SQL Left Join

LEFT JOIN

The SQL LEFT JOIN (specified with the keywords LEFT JOIN and ON) joins two tables and fetches all matching rows of two tables for which the SQL-expression is true, plus rows from the frist table that do not match any row in the second table.

Pictorial presentation of SQL Left Join:

Left Join: Syntax

SELECT *
FROM table1
LEFT [ OUTER ] JOIN table2
ON table1.column_name=table2.column_name;

SQL LEFT join fetches a complete set of records from table1, with the matching records (depending on the availability) in table2. The result is NULL in the right side when no matching will take place.

Syntax diagram - LEFT JOIN

Example of SQL Left Join

To get company name and company id columns from company table and company id, item name, item unit columns from foods table, after an OUTER JOINING with these mentioned tables, the following SQL statement can be used :

Sample table: foods

Sample table: company

SQL Code:

SELECT company.company_id,company.company_name,
company.company_city,foods.company_id,foods.item_name
FROM   company
LEFT JOIN foods
ON company.company_id = foods.company_id;

Explanation:

This SQL statement would return all rows from the company table and only those rows from the foods table where the joined fields are equal and if the ON clause matches no records in the 'foods' table, the join will still return rows, but the NULL in each column of the right table.

Output:

COMPANY_ID COMPANY_NAME              COMPANY_CITY              COMPANY_ID ITEM_NAME
---------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ---------- --------------
16         Akas Foods                Delhi                     16         Chex Mix
15         Jack Hill Ltd             London                    15         Cheez-It
15         Jack Hill Ltd             London                    15         BN Biscuit
17         Foodies.                  London                    17         Mighty Munch
15         Jack Hill Ltd             London                    15         Pot Rice
18         Order All                 Boston                    18         Jaffa Cakes
19         sip-n-Bite.               New York

Pictorial Presentation of the above example SQL Left Join:

Example of SQL Left Join using multiple columns

To filtered out those bill number, item name and the bill amount for each bill which bill amount exceeds the value 500 and must be available at the food stall, the following SQL statement can be used :

Sample table: foods

Sample table: counter_sale

SQL Code:

SELECT a.bill_no, b.item_name, a.bill_amt 
FROM counter_sale a 
LEFT JOIN foods b 
ON a.item_id=b.item_id 
WHERE  a.bill_amt>500;

Explanation:

This SQL statement will first join all rows from the counter_sale table and only those rows from the foods table where the joined fields are equal and if the ON clause matches no records in the foods table, the join will still return rows, but the NULL in each column of right table, therefore eliminates those rows which bill amount is less than or equal to 500.

Output:

   BILL_NO ITEM_NAME                   BILL_AMT
---------- ------------------------- ----------
      1002 Chex Mix                        2000
      1006 Mighty Munch                     625
      1001 Pot Rice                         600
      1004 Pot Rice                         540
      1005 Salt n Shake                     600

Pictorial Presentation of SQL Left Join using Multiple Columns:

Example of SQL Left Join using multiple tables

To filtered out those bill number, item name, company name and city and the bill amount for each bill, which items are available in foods table, and their manufacturer must have enlisted to supply that item, and no NULL value for manufacturer are not allowed, the following SQL statement can be used:

Sample table: foods

Sample table: company

Sample table: counter_sale

SQL Code:

SELECT a.bill_no, b.item_name,c.company_name, 
c.company_city, a.bill_amt 
FROM counter_sale a 
LEFT JOIN foods b ON a.item_id=b.item_id 
LEFT JOIN company c ON b.company_id=c.company_id
WHERE c.company_name IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY a.bill_no;

Explanation:

This SQL statement will first join all rows from the counter_sale table and only those rows from the foods table where the joined fields are matching and if the ON clause matches no records in the foods table, the join will still return rows, but the NULL in each column of the right table. Therefore this result will join with company table and all rows from result table and matched and unmatched rows from company table will also come, but for the unmatched rows of company table, the column value will be NULL. Therefore the WHERE clause will eliminate those rows which company name column value is NULL and after that, the ORDER BY clause will arrange the rows in ascending order according to the bill number.

Output:

   BILL_NO ITEM_NAME                 COMPANY_NAME              COMPANY_CITY                BILL_AMT
---------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ----------
      1001 Pot Rice                  Jack Hill Ltd             London                           600
      1002 Chex Mix                  Akas Foods                Delhi                           2000
      1003 Cheez-It                  Jack Hill Ltd             London                           300
      1004 Pot Rice                  Jack Hill Ltd             London                           540
      1006 Mighty Munch              Foodies.                  London                           625

Pictorial Presentation of SQL Left Join using Multiple Tables:

What is the difference between Left Join and Left Outer Join in SQL?

There is actually no difference between a left join and a left outer join – both of them refer to the similar operation in SQL.

Sample table: company

COMPANY_ID COMPANY_NAME              COMPANY_CITY
---------- ------------------------- -------------
18         Order All                 Boston
15         Jack Hill Ltd             London
16         Akas Foods                Delhi
17         Foodies.                  London
19         sip-n-Bite.               New York

Sample table: foods

ITEM_ID  ITEM_NAME                 ITEM_UNIT  COMPANY_ID
-------- ------------------------- ---------- ----------
1        Chex Mix                  Pcs        16
6        Cheez-It                  Pcs        15
2        BN Biscuit                Pcs        15
3        Mighty Munch              Pcs        17
4        Pot Rice                  Pcs        15
5        Jaffa Cakes               Pcs        18
7        Salt n Shake              Pcs

The important point to be noted that the very last row in the company table, the company ID does not exist in the foods table. Also, the very last row in the foods table the value of company ID is NULL and does not exist in the company table. These facts will prove to be significant of the left join.

Here the SQL statement without using "outer" with "left join".

SQL Code:

SELECT company.company_id,company.company_name,
foods.item_id, foods.item_name, foods.company_id 
FROM company 
LEFT JOIN foods 
ON company.company_id = foods.company_id;

Running the SQL with the "outer" keyword, would give us the exact same results as running the SQL without the “outer”. Here the SQL statement with "outer" with "left join".

SQL Code:

SELECT company.company_id,company.company_name,
foods.item_id, foods.item_name, foods.company_id 
FROM company 
LEFT OUTER JOIN foods 
ON company.company_id = foods.company_id;

A left outer join or left join retains all of the rows of the left table company, regardless of whether there is a row that matches on the right table foods. Here is the output below for both of the above statement.

Output:

COMPANY_ID COMPANY_NAME              ITEM_ID  ITEM_NAME                 COMPANY_ID
---------- ------------------------- -------- ------------------------- ----------
16         Akas Foods                1        Chex Mix                  16
15         Jack Hill Ltd             6        Cheez-It                  15
15         Jack Hill Ltd             2        BN Biscuit                15
17         Foodies.                  3        Mighty Munch              17
15         Jack Hill Ltd             4        Pot Rice                  15
18         Order All                 5        Jaffa Cakes               18
19         sip-n-Bite.               NULL     NULL                      NULL

Outputs of the said SQL statement shown here is taken by using Oracle Database 10g Express Edition.

LEFT JOIN: Relational Databases

• Oracle LEFT JOIN
• MySQL LEFT JOIN
• PostgreSQL LEFT JOIN
• SQLite LEFT JOIN

Key points to remember :

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