Difference between IN and ANY operators in SQL

Question

What is the difference between IN and ANY operators in SQL?

Answer 1

IN - Equals to Anything in the List

ANY - Compares Value to Each Value Returned by the Sub Query.

ALL - Compares Value To Every Value Returned by the Sub Query.

For Example:

IN:

Display the Details of all the Employees Whose Salaries are Matching with the Least Investments of Departments?

 Select Ename, Sal, Deptno 
 from Emp 
 Where Sal IN (Select Min(Sal) 
               From Emp 
               Group By Deptno);

ANY:

< ANY Means Less Than The Maximum Value in the List.

Get The Details of All Employees Who are Earning Less Than The Highest Earning Employee Controlling Other Emp?

 Select Empno, Ename, Job, Sal 
 From Emp
 Where Sal < Any (Select Distinct MGR 
                  From Emp);

> ANY Means More Than The Minimum Value in the List.

Get The Details Of All Emps Who are Earning more than the least paid of Department 10?

 Select Empno, Ename, Job, Sal 
 From Emp
 Where Sal > Any (Select Min(Sal) 
                  From Emp 
                  Where Deptno 10);

=ANY is Equivalent to In Operator.

Note: SOME is also used instead of ANY.

Answer 2

SQL>
SQL> -- Use the ANY operator in a WHERE clause to compare a value with any of the values in a list.
SQL>

SQL> -- You must place an =, <>, <, >, <=, or >= operator before ANY.

SQL> SELECT *
  2  FROM employee
  3  WHERE salary > ANY (2000, 3000, 4000);

For In Operator

SQL> -- Use the IN operator in a WHERE clause to compare a value with any of the values in a list.
SQL> SELECT *
  2  FROM employee
  3  WHERE salary IN (2000, 3000, 4000);

But with the IN operator you cannot use =, <>, <, >, <=, or >=

Answer 3

IN - It is easy to understand. The query should select only those values which are specified in 'IN' clause. Now, let us understand 'ANY' with a query. ANY means it should be greater or less than any of the values in the list.

Assume a Orders table which has OrderID from 1 to 10

Observer the below query:
select OrderID from Orders
where OrderID < ANY (3,5,7)

The answer to above query is :
OrderID
1,2,3,4,5,6

Explanation :The query says find OrderIDs which are less than ANY of the specified values. So the database searches and includes OrderID as follows:
Is 1<3- Yes hence OrderID 1 is included
Is 2<3- Yes hence OrderID 2 is included
Is 3<3- No, is 3<5 -Yes (as 5 is specified value), hence OrderID 3 is included
Is 4<3- No, is 4<5 -Yes, hence OrderID 4 is included
Is 5<3- No, is 5<5 -No, is 5<7(as 5 is specified value)-Yes hence OrderID 5 is included
Is 6<3- No, is 6<5 -No, is 6<7-Yes hence OrderID 6 is included
Is 7<3- No, is 7<5 -No, is 7<7-No hence OrderID 7 is NOT included as no more values in specified list to compare
Is 8<3- No, is 8<5 -No, is 8<7-No hence OrderID 8 is NOT included as no more values in specified list to compare
Is 9<3- No, is 9<5 -No, is 9<7-No hence OrderID 9 is NOT included as no more values in specified list to compare
Is 9<3- No, is 9<5 -No, is 9<7-No hence OrderID 9 is NOT included as no more values in specified list to compare

---

Apply the same logic for greater than
select OrderID from Orders
where OrderID > ANY (3,5,7)

The answer to above query is :
OrderID
4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Answer 4

While using all

SELECT empno, sal FROM emp WHERE sal > ALL (2000, 3000, 4000);

 EMPNO        SAL

---

  7839       5000

It will return result equivalent to query:

SELECT empno, sal FROM emp WHERE sal > 2000 AND sal > 3000 AND sal > 4000;

While using any

SELECT empno, sal FROM emp WHERE sal > ANY (2000, 3000, 4000);

 EMPNO        SAL

---

  7566       2975
  7698       2850
  7782       2450
  7788       3000
  7839       5000
  7902       3000

Returns a result same as

SELECT empno, sal FROM emp WHERE sal > 2000 OR sal > 3000 OR sal > 4000;

Answer 5

ANY and ALL OPERATOR IN SQL SERVER 2008R2.

Using the > comparison operator as an example, >ALL means greater than every value--in other words, greater than the maximum value. For example, >ALL (1, 2, 3) means greater than 3. >ANY means greater than at least one value, that is, greater than the minimum. So >ANY (1, 2, 3) means greater than 1.

Similarly, >ANY means that for a row to satisfy the condition specified in the outer query, the value in the column that introduces the subquery must be greater than at least one of the values in the list of values returned by the subquery.

Answer 6

With ANY, you need an operator:

WHERE X > ANY (SELECT Y FROM Z)

With IN, you can't. It's always testing for equality.