How to compare values which may both be null in T-SQL

Question

I want to make sure I\'m not inserting a duplicate row into my table (e.g. only primary key different). All my fields allow NULLS as I\'ve decided null to mean \"all values

Answer 1

Use INTERSECT operator.

It's NULL-sensitive and efficient if you have a composite index on all your fields:

IF      EXISTS
        (
        SELECT  MY_FIELD1, MY_FIELD2, MY_FIELD3, MY_FIELD4, MY_FIELD5, MY_FIELD6
        FROM    MY_TABLE
        INTERSECT
        SELECT  @IN_MY_FIELD1, @IN_MY_FIELD2, @IN_MY_FIELD3, @IN_MY_FIELD4, @IN_MY_FIELD5, @IN_MY_FIELD6
        )
BEGIN
        goto on_duplicate
END

Note that if you create a UNIQUE index on your fields, your life will be much simpler.

Answer 2

Use ISNULL:

ISNULL(MY_FIELD1, 'NULL') = ISNULL(@IN_MY_FIELD1, 'NULL')

You can change 'NULL' to something like 'All Values' if it makes more sense to do so.

It should be noted that with two arguments, ISNULL works the same as COALESCE, which you could use if you have a few values to test (i.e.-COALESCE(@IN_MY_FIELD1, @OtherVal, 'NULL')). COALESCE also returns after the first non-null, which means it's (marginally) faster if you expect MY_FIELD1 to be blank. However, I find ISNULL much more readable, so that's why I used it, here.