Why my JQL search with "not in" or "!=" (not equals) operators has issues missing
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*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
When performing a JQL search for issues not in a category or without a label, for example, using the "not in" or "!=" (not equals) operators, some are left out.
Cause
Some fields in Jira are actually relationships. When we tell JQL something like:
assignee not in ("user1","user2")As described in Advanced search reference - JQL operators, what Jira really understands is: "to get all issues with assignees different from user1 and user2". The result is that unassigned issues will not show up.
Likewise, the query below brings issues with labels that are different from "important".
project = "My Project" and labels != important Solution
All we have to do is add is EMPTY with an or statement. Taking the examples from above:
assignee not in ("user1","user2") or assignee is EMPTYIn the labels example:
project = "My Project" and (labels != important or labels is EMPTY)