Comparison of Numeric and Nonnumeric Operands
Rules for numeric and nonnumeric comparisons are given in the following tables. If either of the operands is a group item, nonnumeric comparison rules apply.
Table 1 summarizes permissible comparisons with nonnumeric operands.
Table 2 summarizes permissible comparisons with numeric operands.
The symbols used in Table 1 and Table 2 are as follows:
- NN = Comparison for nonnumeric operands.
- NU = Comparison for numeric operands.
- NL = Comparison for national operands.
- NLN = Comparison for national and nonnational operands.
- DT = Comparison for date-time operands.
- Blank = Comparison is not allowed.
| FIRST OPERAND | SECOND OPERAND | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GR | AL | AN | ANE | NE, NNE | FC1 | NNL | DB | DBE | DA | TI | TS | NL, NLE | |
| NONNUMERIC OPERAND | |||||||||||||
| Group (GR) | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | ||
| Alphabetic (AL) | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NLN | |||||
| Alphanumeric (AN) | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NLN | ||
| Alphanumeric-edited (ANE) | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | |||
| Numeric-edited (NE) | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NU | NU | NU | |||
| Figurative Constant (FC1) | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NL4 | |||||||
| Nonnumeric Literal (NNL) | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NLN | ||||
| DBCS items (DB)3 | NN | NN | NLN 6 | ||||||||||
| DBCS-edited items (DBE)3 | NN | NN | |||||||||||
| Date (DA)3 | NN | NN | NN | NU | NN | DT | DT | ||||||
| Time (TI)3 | NN | NN | NN | NU | NN | DT | DT | ||||||
| Timestamp (TS)3 | NN | NN | NN | NU | NN | DT | DT | DT | |||||
| National (NL) | NN | NLN | NLN | NL5 | NL4 | NLN | NLN | NL | |||||
National-edited (NLE)![]() |
NN![]() |
NLN![]() |
NLN![]() |
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NL4![]() |
NLN![]() |
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NL![]() |
National numeric-edited (NNE)![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
NL5![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
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NU![]() |
NU![]() |
NU![]() |
NL![]() |
| NUMERIC OPERAND | |||||||||||||
| Figurative Constant ZERO (ZR) | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | ||||||||
| Numeric Literal (NL) | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NU | NU | NU | |||||
| External Decimal (ED)2 | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NN | NU | NU | NU | NN![]() |
||
| Binary (BI) | NU | NU | NU | ||||||||||
| Arithmetic Expression (AE) | NU | NU | NU | ||||||||||
| Boolean data item or Boolean Literal (BO)3 | |||||||||||||
| Internal Decimal (ID) | NU | NU | NU | ||||||||||
| Internal Floating-Point (IFP)3 | |||||||||||||
| External Floating-Point (EFP)3 | NN3 | NN3 | NN3 | NN3 | NN3 | NN3 | NN3 | ||||||
| Floating-Point Literal (FPL)3 | |||||||||||||
National Decimal (ND) 23![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
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NU![]() |
NU![]() |
NU![]() |
NN![]() |
| FIRST OPERAND | SECOND OPERAND | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZR | NL | ED, ND![]() |
BI | AE | BO | ID | IFP3 | EFP3 | FPL3 | |
| NONNUMERIC OPERAND | ||||||||||
| Group (GR) | NN | NN | NN2 | NN3 | ||||||
| Alphabetic (AL) | NN | NN | NN2 | NN3 | ||||||
| Alphanumeric (AN) | NN | NN | NN2 | NN3 | ||||||
| Alphanumeric-edited (ANE) | NN | NN | NN2 | NN3 | ||||||
| Numeric-edited (NE) | NN | NN | NN2 | NN3 | ||||||
| Figurative Constant (FC1) | NN2 | NN3 | ||||||||
| Nonnumeric Literal (NNL) | NN2 | NN3 | ||||||||
| Date (DA) | NU | NU2 | NU | NU | NU | |||||
| Time (TI) | NU | NU2 | NU | NU | NU | |||||
| Timestamp (TS) | NU | NU2 | NU | NU | NU | |||||
National numeric-edited (NNE)![]() |
NN![]() |
NN![]() |
NN2![]() |
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NN3![]() |
NL![]() |
| NUMERIC OPERAND | ||||||||||
| Figurative Constant ZERO (ZR) | NU | NU | NU | NU3 | NU | NU3 | NU3 | |||
| Numeric Literal (NL) | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU3 | NU3 | ||||
| External Decimal (ED) | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | |
| Binary (BI) | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | |
| Arithmetic Expression (AE) | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | |
| Boolean data item or Boolean Literal (BO)3 | NU3 | NU3 | ||||||||
| Internal Decimal (ID) | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | |
| Internal Floating-Point (IFP)3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | |
| External Floating-Point (EFP)3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | |
| Floating-Point Literal (FPL)3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | NU3 | ||||
National Decimal (ND) 23![]() |
NU![]() |
NU![]() |
NU![]() |
NU![]() |
NU![]() |
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NU![]() |
NU3![]() |
NU3![]() |
NU![]() |
National-edited (NLE)