[sql] SQL Logic Operator Precedence: And and Or

I'll add 2 points:

  • "IN" is effectively serial ORs with parentheses around them
  • AND has precedence over OR in every language I know

So, the 2 expressions are simply not equal.

WHERE some_col in (1,2,3,4,5) AND some_other_expr
--to the optimiser is this
WHERE
     (
     some_col = 1 OR
     some_col = 2 OR 
     some_col = 3 OR 
     some_col = 4 OR 
     some_col = 5
     )
     AND
     some_other_expr

So, when you break the IN clause up, you split the serial ORs up, and changed precedence.