mysql - using CASE in the WHERE clause

Question

simplified version of my query

SELECT *
FROM logs 
WHERE pw='correct' AND CASE WHEN id<800 THEN success=1 ELSE END 
AND YEAR(timestamp)=2011 

this doesn't work. What i'm trying to do is to add in success=1 only for rows with id<800, else ignore this check.

how do i write this? thanks!

edit: to clarify, this what the table looks like

|id  | pw      | success |
--------------------------
|700 | correct | 1       |
|710 | correct | 1       |
|900 | correct | NULL    |
|999 | correct | 0       |

I'm trying to return all the rows, the column pw cannot be ignored.

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14614573/using-case-in-the-where-clause

Answer 1

You don't have to use CASE...WHEN, you could use an OR condition, like this:

WHERE
  pw='correct'
  AND (id>=800 OR success=1) 
  AND YEAR(timestamp)=2011

this means that if id<800, success has to be 1 for the condition to be evaluated as true. Otherwise, it will be true anyway.

It is less common, however you could still use CASE WHEN, like this:

WHERE
  pw='correct'
  AND CASE WHEN id<800 THEN success=1 ELSE TRUE END 
  AND YEAR(timestamp)=2011

this means: return success=1 (which can be TRUE or FALSE) in case id<800, or always return TRUE otherwise.