title: BETWEEN clause versus <= AND >=
body: <p>Is there a performance difference between using a BETWEEN clause or using &lt;= AND >= comparisons?</p>
  
  <p>i.e. these two queries:</p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT *  
    FROM table  
   WHERE year BETWEEN '2005' AND '2010';  
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>...and</p>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT *  
    FROM table  
   WHERE year &gt;= '2005' AND year &lt;= '2010';
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In this example, the year column is VARCHAR2(4) with an index on it.</p>