MySQL SIGN() function

SIGN() function

MySQL SIGN() returns the sign of the argument.

The function returns 1 when the value of the argument is positive, returns -1 when the value of the argument is negative and return 0 when the value of the argument is 0.

This function is useful in -

• SIGN() provides a clear indication of the direction or polarity of a numeric value, helping users quickly understand if a value is positive, negative, or zero.
• In scenarios where you need to sort or rank values based on their sign, SIGN() provides a straightforward way to achieve this.
• In certain computations, especially those involving financial or scientific data, it's crucial to identify situations where a value might be negative or zero.
• SIGN() can be employed when performing statistical analysis to categorize data points into positive, negative, or zero groups, enabling more specific calculations.
• When performing operations like multiplication or division, the sign of the result depends on the signs of the operands.

Syntax:

SIGN(X);

Syntax Diagram:

MySQL Version: 8.0

Pictorial presentation of MySQL SIGN() function

Example of MySQL SIGN() function

Code:

SELECT SIGN(-145), SIGN(0), SIGN(145);

Explanation:

The above MySQL statement will return the sign of given numbers -145, 0 and 145.

Output:

mysql> SELECT SIGN(-145), SIGN(0), SIGN(145);
+------------+---------+-----------+
| SIGN(-145) | SIGN(0) | SIGN(145) |
+------------+---------+-----------+
|         -1 |       0 |         1 | 
+------------+---------+-----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

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