The less than or equal to operator (<=) returns TRUE when a value is either smaller than or exactly equal to another value. It is useful when the boundary value should be included in the filtering condition.
Many business rules define a maximum allowed value. For example, a company may want transactions up to ₹10,000 or employees with salaries of ₹50,000 or less.
To find employees earning ₹50,000 or less, the <= operator can be used.
SELECT
EmployeeName,
Salary
FROM Employees
WHERE Salary <= 50000;The operator is useful for maximum limits, transaction monitoring, salary analysis, pricing rules, inventory thresholds, and date filtering.
- <= means less than or equal to.
- It includes the boundary value.
- It can be used with numeric values.
- It can be used with dates.
- It is useful for maximum-threshold conditions.
What does <= mean in SQL?
It means less than or equal to and includes the specified boundary value.
Does <= include the compared value?
Yes. The value is included when it is exactly equal to the specified limit.