Why in JQL not equal value does not return fields that are empty?

Sorin Sbarnea (Citrix)
Rising Star
Rising Star
Rising Stars are recognized for providing high-quality answers to other users. Rising Stars receive a certificate of achievement and are on the path to becoming Community Leaders.
October 28, 2014

One of my users raised this question: 

  • If you do project = A and fixVersion = 1.0 you get X issues.
  • If you do project = A and fixVersion != 1.0 you get Y issues
  • Now X+Y is not the total number of issues in project A

I explained him that he can test for empty values using fixVersion IS EMPTY but he correctly pointed that the real-life scenario is with much more complex filters and this limitation does makes them much more complex.

Any workarounds? Is this a bug or is by design?

2 answers

0 votes
Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
Community Leader
Community Leader
Community Leaders are connectors, ambassadors, and mentors. On the online community, they serve as thought leaders, product experts, and moderators.
October 28, 2014

"does not equal" is not the same as "is empty".  Two points - first, the field may not be valid for an issue, and second, version is multi-select.  So your project could have

Issue 1:  No fix version

Issue 2:  Fix version = 1.0

Issue 3:  Fix version is not a valid field

Issue 4:  Fix version = 1.0 and 1.1

0 votes
Ollie Guan
Community Leader
Community Leader
Community Leaders are connectors, ambassadors, and mentors. On the online community, they serve as thought leaders, product experts, and moderators.
October 28, 2014

some issue fixversion is empty

you can try like this query

 (project = A and fixVersion != 1.0) and (project = A and fixVersion is empty) 

Suggest an answer

Log in or Sign up to answer