This article is based on Joins and Keys in SQL query, which provides a relationship between two tables.

Sometimes we have to select data from two or more tables to make our result complete. We have to perform a join.

Tables in a database can be related to each other with keys. A primary key is a column with a unique value for each row. The purpose is to bind data together, across tables, without repeating all of the data in every table.

In the "Employees" table below, the "Employee_ID" column is the primary key, meaning that no two rows can have the same Employee_ID. The Employee_ID distinguishes two persons even if they have the same name.

When you look at the example tables below, notice that: 

• The "Employee_ID" column is the primary key of the "Employees" table
• The "Prod_ID" column is the primary key of the "Orders" table
• The "Employee_ID" column in the "Orders" table is used to refer to the persons in the "Employees" table without using their names

Employees:

Orders:

Referring to Two Tables

We can select data from two tables by referring to two tables, like this:

Example

Who has ordered a product, and what did they order?

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product FROM Employees, Orders

WHERE Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

Result

Example

Who ordered a printer?

SELECT Employees.Name FROM Employees, Orders

WHERE Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

AND Orders.Product='Printer'

Result

Using Joins

OR we can select data from two tables with the JOIN keyword, like this:

Example INNER JOIN

Syntax is :

SELECT field1, field2, field3 FROM first_table

INNER JOIN second_table

ON first_table.keyfield = second_table.foreign_keyfield

Who has ordered a product, and what did they order?

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product FROM Employees

INNER JOIN Orders

ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

The INNER JOIN returns all rows from both tables where there is a match. If there are rows in Employees that do not have matches in Orders, those rows will not be listed.

Result

Example LEFT JOIN

Syntax is:

SELECT field1, field2, field3 FROM first_table

LEFT JOIN second_table

ON first_table.keyfield = second_table.foreign_keyfield

List all employees, and their orders - if any.

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product FROM Employees

LEFT JOIN Orders

ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

The LEFT JOIN returns all the rows from the first table (Employees), even if there are no matches in the second table (Orders). If there are rows in Employees that do not have matches in Orders, those rows also will be listed.

Result

Example RIGHT JOIN

Syntax is:

SELECT field1, field2, field3 FROM first_table

RIGHT JOIN second_table

ON first_table.keyfield = second_table.foreign_keyfield

List all orders, and who has ordered - if any.

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product FROM Employees

RIGHT JOIN Orders

ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

The RIGHT JOIN returns all the rows from the second table (Orders), even if there are no matches in the first table (Employees). If there had been any rows in Orders that did not have matches in Employees, those rows also would have been listed.

Result

Example

Who ordered a printer?

SELECT Employees.Name FROM Employees

INNER JOIN Orders

ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID WHERE Orders.Product = 'Printer'

Result