NEQ (Not Equal) Filters - Usage and Empty Value Handling

Overview

NEQ (Not Equal) filters are used to exclude records where a specific field matches a given value. They return only records whose field values do not equal the specified value.

In simple terms: NEQ = “Exclude this value from the results”

NEQ filters are supported across UI filters, APIs, and analytics queries.

What Does an NEQ Filter Do?

An NEQ filter evaluates a condition in the following way: 

If a record’s field value matches the specified value, that record is excluded from the results. All other records are included in the results.

Common Use Cases

NEQ filters are commonly used to:

• Exclude inactive or disabled records

• Filter out specific IDs or values

• Prevent unwanted data from being synced

• Refine API or UI search results

Example: Exclude Inactive Customers

Usage:  Commonly used in APIs or reports where only specific customer states should be processed.

Note: NEQ filters match exact values only; partial or pattern-based matches are not supported.

The reference screenshot below illustrates the display of Active customers:

Limitations

NEQ filters:

• Match exact values only

• Do not support partial matches

• Do not support pattern-based or wildcard filtering

Example: If excluding records where name!= Decimal:

• Records named Decimal are excluded

• Records named Decimal Test or Decimal_01 are not excluded

NEQ in APIs and Query Parameters

In APIs, NEQ conditions is often represented using != operator.

Example

Result: Returns records where status is not Active

Practical Scenario: Exclude Customers from a Specific Region

Requirement: Exclude customers from the US region.

Filter Applied

Outcome

• US-based customers are excluded

• Customers from other regions are returned

Usage: Useful for region-specific integrations and reporting.

Filter Behavior for Empty Values

In NEQ filters, “empty” refers to fields with no value (null or not set). Empty strings ("") and whitespace values are not supported.

Case 1: Field ≠ empty 

Outcome

• Records with empty values for description are excluded
• Records with populated description values are returned

Case 2: Field ≠ empty string or whitespace (Not Supported)

The following requests are not supported and should not be used:

Reason

• The API does not support empty string ("") or whitespace-based comparisons 
• These conditions are not supported and may be ignored or rejected by the API.