How can I express that two values are not equal to eachother?

13    Asked by miolso_5252 in Java , Asked on Sep 11, 2025

How can you express that two values are not equal to each other in programming, and what operators are commonly used for this? Learn the different ways to check inequality across languages like Python, Java, and JavaScript.

Answered by Johan Gibson

When programming, you often need to check if two values are not equal to each other. This is usually done with an inequality operator, which varies slightly depending on the programming language you’re using. The idea is simple: if two values are different, the expression will return true; otherwise, it will return false.

Here are some common ways to express inequality:

In Python

 if a != b:
    print("Values are not equal")

 Python uses != to check inequality.

In Java, C, C++, and most other languages

 if (a != b) {
    System.out.println("Values are not equal");
}

 Just like Python, != is used here too.

In JavaScript

  • Use != for loose inequality (does type conversion).
  • Use !== for strict inequality (no type conversion).

if (a !== b) {
    console.log("Values are not equal");
}

 Key points to remember:

  • Always use != in most languages for inequality.
  • In JavaScript, prefer !== for strict comparisons to avoid unexpected results.
  • Inequality checks are commonly used in loops, conditional statements, and validations.

In short, expressing that two values are not equal is straightforward. Just pick the right operator for your language—!= in most cases, and !== in JavaScript if you want strict type-safe comparison.



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