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# Operators and literals

The operators available inside an expression, and how to write a fixed value.

| Operator                 | Symbol | Notes                                                                                                           |
| ------------------------ | ------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Plus                     | `+`    | Numeric addition or text concatenation. `Number('1') + Number('1')` is `2`; `'1' + '1'` is `11`. Not for dates. |
| Minus                    | `-`    | Not for dates.                                                                                                  |
| Multiply                 | `*`    |                                                                                                                 |
| Divide                   | `/`    |                                                                                                                 |
| Percent                  | `%`    | `12 + 10%` is `13.20` — adds 10% of the original value.                                                         |
| Parentheses              | `()`   |                                                                                                                 |
| Comma                    | `,`    | Separates arguments.                                                                                            |
| Equals                   | `=`    |                                                                                                                 |
| Not equal                | `<>`   |                                                                                                                 |
| Greater than             | `>`    | For dates use `After` instead.                                                                                  |
| Less than                | `<`    | For dates use `Before` instead.                                                                                 |
| Greater than or equal to | `>=`   | Not for dates.                                                                                                  |
| Less than or equal to    | `<=`   | Not for dates.                                                                                                  |
| Logical and              | `AND`  | Not case sensitive.                                                                                             |
| Logical or               | `OR`   | Not case sensitive.                                                                                             |
| Logical not              | `NOT`  | Not case sensitive.                                                                                             |
| Text concatenate         | `&`    |                                                                                                                 |

**Do not use `<`, `<=`, `>`, `>=` or `+` on dates.** They compare the text, not the date, so they give answers that look right until the day the format changes. Use `After`, `Before`, `BetweenDates` and `DateAdd`.

**Literals**

| Kind    | Written as                          |
| ------- | ----------------------------------- |
| Boolean | `TRUE` `FALSE` — not case sensitive |
| Number  | digits `0-9`, with `+`, `-` and `.` |
| Text    | `'text'` or `"text"`                |

There is no member access in the expression language — no dot operator — so a value's own type is never reachable from an expression.
