> any means that, for a row to satisfy the outer query, the value in the column that introduces the subquery must be greater than at least one of the values in the list returned by the subquery.
The following example is introduced with a comparison operator modified by any. It finds each title that has an advance larger than any advance amount paid by New Age Books.
select title from titles where advance > any (select advance from titles, publishers where titles.pub_id = publishers.pub_id and pub_name = "New Age Books")
title --------------------------------------------------- The Busy Executive’s Database Guide Cooking with Computers: Surreptitious Balance Sheets You Can Combat Computer Stress! Straight Talk About Computers The Gourmet Microwave But Is It User Friendly? Secrets of Silicon Valley Computer Phobic and Non-Phobic Individuals: Behavior Variations Is Anger the Enemy? Life Without Fear Emotional Security: A New Algorithm Onions, Leeks, and Garlic: Cooking Secrets of the Mediterranean Fifty Years in Buckingham Palace Kitchens Sushi, Anyone?
For each title selected by the outer query, the inner query finds a list of advance amounts paid by New Age Books. The outer query looks at all the values in the list and determines whether the title being considered has commanded an advance that is larger than any of those values. In other words, this example finds titles with advances as large as or larger than the lowest value paid by New Age Books.
If the subquery does not return any values, the entire query fails.