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# PostgreSQL OR Operator

**Summary**: in this tutorial, you will learn about the PostgreSQL `OR` logical operator and how to use it to combine multiple boolean expressions.

## Introduction to the PostgreSQL OR operator

In PostgreSQL, a [boolean](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-boolean) value can have one of three values: `true`, `false`, and `null`.

PostgreSQL uses `true`, `'t'`, `'true'`, `'y'`, `'yes'`, `'1'` to represent `true` and `false`, `'f'`, `'false'`, `'n'`, `'no'`, and `'0'` to represent `false`.

A boolean expression is an expression that evaluates to a boolean value. For example, the expression `1<>1` is a boolean expression that evaluates to `false`:

```sql
SELECT 1 <> 1 AS result;
```

Output:

```text
 result
--------
 f
(1 row)
```

The letter `f` in the output indicates `false`.

The `OR` operator is a logical operator that combines multiple boolean expressions. Here's the basic syntax of the `OR` operator:

```sql
expression1 OR expression2
```

In this syntax, `expression1` and `expression2` are boolean expressions that evaluate to `true`, `false`, or `null`.

The `OR` operator returns `true` only if any of the expressions is `true`. It returns `false` if both expressions are false. Otherwise, it returns null.

The following table shows the results of the `OR` operator when combining `true`, `false`, and `null`. Note that the order of the expressions doesn't matter, for example both `false OR null` and `null OR false` will evaluate to `null`.

| expression1 | expression2 | expression1 OR expression2 |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------------------- |
| True        | True        | True                       |
| True        | False       | True                       |
| True        | Null        | True                       |
| False       | False       | False                      |
| False       | Null        | Null                       |
| Null        | Null        | Null                       |

In practice, you usually use the `OR` operator in a [`WHERE`](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-where) clause to ensure that either of the specified expressions must be true for a row to be included in the result set.

## PostgreSQL OR operator

Let's explore some examples of using the `OR` operator.

### 1) Basic PostgreSQL OR operator examples

The following example uses the `OR` operator to combine `true` with `true`, which returns `true`:

```sql
SELECT true OR true AS result;
```

Output:

```text
 result
--------
 t
(1 row)
```

The following statement uses the `OR` operator to combine `true` with `false`, which returns true:

```sql
SELECT true OR false AS result;
```

Output:

```text
 result
--------
 t
(1 row)
```

The following example uses the `OR` operator to combine `true` with `null`, which returns `true`:

```sql
SELECT true OR null AS result;
```

Output:

```text
 result
--------
 t
(1 row)
```

The following example uses the `OR` operator to combine `false` with `false`, which returns `false`:

```sql
SELECT false OR false AS result;
```

Output:

```text
 result
--------
 f
(1 row)
```

The following example uses the `OR` operator to combine `false` with `null`, which returns `null`:

```sql
SELECT false OR null AS result;
```

Output:

```text
 result
--------
 null
(1 row)
```

The following example uses the `OR` operator to combine `null` with `null`, which returns `null`:

```sql
SELECT null OR null AS result;
```

Output:

```
 result
--------
 null
(1 row)
```

### 2) Using the OR operator in the WHERE clause

We'll use the `film` table from the [sample database](../postgresql-getting-started/postgresql-sample-database) for the demonstration:

![](https://neon.com/postgresqltutorial/film.png)The following example uses the `OR` operator in the `WHERE` clause to find the films that have a rental rate of `0.99` or `2.99`:

```sql
SELECT
  title,
  rental_rate
FROM
  film
WHERE
  rental_rate = 0.99 OR
  rental_rate = 2.99;
```

Output:

```text
            title            | rental_rate
-----------------------------+-------------
 Academy Dinosaur            |        0.99
 Adaptation Holes            |        2.99
 Affair Prejudice            |        2.99
 African Egg                 |        2.99
...
```

## Summary

- Use the `OR` operator to combine multiple boolean expressions.

---

## Related docs (Filtering Data)

- [WHERE](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-where)
- [AND Operator](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-and)
- [LIMIT](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-limit)
- [FETCH](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-fetch)
- [IN](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-in)
- [BETWEEN](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-between)
- [LIKE](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-like)
- [IS NULL](https://neon.com/postgresql/postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-is-null)