ABS & MOD

ABS is like ignoring whether you walked forward or backward and only counting the distance. MOD gives what is left over after dividing.

In this page:

The Absolute Value with ABS
The Remainder with MOD
Finding Even and Odd Numbers
Using MOD with Decimal Values
Combining ABS and MOD

Syntax

sql

ABS(number)
MOD(dividend, divisor)

The Absolute Value with ABS

ABS converts any negative number into its positive equivalent while leaving positive numbers unchanged, which is useful for measuring the size of a difference between two values without caring which one is larger.

Example: The Absolute Value with ABS

sql

SELECT ABS(-15) AS positive_value;

The Remainder with MOD

MOD returns the remainder left over after dividing one number by another, the same operation as the % operator in most programming languages — useful for tasks like distributing rows evenly across a fixed number of groups.

Example: The Remainder with MOD

sql

SELECT MOD(17, 5) AS remainder;

Finding Even and Odd Numbers

Checking whether a number is even or odd is a classic use of MOD: dividing by 2 and testing whether the remainder is 0 tells you evenness instantly, without writing a more complex conditional.

Example: Finding Even and Odd Numbers

sql

CREATE TABLE numbers (n INT);
INSERT INTO numbers VALUES (4), (7), (10);
SELECT n, CASE WHEN MOD(n, 2) = 0 THEN 'even' ELSE 'odd' END AS parity FROM numbers;

Using MOD with Decimal Values

MOD isn't limited to whole numbers — it also works on decimal values, dividing the first number by the second and returning the leftover floating-point remainder rather than an error.

Example: Using MOD with Decimal Values

sql

SELECT MOD(10.5, 3) AS decimal_remainder;

Combining ABS and MOD

Combining ABS and MOD together guarantees a positive remainder even when working with negative inputs, since MOD alone can return a negative result if the dividend is negative.

Example: Combining ABS and MOD

sql

SELECT MOD(-7, 3) AS raw_mod, ABS(MOD(-7, 3)) AS positive_mod;

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