{ "category": "Operators", "display_name": "Not equal to (<>)", "entry_kind": "built_in_operator", "eval_api": { "method": "POST", "url": "https://handbook.dnacalc.com/api/eval" }, "function_id": "FUNC.OP_NOT_EQUAL", "implementation_state": { "answer_bank": null, "detail": "Recorded: 5 workbook cells.", "dnacalc_commit": "9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87", "in_catalogue": true, "state": "matches", "state_label": "Matches every recorded Excel answer", "summary": "Matches all 5 recorded answers", "workbook_corpus": { "cells": 5, "matched": 5, "worst_ulp": 0 } }, "implementations": [ { "commit": "9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87", "flavour": "excel-compatibility-candidate", "language": "Rust", "name": "CalcFunc", "own_code": [ "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc/blob/9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87/crates/calc-func/src/catalogue/comparison.rs#L57-L57", "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc/blob/9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87/crates/calc-func/src/catalogue/comparison.rs#L115-L126" ], "repository": "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc", "shared_code": [ "catalogue/comparison::compare", "catalogue/comparison::Operand::kind", "catalogue/comparison::Operand::blank", "catalogue/comparison::order", "catalogue/comparison::overflow_numbers", "catalogue/comparison::numbers", "catalogue/comparison::in_band", "catalogue/comparison::Rounded::up", "catalogue/comparison::Roundings::of", "catalogue/comparison::Roundings::disjoint", "catalogue/comparison::texts", "catalogue/comparison/collation::compare", "catalogue/comparison/collation::weighed", "catalogue/comparison/collation::measured_iteration_extension", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::table", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::decode64", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::Reader::byte", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::Reader::varint", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::Reader::done", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::in_ranges", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::build", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::han_base", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::derive", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::shared_jamo_tails", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::ordinary_jamo_prefix", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::independent_jamo_suffix", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::jamo_leading_primary", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::leading_order", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::Before::separate_special", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::Gathered::kana", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::Gathered::unit", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::parts", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::diacritic_order", "catalogue/comparison/sort_key::diacritics", "decimal::low32", "decimal::Natural::from_u64", "decimal::Natural::pow10", "decimal::Natural::normalize", "decimal::Natural::is_zero", "decimal::Natural::mul_add_small", "decimal::Natural::times_pow10", "decimal::Natural::times_pow5", "decimal::Natural::times_pow2", "decimal::ExactDecimal::binary" ], "source": "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc/blob/9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87/crates/calc-func/src/catalogue/comparison.rs#L57-L57", "state": "matches", "suite": null, "summary": "Matches all 5 recorded answers" } ], "json_url": "https://handbook.dnacalc.com/api/functions/FUNC.OP_NOT_EQUAL.json", "name": "OP_NOT_EQUAL", "notes": [], "schema": "efh.function-reference/v1", "section_order": [ "what-it-does", "try-it", "quirks", "how-to-implement", "version-differences", "alternatives" ], "sections": { "alternatives": "\n### Relationships\n\n\n- [`FUNC.OP_EQUAL`](FUNC.OP_EQUAL.md) — the rules this page inherits.\n- `NOT` — `NOT(A=B)` and `A<>B` agree on values and differ in error handling only in that\n `NOT` will itself propagate the error it receives; both are error-transparent, but the\n rewrite is worth stating deliberately rather than assuming.