What does WHERE column <> badValue do in SQL?

• A. Includes only rows where column equals badValue.
• B. Excludes rows where column equals badValue.
• C. Deletes rows where column equals badValue.
• D. Counts the number of rows with non-equal values.

Answer: (B)

Filtering rows with a not-equal comparison. In SQL, the WHERE clause limits results to rows that satisfy the given condition, and the operator not equal means the value in the column must differ from badValue. So you’ll get every row where the column is anything except badValue. It excludes rows where the column equals badValue, and it doesn’t delete anything by itself or count rows—that would require a DELETE statement or a COUNT function, respectively. Keep in mind, if the column is NULL, the comparison yields UNKNOWN, so those rows aren’t returned unless you explicitly handle NULLs (for example, using column IS NULL or adding an OR condition).