DISPLAYS AS

All functions > COMPARISON > DISPLAYS AS

Returns TRUE if two values are not distinct, treating NULL values as comparable.

Syntax

expr1 DISPLAYS AS expr2  ·  expr1 IS NOT DISTINCT FROM expr2

expr1 DISPLAYS AS expr2  ·  expr1 IS NOT DISTINCT FROM expr2

Notes

• Unlike =, NULL is treated as comparable here (null-safe equality)
• NULL DISPLAYS AS NULL is TRUE (they are the same)
• value DISPLAYS AS NULL is FALSE when value is not NULL
• Nested NULL inside ARRAY/ROW is compared null-safely at every nesting level
• Both values must be of the same type (including matching ARRAY/ROW structure and field/element types)
• Opposite of NOT DISPLAYS AS
• SQL spelling IS NOT DISTINCT FROM is a separate operator/function pair (same semantics, preserves formatting)
• Prefer this over = for null-safe joins and filters; GROUP BY already uses DISPLAYS AS equivalence

Related Functions

• DISPLAYS_AS()

See also

• Operators

• NOT_DISPLAYS_AS

• IS_NOT_DISTINCT_FROM

Examples

DISPLAYS AS

SELECT
    -- Same values
    f1 := 1 DISPLAYS AS 1,
    -- Different values
    f2 := 1 DISPLAYS AS 2
;

NULL handling

SELECT
    -- Both NULL
    f1 := NULL::BIGINT DISPLAYS AS NULL::BIGINT,
    -- NULL vs non-NULL
    f2 := NULL::BIGINT DISPLAYS AS 1,
    -- Non-NULL vs NULL
    f3 := 1 DISPLAYS AS NULL::BIGINT
;

Other types

SELECT
    -- Same doubles
    f1 := 1e0 DISPLAYS AS 1e0,
    -- Both NULL doubles
    f2 := NULL::DOUBLE DISPLAYS AS NULL::DOUBLE
;

DISPLAYS AS — arrays and rows

SELECT
    -- Equal rows
    f1 := ROW(1 AS a) DISPLAYS AS ROW(1 AS a),
    -- Both NULL arrays
    f2 := NULL::ARRAY(BIGINT) DISPLAYS AS NULL::ARRAY(BIGINT),
    -- Nested NULL fields match (contrast with `=` → NULL)
    f3 := ROW(1::BIGINT, NULL::BIGINT) DISPLAYS AS ROW(1::BIGINT, NULL::BIGINT)
;