Less than (<)

The less than (<) operator returns true if its left operand is less than its right operand. It accepts numeric, string, date, and Boolean operands.

number < number
string < string
Boolean < Boolean
date < date
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Example Formulas

2 < 1 /* Output: false */

42 < 50 /* Output: true */

"a" < "b" /* Output: true */

/* Boolean values equate to 1 (true) and 0 (false). */
false < true /* Output: true */

true < true /* Output: false */

/* For dates, "less than" equates to "before". */
now() < dateAdd(now(), 1, "months") /* Output: true */
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Good to know: When comparing dates, “greater” = “later”.

Good to know: The less than (<) operator cannot be chained in a Notion formula. A formula like 1 < 2 < 3 won’t work. Use the and operator to get around this – e.g. 1 < 2 and 2 < 3.

Example Database

The example database below tracks votes amongst a pirate crew. For each issue, a quorum must be reached; at least 3 members must vote. Once a quorum is reached, only proposals that receive more Yays than Nays will be passed and enacted.

The Result formula displays the status of each proposal.

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“Result” Property Formula

// Compressed
(+((not empty(prop("Luffy"))) ? true : false) + +((not empty(prop("Nami"))) ? true : false) + +((not empty(prop("Sanji"))) ? true : false) + +((not empty(prop("Zoro"))) ? true : false) < 3) ? "✋ Quorum Not Reached!" : ((+replaceAll(replaceAll(prop("Luffy"), "Nay", "-1"), "Yay", "1") + +replaceAll(replaceAll(prop("Nami"), "Nay", "-1"), "Yay", "1") + +replaceAll(replaceAll(prop("Sanji"), "Nay", "-1"), "Yay", "1") + +replaceAll(replaceAll(prop("Zoro"), "Nay", "-1"), "Yay", "1") < 1) ? "👎 Rejected" : "👍 Passed")

// Expanded
(
    +((not empty(prop("Luffy"))) ? true : false) + 
    +((not empty(prop("Nami"))) ? true : false) + 
    +((not empty(prop("Sanji"))) ? true : false) + 
    +((not empty(prop("Zoro"))) ? true : false) < 3
    ) ? 
    "✋ Quorum Not Reached!" : 
    (
        (+replaceAll(replaceAll(prop("Luffy"), "Nay", "-1"), "Yay", "1") + 
        +replaceAll(replaceAll(prop("Nami"), "Nay", "-1"), "Yay", "1") + 
        +replaceAll(replaceAll(prop("Sanji"), "Nay", "-1"), "Yay", "1") + 
        +replaceAll(replaceAll(prop("Zoro"), "Nay", "-1"), "Yay", "1") < 1) ? 
        "👎 Rejected" : 
        "👍 Passed"
)
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

This vote tracker works by giving each group member their own Yay/Nay property. A Select property is used because there are actually three potential states for each crew member’s vote:

1. Yay
2. Nay
3. Abstained/didn’t vote

Therefore, a Boolean/Checkbox property won’t work here.

The formula first checks that each member’s vote is not empty, using the empty function and the not operator. “Not empty” returns a value of true, which is converted to a score of 1 using unaryPlus. Similarly, an empty property will return a false value, which is converted to 0.

The scores are added up, and if they total less than three (< 3), the formula outputs “✋ Quorum Not Reached!”

If they total 3 or higher, we move to the “then” clause, which is a nested if-then statement.

Here, we use a pair of nested replaceAll functions to convert each member’s vote into a score: (+replaceAll(replaceAll(prop("Luffy"), "Nay", "-1"), "Yay", "1").

replaceAll() is a function that searches a string for a pattern, then replaces all instances of that pattern with another pattern:

• The first replaceAll() searches the voter’s property (e.g. prop("Luffy")) for “Nay”. If found, “Nay” is converted to “-1” (which is a string value at this point).
• The second (outer) replaceAll() searches the result of the inner replaceAll() (which will either contain “Yay” or “-1” at this point) for “Yay”. If found, “Yay” is converted to “1”.
• Now the vote’s text has been turned either to “-1” or “1”.

Next, the + (unaryPlus) operator converts this numeric string to an actual number. This is done for each voter’s property, and finally all the scores are added up.

If the score is less than 1 (<1), then the formula outputs, “👎 Rejected”. If it is 1 or greater, it outputs, “👍 Passed”.

Other formula components used in this example:

unaryPlus – Thomas Frank

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if – Thomas Frank

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replaceAll – Thomas Frank

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Notion Formula Syntax – Thomas Frank

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empty – Thomas Frank

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