If expr is greater than or equal to min and expr is less than or equal to max, BETWEEN returns 1, otherwise it returns 0. This is equivalent to the expression (min <= expr AND expr <= max) if all the arguments are of the same type. Otherwise type conversion takes place according to the rules described at Type Conversion, but applied to all the three arguments.
DATE, DATETIME and TIMESTAMP examples. Omitting the time component compares against 00:00, so later times on the same date are not returned:
Common Pitfall When Using Strings as Conditions
The following query doesn't show countries whose name starts with 'D':
When using WHERE name BETWEEN 'B' AND 'D', the condition includes all names that start with 'B' because 'B' is the lower bound and is inclusive. However, names starting with 'D' are excluded because the upper bound 'D' is treated as a string, and the comparison stops at the character level. For example, a name like 'D' is included if it matches exactly, but a name like 'Denmark' is not included because 'Denmark' is lexicographically greater than 'D'.
SELECT 2 BETWEEN 2 AND '3';
+---------------------+
| 2 BETWEEN 2 AND '3' |
+---------------------+
| 1 |
+---------------------+
SELECT 2 BETWEEN 2 AND 'x-3';
+-----------------------+
| 2 BETWEEN 2 AND 'x-3' |
+-----------------------+
| 0 |
+-----------------------+
1 row in set, 1 warning (0.00 sec)
Warning (Code 1292): Truncated incorrect DOUBLE value: 'x-3'
SELECT 1 BETWEEN 1 AND NULL;
+----------------------+
| 1 BETWEEN 1 AND NULL |
+----------------------+
| NULL |
+----------------------+
CREATE TABLE `x` (
a date ,
b datetime,
c timestamp
)
INSERT INTO x VALUES
('2018-11-11', '2018-11-11 05:15', '2018-11-11 05:15'),
('2018-11-12', '2018-11-12 05:15', '2018-11-12 05:15');
SELECT * FROM x WHERE a BETWEEN '2018-11-11' AND '2018-11-12';
+------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| a | b | c |
+------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| 2018-11-11 | 2018-11-11 05:15:00 | 2018-11-11 05:15:00 |
| 2018-11-12 | 2018-11-12 05:15:00 | 2018-11-12 05:15:00 |
+------------+---------------------+---------------------+
SELECT * FROM x WHERE b BETWEEN '2018-11-11' AND '2018-11-12';
+------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| a | b | c |
+------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| 2018-11-11 | 2018-11-11 05:15:00 | 2018-11-11 05:15:00 |
+------------+---------------------+---------------------+
SELECT * FROM x WHERE c BETWEEN '2018-11-11' AND '2018-11-12';
+------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| a | b | c |
+------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| 2018-11-11 | 2018-11-11 05:15:00 | 2018-11-11 05:15:00 |
+------------+---------------------+---------------------+
SELECT name
FROM countries
WHERE name BETWEEN "B" AND "D"
ORDER BY name ASC;
+--------------------------------+
| name |
+--------------------------------+
| Bahamas |
| Bahrain |
| Bangladesh |
...
| Cuba |
| Cyprus |
| Czech Republic |
+--------------------------------+
41 rows in set (0.001 sec)