SQL JOIN and different types of JOINs

Question

What is a SQL JOIN and what are different types?

Answer 1

Definition:

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JOINS are way to query the data that combined together from multiple tables simultaneously.

Types of JOINS:

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Concern to RDBMS there are 5-types of joins:

• Equi-Join: Combines common records from two tables based on equality condition. Technically, Join made by using equality-operator (=) to compare values of Primary Key of one table and Foreign Key values of another table, hence result set includes common(matched) records from both tables. For implementation see INNER-JOIN.

• Natural-Join: It is enhanced version of Equi-Join, in which SELECT operation omits duplicate column. For implementation see INNER-JOIN

• Non-Equi-Join: It is reverse of Equi-join where joining condition is uses other than equal operator(=) e.g, !=, <=, >=, >, < or BETWEEN etc. For implementation see INNER-JOIN.

• Self-Join:: A customized behavior of join where a table combined with itself; This is typically needed for querying self-referencing tables (or Unary relationship entity). For implementation see INNER-JOINs.

• Cartesian Product: It cross combines all records of both tables without any condition. Technically, it returns the result set of a query without WHERE-Clause.

As per SQL concern and advancement, there are 3-types of joins and all RDBMS joins can be achieved using these types of joins.

1. INNER-JOIN: It merges(or combines) matched rows from two tables. The matching is done based on common columns of tables and their comparing operation. If equality based condition then: EQUI-JOIN performed, otherwise Non-EQUI-Join.

2. OUTER-JOIN: It merges(or combines) matched rows from two tables and unmatched rows with NULL values. However, can customized selection of un-matched rows e.g, selecting unmatched row from first table or second table by sub-types: LEFT OUTER JOIN and RIGHT OUTER JOIN.

   2.1. LEFT Outer JOIN (a.k.a, LEFT-JOIN): Returns matched rows from two tables and unmatched from the LEFT table(i.e, first table) only.

   2.2. RIGHT Outer JOIN (a.k.a, RIGHT-JOIN): Returns matched rows from two tables and unmatched from the RIGHT table only.

   2.3. FULL OUTER JOIN (a.k.a OUTER JOIN): Returns matched and unmatched from both tables.

3. CROSS-JOIN: This join does not merges/combines instead it performs Cartesian product.

Note: Self-JOIN can be achieved by either INNER-JOIN, OUTER-JOIN and CROSS-JOIN based on requirement but the table must join with itself.

For more information:

Examples:

1.1: INNER-JOIN: Equi-join implementation

SELECT  *
FROM Table1 A 
 INNER JOIN Table2 B ON A. =B.;

1.2: INNER-JOIN: Natural-JOIN implementation

Select A.*, B.Col1, B.Col2          --But no B.ForeignKeyColumn in Select
 FROM Table1 A
 INNER JOIN Table2 B On A.Pk = B.Fk;

1.3: INNER-JOIN with NON-Equi-join implementation

Select *
 FROM Table1 A INNER JOIN Table2 B On A.Pk <= B.Fk;

1.4: INNER-JOIN with SELF-JOIN

Select *
 FROM Table1 A1 INNER JOIN Table1 A2 On A1.Pk = A2.Fk;

2.1: OUTER JOIN (full outer join)

Select *
 FROM Table1 A FULL OUTER JOIN Table2 B On A.Pk = B.Fk;

2.2: LEFT JOIN

Select *
 FROM Table1 A LEFT OUTER JOIN Table2 B On A.Pk = B.Fk;

2.3: RIGHT JOIN

Select *
 FROM Table1 A RIGHT OUTER JOIN Table2 B On A.Pk = B.Fk;

3.1: CROSS JOIN

Select *
 FROM TableA CROSS JOIN TableB;

3.2: CROSS JOIN-Self JOIN

Select *
 FROM Table1 A1 CROSS JOIN Table1 A2;

//OR//

Select *
 FROM Table1 A1,Table1 A2;