The case-sensitive != (not equals) string operator

Learn how to use the != (not equals) string operator to filter records for data that doesn’t match a case-sensitive string.

Filters a record set for data that doesn’t match a case-sensitive string.

The following table provides a comparison of the == (equals) operators:

Operator	Description	Case-Sensitive	Example (yields `true`)
`==`	Equals	Yes	`"aBc" == "aBc"`
`!=`	Not equals	Yes	`"abc" != "ABC"`
`=~`	Equals	No	`"abc" =~ "ABC"`
`!~`	Not equals	No	`"aBc" !~ "xyz"`

For more information about other operators and to determine which operator is most appropriate for your query, see datatype string operators.

Performance tips

T | where column != (expression)

Name	Type	Required	Description
T	`string`	✔️	The tabular input whose records are to be filtered.
column	`string`	✔️	The column by which to filter.
expression	scalar	✔️	The scalar or literal expression for which to search.

Rows in T for which the predicate is true.

StormEvents
| summarize event_count=count() by State
| where (State != "FLORIDA") and (event_count > 4000)
| project State, event_count

Output

State	event_count
TEXAS	4,701

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