In SQL, the logical connectors AND, OR, and NOT are examples of which type of operators?

Introduction / Context:
SQL allows you to build complex conditions in WHERE and HAVING clauses by combining simpler comparisons. The words AND, OR, and NOT are widely used logical connectors that control how multiple conditions are evaluated together. This question asks you to identify the correct classification of these connectors within the context of SQL and logic in general.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• We are working with conditions in SQL statements, especially WHERE and HAVING clauses.
• AND, OR, and NOT are used to combine or modify boolean expressions.
• We must classify these connectors using the most appropriate term.

Concept / Approach:
In logic and in SQL, conditions evaluate to boolean values such as true or false. Operators that take boolean values as input and produce boolean values as output are called boolean operators or logical operators. AND requires both conditions to be true, OR requires at least one condition to be true, and NOT reverses the truth value of a condition. Although AND can be described as conjunctive, the standard category name that covers all three, including NOT, is boolean operators.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recognize that AND, OR, and NOT operate on boolean expressions that evaluate to true or false. Step 2: Recall that operators working on boolean values are known as boolean or logical operators in computer science and SQL. Step 3: Note that a clause in SQL refers to larger structural parts of a statement, such as WHERE, FROM, or ORDER BY, not individual logical connectors. Step 4: Understand that while AND alone is sometimes called a conjunctive operator, this term does not fully capture OR and NOT. Step 5: Conclude that boolean operators is the correct term to categorize AND, OR, and NOT together.

Verification / Alternative check:
SQL documentation and textbooks often refer to AND, OR, and NOT collectively as logical or boolean operators used in conditional expressions. Sample syntax includes WHERE condition1 AND condition2 or WHERE NOT condition. This consistent naming across major databases confirms that boolean operators is the standard classification.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A is incorrect because clauses are larger syntactic units in SQL, such as SELECT, FROM, WHERE, and ORDER BY, and not individual logical connectors. Option C is not entirely accurate because only AND is strictly conjunctive; OR is disjunctive and NOT is a negation operator, so the label conjunctive operators does not cover all three. Option D is incorrect because exclusive operators usually refer to constructs like exclusive OR, which is not what the standard SQL OR represents, and NOT is not exclusive in that sense.

Common Pitfalls:
Learners sometimes confuse boolean operators with comparison operators like = or <>, but comparison operators produce boolean results while boolean operators combine or modify those results. Another pitfall is misunderstanding the precedence of AND, OR, and NOT, which can change how complex conditions evaluate if parentheses are not used carefully. Knowing that they are boolean operators helps you remember that they are part of the logical layer of SQL queries.

Final Answer:
AND, OR, and NOT in SQL are examples of boolean operators used to combine and modify conditions in queries.