applied before the comparison as described below.
In the following bullet points, the two operands are
refered to as expression A and expression B. Expressions A and B may
appear as either the left or right operands - the following statements
are true when considering both "A &lt;op&gt;B" and "B &lt;op&gt;A".
<UL>
	<LI><P>When two expressions are compared, if expression A has
	INTEGER or REAL or NUMERIC affinity and expression B does not, 
        then NUMERIC affinity is applied to the value of expression B


	before the comparison takes place.
	<LI><P>When two expressions are compared, if expression A has
	been assigned an affinity and expression B has not, then the
	affinity of expression A is applied to the value of expression B
	before the comparison takes place.
	<LI><P>Otherwise, if neither of the above applies, no conversions
	occur. The results are compared as is. If a string is compared to a
	number, the number will always be less than the string.

</UL>

<P>
In SQLite, the expression "a BETWEEN b AND c" is equivalent to "a &gt;= b
AND a &lt;= c", even if this means that different affinities are applied to
'a' in each of the comparisons required to evaluate the expression.
</P>