SQL joins

Information Management
Prepared by: Prof. Huelgas
SQL Overview

SQL joins are the foundation of database management systems, enabling

the combination of data from multiple tables based on relationships
between columns. Joins allow efficient data retrieval, which is essential
for generating meaningful observations and solving complex business
queries.

Understanding SQL join types, such as INNER JOIN, LEFT JOIN, RIGHT
JOIN, and CROSS JOIN, is critical for working with relational databases.

In this presentation, we will cover the different types of SQL joins,

including INNER JOIN, LEFT OUTER JOIN, RIGHT JOIN, FULL JOIN, and
NATURAL JOIN. Each join type will be explained with examples, syntax,
and practical use cases to help us understand when and how to use these
joins effectively.
What is a SQL Join?

SQL JOIN clause is used to query and access data from multiple tables by
establishing logical relationships between them. It can access data from
multiple tables simultaneously using common key values shared across
different tables. We can use SQL JOIN with multiple tables. It can also be
paired with other clauses, the most popular use will be using JOIN with
WHERE clause to filter data retrieval.
Example of SQL JOINS
Consider the two tables, Student and StudentCourse, which share a common column
ROLL_NO. Using SQL JOINS, we can combine data from these tables based on their
relationship, allowing us to retrieve meaningful information like student details along
with their enrolled courses.

Student Table
Student Table StudentCourse Table

Course Table
COURSE_ID COURSE_NAME

1 Computer Science

2 Information Technology

3 Accountancy

4 Human Resource Management

5 Data Science
Both these tables are connected by one common key (column) i.e ROLL_NO. We can
perform a JOIN operation using the given SQL query:

SELECT s.roll_no, s.name, s.address, s.phone, s.age, sc.course_id

FROM Student s
JOIN StudentCourse sc ON s.roll_no = sc.roll_no;

Output:

ROLL_NO NAME ADDRESS PHONE AGE COURSE_ID

1 HARSH DELHI XXXXXXXXXX 18 1

2 PRATIK BIHAR XXXXXXXXXX 19 2

3 RIYANKA SILGURI XXXXXXXXXX 20 2

4 DEEP RAMNAGAR XXXXXXXXXX 18 3

5 SAPTARHI KOLKATA XXXXXXXXXX 19 1

Types of JOIN in SQL

There are many types of Joins in SQL. Depending on the use case, we can use
different type of SQL JOIN clause. Below, we explain the most commonly used
join types with syntax and examples:
● INNER JOIN
● LEFT JOIN
● RIGHT JOIN
● CROSS JOIN
1. SQL INNER JOIN
The INNER JOIN keyword selects all rows from both the tables as long as the
condition is satisfied. This keyword will create the result-set by combining all rows
from both the tables where the condition satisfies i.e value of the common field
will be the same.

Syntax

SELECT table1.column1,table1.column2,table2.column1,....
FROM table1
INNER JOIN table2
ON table1.matching_column = table2.matching_column;
Key Terms
● table1: First table.
● table2: Second table
● matching_column: Column common to both the tables.
Note: We can also write JOIN instead of INNER JOIN. JOIN is same as INNER JOIN.
INNER JOIN Example:
Let’s look at the example of INNER JOIN clause, and understand it’s working. This query will
show the names and age of students enrolled in different courses.
Query:

SELECT StudentCourse.COURSE_ID, Student.NAME, Student.AGE FROM Student

INNER JOIN StudentCourse
ON Student.ROLL_NO = StudentCourse.ROLL_NO;

Output
2. SQL LEFT JOIN
LEFT JOIN returns all the rows of the table on the left side of the join and
matches rows for the table on the right side of the join. For the rows for which
there is no matching row on the right side, the result-set will contain null. LEFT
JOIN is also known as LEFT OUTER JOIN.

Syntax:

SELECT table1.column1,table1.column2,table2.column1,....
FROM table1
LEFT JOIN table2
ON table1.matching_column = table2.matching_column;
Key Terms
● table1: First table.
● table2: Second table
● matching_column: Column common to both the tables.
Note: We can also use LEFT OUTER JOIN instead of LEFT JOIN, both are the same.
LEFT JOIN Example
In this example, the LEFT JOIN retrieves all rows from the Student table and the matching
rows from the StudentCourse table based on the ROLL_NO column.
Query:

SELECT Student.NAME,StudentCourse.COURSE_ID
FROM Student
LEFT JOIN StudentCourse
ON StudentCourse.ROLL_NO = Student.ROLL_NO;
Output:
3. SQL RIGHT JOIN
RIGHT JOIN returns all the rows of the table on the right side of the join and matching rows
for the table on the left side of the join. It is very similar to LEFT JOIN for the rows for which
there is no matching row on the left side, the result-set will contain null. RIGHT JOIN is also
known as RIGHT OUTER JOIN.

Syntax

SELECT table1.column1,table1.column2,table2.column1,....
FROM table1
RIGHT JOIN table2
ON table1.matching_column = table2.matching_column;
Key Terms
● table1: First table.
● table2: Second table
● matching_column: Column common to both the tables.
Note: We can also use RIGHT OUTER JOIN instead of RIGHT JOIN, both are the same.
RIGHT JOIN Example
In this example, the RIGHT JOIN retrieves all rows from the StudentCourse table and the
matching rows from the Student table based on the ROLL_NO column.
Query:

SELECT Student.NAME,StudentCourse.COURSE_ID
FROM Student
RIGHT JOIN StudentCourse
ON StudentCourse.ROLL_NO = Student.ROLL_NO;
Output:
4. SQL CROSS JOIN
SQL CROSS JOIN returns all the records from the left and right tables. CROSS
JOIN returns a combination of each row in the left table paired with each row in
the right table.

Syntax

SELECT *
FROM table1
CROSS JOIN table2;
When CROSS JOIN is used with a WHERE clause, it behaves like INNER JOIN, filtering the
results based on specific conditions. CROSS JOIN is the best choice when we need to match
each row of one table to every other row of another table. It is helpful in many applications
where we need to obtain paired combinations of records.
CROSS JOIN Example
Let’s look at some examples of CROSS JOIN statement in SQL to understand it’s working.

Query:

SELECT *

FROM CUSTOMER

CROSS JOIN ORDERS;

Output:
References:
● https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/sql-join-set-1-inner-left-right-and-full-joins/
● https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/mysql-cross-join/
● https://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_join.asp
● https://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_join_inner.asp
● https://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_join_left.asp
● https://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_join_right.asp
● https://www.w3schools.com/mysql/mysql_join_cross.asp