select rows with column that is not null?

by default i have one column in mysql table to be NULL.

i want to select some rows but only if the field value in that column is not NULL.

what is the correct way of typing 开发者_如何学运维it?

    $query = "SELECT *
            FROM names
            WHERE id = '$id'
            AND name != NULL";

is this correct?

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You should use (assuming $id is an integer):

   $query = "SELECT *
            FROM names
            WHERE id = '" . (int) $id ."'
            AND name IS NOT NULL";

You must use IS NULL or IS NOT NULL when working with NULL values

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 AND name IS NOT NULL

(NULL comparisons require the special IS and IS NOT operator in SQL)