VBA Not Equal to, Greater Than or Equal To & Other Comparison Operators

VBA allows you to use comparison operators to compare values. By using these operators, you can compare values and return a Boolean True or False as a result.

Main Comparison Operators in VBA

These are the main comparison operators used in VBA:

Not Equal To (<>)

The Not Equal to operator is <>. It checks if two values are not equal and returns TRUE or FALSE. It’s a combination of the Less Than and Greater Than operators.

This example will test if 5 does not equal 3 and return FALSE in a MessageBox:

MsgBox 5 <> 3

Cell Value Not Equal To

There are several ways you might compare numbers. In the previous example, we hard-coded 5 and 3 into our code. Let’s demonstrate two other ways to compare values.

This example will test if two cell values are not equal to each other:

MsgBox Range("A1").Value <> Range("B1").value

Another way to compare values is with Variables.

Sub NotEqualTo ()
  Dim intA As Integer
  Dim intB As Integer
  Dim blnResult As Boolean

  intA = 5
  intB = 6

  If intA <> intB Then
    blnResult = True
  Else
    blnResult = False
  End If

End Sub

In this example, we want check if Integer Variable intA is not equal to intB. If this is true, the value of Boolean variable blnResult will be True, otherwise, it will be False.

We use the <> operator in the If Statement to check if the values of intA and intB are different:

If intA <> intB Then
    blnResult = True
Else
    blnResult = False
End If

The value of intA is 5 and the value of intB is 6, the variables are not equal, therefore the blnResult returns True:

Equal To

The Equal to operator works exactly the same. It checks if two values are equal and returns True or False. Here is the example code:

Sub EqualTo ()
  Dim intA As Integer
  Dim intB As Integer
  Dim blnResult As Boolean

  intA = 5
  intB = 5 

  If intA = intB Then
    blnResult = True
  Else
    blnResult = False
  End If
End Sub

In this example, we want to check if intA is equal to intB. If this is true, the value of Boolean blnResult will be True, otherwise, it will be False.

First, we set values of intA and intB to 5:

intA = 5
intB = 5

After that, we use the = operator in the If statement to check if the values of intA and intB are equal:

If intA = intB Then
    blnResult = True
Else
    blnResult = False
End If

Both variables are equal to 5, therefore the blnResult returns True:

Greater Than / Less Than

The Greater Than (>) and Less Than (<) operators work exactly the same way.

Greater Than

MsgBox 5 > 3

Less Than

MsgBox 5 < 3

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Greater Than or Equal To / Less Than or Equal To

To test if a value is Greater Than or Equal To, combine the Equal To (=) operator and the Greater Than (>) / Less Than (<) operators.

Greater Than or Equal To

MsgBox 5 >= 3

Less Than or Equal To

MsgBox 5 <= 3

Let’s use Greater Than or Equal To in the same procedure we have been using:

Sub GreaterThanEqualTo ()
  Dim intA As Integer
  Dim intB As Integer
  Dim blnResult As Boolean

  intA = 5
  intB = 5

  If intA >= intB Then
    blnResult = True
  Else
    blnResult = False
  End If

End Sub

In this example, we want to check if intA is greater than or equal to intB. If this is true, the value of Boolean blnResult will be True, otherwise, it will be False.

We use the >= operator in the If statement to check if the value of intA is greater than or equal to intB:

If intA >= intB Then
    blnResult = True
Else
    blnResult = False
End If

In conclusion, as both variables are equal to 5, the blnResult returns True:

Is Operator

The Is Operator tests if two object variables contain the same object:

Sub CompareObjects()
Dim ws1 As Worksheet, ws2 As Worksheet
 
Set ws1 = Sheets("Sheet1")
Set ws2 = Sheets("Sheet2")
 
If ws1 Is ws2 Then
    MsgBox "Same WS"
Else
    MsgBox "Different WSs"
End If
 
End Sub

Like Operator

The Like Operator can be used to find inexact text matches. This example will test if a string starts with “Mr.”

Sub LikeDemo()

Dim strName As String
Dim blnResult As Boolean

strName = "Mr. Michael James" 

If strName Like "Mr*" Then
    blnResult = True
Else
    blnResult = False
End If

End Sub

If you want to learn how to compare strings, click here: VBA Compare Strings – StrComp

If you want to learn more about how to use logical operators, click here: VBA Logical Operators