\n- `COUNTIF(range,\"<>\")`, `COUNTIFS`, `SUMIF` — the criteria mini-language, where the bare\n string `\"<>\"` conventionally means \"not empty\". That is a criteria-parser convention\n belonging to those functions, not a use of this operator, and its rules differ.\n- `EXACT` — for case-sensitive difference, `NOT(EXACT(a,b))` rather than `<>`.\n\n\n", "how-to-implement": "\n### Notes for implementers\n\n\n- Implement `<>` as the negation of the *same* equality routine `=` uses, not as an\n independently written inequality. Two routines drift; one cannot.\n- Negate after the error check, never before. The error lane must short-circuit to the error\n value, or the operator will report `TRUE` for comparisons involving errors.\n- In the array case, negate per coordinate, leaving `#N/A` padding as `#N/A` rather than\n turning it into `TRUE`.\n\n\n", "quirks": "\n### Result and edge cases\n\n- **Different kinds.** Always `TRUE`, by the kind-ordering rule. A number is never equal to\n text that looks like it, so it is always unequal to it.\n- **Blank operands.** The context-sensitive blank rule of the family applies: blank behaves\n as `0` against a number, `\"\"` against text, `FALSE` against a logical. A blank cell is\n therefore *not* unequal to `0` and *not* unequal to `\"\"`, though `0 <> \"\"` is `TRUE`.\n Testing \"is this cell empty?\" with `<>\"\"` is consequently not a test for emptiness — it is\n a test that is also satisfied by numeric zero in the blank case, and `ISBLANK` is the\n function that means what the reader intended.\n- **Arrays.** Ordinary broadcast, `#N/A` for coordinates neither operand supplies.\n- **Errors.** Propagate; see above.\n\n\n\n### Errors\n\n\n| Error | Condition |\n|---|---|\n| any incoming error | Propagates unchanged, so `A<>B` is *not* guaranteed to be the logical negation of `A=B`. |\n| `#N/A` | Inside an array result only: a coordinate neither operand supplies. |\n\n`data/functions/FUNC.OP_NOT_EQUAL.json` records no Microsoft documentation URL (`docs` is\n`null`).\n\n\n", "sources": "- `data/presence/FUNC.OP_NOT_EQUAL.json` — implementing module\n `earlier-implementation/operator_compare_concat_family.rs`.\n- Handbook `content/model/01-value-universe.md`, `02-coercion-and-lifting.md`,\n `03-call-pipeline.md`, and this Handbook's [`FUNC.OP_EQUAL`](FUNC.OP_EQUAL.md) page for the\n three comparison rules.\n\n", "version-differences": "No comparison between specific Excel builds is recorded here yet. This does not establish that all builds behave alike.", "what-it-does": "\n`A <> B` returns `TRUE` when the operands are *not* equal under Excel's comparison rules, and\n`FALSE` when they are.\n\nThe spelling is `<>`, not `!=` and not `≠`. Excel's grammar admits only the two-character\nform.\n\n\n\n### Arguments\n\n\n| Position | Name | Meaning |\n|---|---|---|\n| 0 | `A` | Left operand. Required. |\n| 1 | `B` | Right operand. Required. |\n\nArity is exactly 2; no optional arguments, no defaults. Symmetric in value, but the operand\npositions still set broadcast orientation for array operands.\n\n\n" }, "signature": { "display": "value1 <> value2", "parameters": [ { "description": null, "name": "value1", "optional": false, "repeats": false }, { "description": null, "name": "value2", "optional": false, "repeats": false } ], "trailing_repeats": false }, "sources": { "metadata": { "admission": { "label": "implemented", "reason": null }, "arity": { "max": 2, "min": 2 }, "category": "Operators", "classification": { "arg_preparation_profile": "ValuesOnlyPreAdapter", "coercion_lift_profile": "Custom", "determinism_class": "Deterministic", "error_collapse_profile": "None", "fec_dependency_profile": "None", "host_interaction_class": "None", "kernel_signature_class": "Custom", "rich_value_usage": "RichBlind", "surface_fec_dependency_profile": "RefOnly", "thread_safety_class": "SafePure", "volatility_class": "NonVolatile" }, "descriptions": { "long": null, "short": null, "short_source": "no-short-description" }, "docs": null, "entry_kind": "built_in_operator", "localized_family_names": null, "localized_names": [], "signature": { "display": "value1 <> value2", "parameters": [ { "description": null, "name": "value1", "optional": false, "repeats": false }, { "description": null, "name": "value2", "optional": false, "repeats": false } ], "trailing_repeats": false }, "surface_name": "OP_NOT_EQUAL", "version_marker": null, "xlcall": null }, "microsoft": null }, "try_it": { "formula": "=1<>2" }, "url": "https://handbook.dnacalc.com/functions/OP_NOT_EQUAL.html", "variants": [], "versions": [] }