Overview of Filter Operators

The operator you select when creating filters greatly impacts the data that's returned, so you should understand the functionality of each operator.

The types of operators available for a filter depend on the data type of the filter’s expression.

Filter Operators

Operator	Description
equals	The expression matches the value exactly, including case. When using this operator with menu fields, you can quickly find the menu item you want by entering the first few characters of the item’s name. Menu items that do not start with the text you type are removed from the list.
not equals (exclude No Value)	The expression does not match the value exactly, including case. This operator excludes any values of No Value (Null). For example, a report with a filter of field X not equals (exclude No Value) Y cannot return any records with a value of Y or No Value in field X. When using this operator with menu fields, you can quickly find the menu item you want by entering the first few characters of the item’s name. Menu items that do not start with the text you type are removed from the list.
not equals (include No Value)	The expression does not exactly match the value, or is No Value (Null). For example, a report with a filter of field X not equals (include No Value) Y cannot return records with a value of Y, but does return records with a value of No Value. When using this operator with menu fields, you can quickly find the menu item you want by entering the first few characters of the item’s name. Menu items that do not start with the text you type are removed from the list.
less than	The expression is less than the value.
less than or equals	The expression is less than or equal to the value.
greater than	The expression is greater than the value.
greater than or equals	The expression is greater than or equal to the value.
between	The expression is between two specified values. The between operator is available to use with date, currency, and numeric (integer and float) expressions. When using this operator with a date expression, records matching the beginning value’s date and time are returned, but those matching the ending value’s date and time aren't. This prevents records from being displayed twice on a report that's run once to view records created between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM, and run again to view records created between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM, for example.
like	The expression matches the value. This operator allows wildcard searching using an asterisk (*). For example, typing "*all*" will return values where the expression resides in any part of the value. Wildcards may also be used when searching on multiple words.
not like	The expression does not match any part of the value. Wildcard characters are supported.
not like or null	The expression does not match any part of the value, or is a null value. This operator isn't available in runtime selectable filters.
in list	The expression values you want to search for are specified by selecting check boxes in a menu. The selected options are displayed in a separate Selected Items list to assist you when selecting from menus with a large number of options. When using this operator with menu fields, you can quickly find the menu item you want by entering the first few letters of the value you want in the filter’s Search Text field. To view the menu options you have selected from a long menu list, click the splitter bar to the right of the list. When using this operator with integer fields, the numbers in the Value field must be comma-separated. When using this operator with text fields, the text strings in the Value field must be comma-separated and each text string must be offset by single quotes (for example, ‘red’,’green’,’orange’). Spaces between entries are ignored.
not in list	The expression values you do not want to search for are specified by selecting check boxes in a menu. The selected options are displayed in a separate Selected Items list to assist you when selecting from menus with a large number of options. This operator is available only with menu field expressions. When using this operator with menu fields, you can quickly find the menu item you want by entering the first few letters of the value you want in the filter’s Search Text field. To view the menu options you have selected from a long menu list, click the splitter bar to the right of the list. When using this operator with integer fields, the numbers in the Value field must be comma-separated. When using this operator with text fields, the text strings in the Value field must be comma-separated and each text string must be offset by single quotes (for example, ‘red’,’green’,’orange’). Spaces between entries are ignored.
is null	The expression has a null value. This operator isn't available in runtime selectable filters.
is not null	The expression does not have a null value. This operator isn't available in runtime selectable filters.
Complex Expression	The expression matches the beginning of the value. For example, if the expression is "all" this filter will locate values "all", "all hands", "allen", etc. This operator allows wildcard searching using an asterisk (*). You may instead search for the expression at the end of the value by typing "*all". This expression will locate values like "recall" or "one for all". Wildcards may also be used at both the beginning and end to find the expression in any part of the value or when searching multiple words.
Not Complex Expression	The expression does not match the complex expression in the value. The Not Complex Expression operator is available only with text field expressions.