DAX Comparison Operators: Equal To, Not Equal To, Greater Than and Less Than

What Are Comparison Operators in DAX?

Comparison operators are used to compare values and return a Boolean result: TRUE or FALSE. They are commonly used inside functions such as FILTER to determine which rows should be included in the result.

Understanding the FILTER Function

Before exploring the comparison operators, let us understand the FILTER function used in these examples.

FILTER(
    <Table>,
    <Filter Expression>
)

Step 1: Table
Specifies the table from which we want to retrieve rows.

Step 2: Filter Expression
Specifies the condition that each row must satisfy.

Step 3: Return Result
FILTER returns a new table containing only the rows for which the condition evaluates to TRUE.

1. Equal To Operator (==)

The Equal To operator is used when we want to retrieve rows where a column value exactly matches a specified value.

Query

// 1. Equal To

EVALUATE
Customer

EVALUATE
    FILTER(
        Customer,
        Customer[Country-Region] == "Australia"
    )

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: EVALUATE Customer
The first query returns the complete Customer table. This allows us to view the original data before applying any filter.

Step 2: FILTER(Customer, …)
The second query uses FILTER to create a new table from the Customer table.

Step 3: Customer[Country-Region] == “Australia”
This is the filter condition. DAX checks whether the value in the Country-Region column is equal to “Australia”.

Step 4: Return matching rows
Only the customers whose country-region is Australia are included in the result.

What will you get?

The result will contain only the rows where Country-Region is Australia.

The example above is for illustration. Your actual result will contain the matching customers available in your Customer table.

2. Not Equal To Operator (<>)

The Not Equal To operator is used when we want to exclude rows that match a specific value.

Query

// 2. Not Equal To

EVALUATE
    FILTER(
        Customer,
        Customer[State-Province] <> "California"
    )

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: FILTER(Customer, …)
The query starts with the Customer table as the source.

Step 2: Customer[State-Province] <> “California”
DAX checks whether the value in the State-Province column is not equal to “California”.

Step 3: Return matching rows
Rows where the state-province is not California are returned.

What will you get?

The result will contain customers whose State-Province is different from California.

The example above is for illustration. Your actual result will contain the matching customers available in your Customer table.

3. Greater Than or Equal To Operator (>=)

The Greater Than or Equal To operator is used when we want to retrieve rows where a numeric value is greater than or equal to a specified number.

Query

// 3. Greater Than or Equal To

EVALUATE
    FILTER(
        Sales,
        Sales[Sales Amount] >= 5000
    )

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: FILTER(Sales, …)
The query uses the Sales table as the source.

Step 2: Sales[Sales Amount] >= 5000
DAX checks whether the Sales Amount is greater than or equal to 5000.

Step 3: Return matching rows
Rows with sales amounts of 5000 or more are returned.

What will you get?

The result will contain sales transactions where Sales Amount is at least 5000.

The example above is for illustration. Your actual result will contain the matching sales transactions available in your Sales table.

4. Less Than Operator (<)

The Less Than operator is used when we want to retrieve rows where a value is smaller than a specified number.

Query

// 4. Less Than

EVALUATE
    FILTER(
        Sales,
        Sales[Sales Amount] - Sales[Total Product Cost] < 0
    )

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: FILTER(Sales, …)
The query uses the Sales table as the source.

Step 2: Sales[Sales Amount] – Sales[Total Product Cost]
DAX calculates the difference between Sales Amount and Total Product Cost for each row.

Step 3: < 0
The result is compared with 0. The condition is TRUE only when the difference is negative.

Step 4: Return matching rows
Only rows where the calculated difference is less than zero are returned.

Understanding the calculation

Sales Amount - Total Product Cost < 0

The example above is for illustration. Your actual result will contain the matching sales transactions available in your Sales table.

Understanding the Difference Between the Operators

Important Notes

1. Comparison operators return TRUE or FALSE

Every comparison evaluates to a Boolean result. For example, 5000 >= 5000 returns TRUE, while 4500 >= 5000 returns FALSE.

2. Text values must be enclosed in double quotes

When comparing text values, use double quotes around the text.

Customer[Country-Region] == "Australia"

3. Numeric values do not require quotes

Numeric values are written directly without quotation marks.

Sales[Sales Amount] >= 5000

4. Comparison operators can be used with calculated expressions

In the fourth example, we are not comparing a single column directly. Instead, we calculate the difference between two columns and then compare that result with zero.

Sales[Sales Amount] - Sales[Total Product Cost] < 0

5. FILTER returns a table

Since FILTER returns a table expression, it can be used directly with EVALUATE to display the matching rows.

EVALUATE
    FILTER(
        Sales,
        Sales[Sales Amount] >= 10000
    )

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