FULL OUTER JOIN in SQL Server
If you’re working with SQL Server, you might come across a FULL OUTER JOIN. This SQL statement is used to combine two tables, returning all matched and unmatched rows in each table.
In this article, we will discuss everything that you need to know about FULL OUTER JOINs, including how they work, syntax, and an example to help you understand their usage.
What is a FULL OUTER JOIN clause?
In SQL, a JOIN allows you to combine data from different tables based on a common column. The FULL OUTER JOIN returns all rows from both tables, matching them where possible, and returning NULL values where there are no matches.
This means that even if there are no matches, you will still get a result set for all rows in both tables.
Result set and NULL values
One of the most important things to understand about a FULL OUTER JOIN is that it will return NULL values where there are no matches. For example, if you join two tables and there is a row in one table that does not have a matching row in the other table, the result set will contain NULL values for columns in the other table.
SQL Server Full Outer Join Example
To better illustrate how FULL OUTER JOIN works in SQL Server, let’s use an example.
Setting up sample tables
Suppose you are working with a database that has two tables, Members and Projects. The Members table contains information about members, including their ID, name, address, and phone number, while the Projects table contains information about projects, including the project ID, project name, and a brief description.
Querying data from the tables
To query data from these tables, you would use the SELECT statement. For example, to get a list of all members, you would use:
SELECT * FROM Members;
And to get a list of all projects, you would use:
SELECT * FROM Projects;
Using a FULL OUTER JOIN clause
Now, let’s say you want to find members and projects with no matches. To do this, you would use a FULL OUTER JOIN clause.
The syntax for a FULL OUTER JOIN is as follows:
SELECT *
FROM Members
FULL OUTER JOIN Projects
ON Members.ID = Projects.ID;
This will return a result set that includes all rows from both tables, regardless of whether they have a match or not. Any rows that have a match will display the matching data, while any rows without a match will display NULL values for the columns in the table that does not have a match.
Finding members and projects with no matches
To find members and projects with no matches, you would use the WHERE clause to filter the result set. For example:
SELECT *
FROM Members
FULL OUTER JOIN Projects
ON Members.ID = Projects.ID
WHERE Members.ID IS NULL OR Projects.ID IS NULL;
This will return all rows from both tables where there is no match, which means that you will find members and projects without matches.
Conclusion
In conclusion, FULL OUTER JOIN is an important SQL statement that allows you to combine data from different tables, and returns all rows from both tables, regardless of a match. When working with SQL Server, it’s essential to understand how this clause works to perform efficient queries.
We hope this article has been informative, and you have a better understanding of FULL OUTER JOINs and their applications. In this article, we discussed SQL Server’s FULL OUTER JOIN, its definition, and function that combines data from multiple tables returning all matched and unmatched rows in each table.
We explained how it returns NULL values where there are no matches. We provided an example of how to use FULL OUTER JOIN with sample tables of members and projects and querying data from them.
In addition, we demonstrated how to find members and projects that have no matches. Understanding FULL OUTER JOIN is vital for logical and efficient SQL queries.
Consequently, with this article, you now better comprehend FULL OUTER JOIN syntax and functionality.