MySQL SIGN Function

MySQL SIGN function is one of the Numeric Functions, which is to return the sign of the specified expression. And the return value is either Positive (+1), Negative (-1), or Zero (0). The basic syntax of it is as shown below:

SELECT SIGN(Numeric_Expression)
FROM Source

• If the Expression is Zero, it returns Zero as a result.
• If the Numeric_Expression is Negative Number, it returns Negative One(-1) as a result.
• And If the Expression is positive Number, it returns Positive One(+1).

To demonstrate this MySQL SIGN Numeric function, we are going to use the below shown data

MySQL SIGN Function Example

The MySQL finds and returns the sign of a specified value. The following query shows multiple ways to use this.

-- Finding for Negative Value
SELECT SIGN(-240.75) AS `SignValue`;

-- Finding for Positive Value
SELECT SIGN(125.267) AS `SignValue`;

-- Finding for Zero
SELECT SIGN(0) AS `SignValue`;

-- of string value
SELECT SIGN('125.274') AS `SignValue`;

-- Example on String
SELECT SIGN('MySQL') AS `SignValue`;

-- Example on NULLs
SELECT SIGN('NULL') AS `SignValue`;

From the screenshot below, you can see that we used it on different values.

and

MySQL SIGN Example 2

The MySQL SIGN Numeric also allows you to check the sign value for the column data. In this example, we are going to find the sign value for all the records present in the Service Grade column.

SELECT Product, Color,
		StandardCost, Sales, TaxAmt,
        ServiceGrade,
        SIGN(ServiceGrade) AS `Grade Sign`
FROM `numeric functions`;