SQL Joins

Learning Goals

Describe how SQL join clauses combine data from multiple tables based on a common column between them
Define the common types of SQL joins: INNER JOIN and LEFT JOIN
Practice writing join statements

Introduction

We'll discuss how to retrieve specific sets of data from associated tables using SQL join statements.

Fork and clone this lesson to code along.

What Is a JOIN?

A SQL JOIN clause is a way to combine rows from two or more tables, based on a common column between them. The great thing about relational databases is that they are just that––relational. Relational databases allow us not only to store data that is interconnected, but to retrieve that data in ways that reflect that interconnectivity.

Let's say, for example, we have two tables, a cats table and an owners table. Cats and owners are associated by a foreign key of owner_id in the cats table. How would we craft a query that would grab us all of the cats with a particular owner, and even include information about that owner in the data returned to us by that query?

We know how to write a SELECT statement that gets us all of the cats with a particular owner_id. For example:

SELECT * FROM cats WHERE owner_id = 2;

This would return us the appropriate list of cats. But what if we wanted to query both the cats and the owners tables and return information about both cats and owners? This is where JOIN statements come in.

JOIN Types

There are two common types of joins that we will cover in this lesson. The following JOIN keywords will be used along with SELECT statements to achieve the described return values.

Type	Description
INNER JOIN	Returns all rows when there is at least one match in BOTH tables
LEFT (OUTER) JOIN	Returns all rows from the left table, and the matched rows from the right table

In the following code-along, we'll be crafting JOIN statements of both of the above types in order to return data about a series of connected database tables.

For this code-along, we'll be working with the database of pets and owners that we created in the last exercise. It's available here in the pets_database.db file.

For the rest of this code along, you can run the SQL commands in your terminal from the sqlite3 prompt, or you can open the pets_database.db file in DB Browser for SQLite, and run the SQL commands from the "Execute SQL" tab.

A Reminder on Foreign Keys

Note that the cats table has an owner_id column. This column is a foreign key that connects each cat to an individual owner. If an individual cat has an owner_id of 2, that indicates that that cat belongs to the owner who has an id of 2.

To confirm this, you can run the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM cats WHERE owner_id = 2;

You should see just one cat returned to us, the one that belongs to Sophie, our second owner:

id               name             age         breed          owner_id
---------------  ---------------  ----------  -------------  ----------
3                Nona             4           Tortoiseshell  2

NOTE: To output your query results in this format in the sqlite3 prompt, enter the following settings before running your query:

sqlite> .headers on
sqlite> .mode column
sqlite> .width auto

Code Along I: INNER JOIN

Definition

An INNER JOIN query will return all the rows from both tables you are querying where a certain condition is met. In other words, INNER JOIN will select all rows from both tables as long as there is a match between the specified columns of each table.

Let's take a look at a boiler-plate INNER JOIN statement, before we try it out on our pets_database:

SELECT column_names
FROM first_table
INNER JOIN second_table
ON first_table.column_name = second_table.column_name;

This may not make sense to you just yet. Let's try it out with our own database in order to gain a better understanding.

Writing INNER JOINs

Let's write an INNER JOIN query that will return the name and breed of the cat along with the name of that cat's owner:

SELECT cats.name, cats.breed, owners.name
FROM cats
INNER JOIN owners
ON cats.owner_id = owners.id;

Let's break this down:

SELECT cats.name, cats.breed, owners.name

Here, we are specifying which columns from each table we want to select data from. We use the table_name.column_name notation to grab columns from two different tables.

Next up, we join our two tables together with our INNER JOIN keyword:

FROM cats
INNER JOIN owners

Lastly, we tell our query how to connect, or join, the two tables. In other words, we tell our query which columns in each table function as the foreign key/primary key. Through this, our query will correctly identify which cat belongs to which owner and return that information accordingly.

ON cats.owner_id = owners.id;

Here, we are telling our query that the owner_id column on the Cats table is filled with data that corresponds to data in the id column of the Owners table. We are indicating that a value of 1, for example, in an individual cat's owner_id column refers to the individual owner who has an id of 1. And we are telling our query to return only those cats and owners who share this connection.

The above statement should return the following:

name             breed            name
---------------  ---------------  ----------
Maru             Scottish Fold    mugumogu
Hana             Tabby            mugumogu
Nona             Tortoiseshell    Sophie

We did it! We wrote an INNER JOIN query that returns to us all of the data in the specified columns from both tables.

Notice that the owner's name column is called name in the output above. That is because we requested the name column from the owners table. For this particular output though, it would be great if the column could read "owners_name", to distinguish it from the cat's name column.

Let's run that query again, this time aliasing the name column of the owners table as owners_name, using the AS keyword:

SELECT
  cats.name,
  cats.breed,
  owners.name AS "owner_name"
FROM cats
INNER JOIN owners
ON cats.owner_id = owners.id;

This should return:

name             breed            owner_name
---------------  ---------------  ----------
Maru             Scottish Fold    mugumogu
Hana             Tabby            mugumogu
Nona             Tortoiseshell    Sophie

You can visualize what's happening with an INNER JOIN like this:

When using an INNER JOIN to return data from multiple tables, you will only see the results from records in the first table (left side of the diagram above) and the second table (right side) when they can be connected via a foreign key; that is, when our cats table has an owner_id that corresponds with an id in the owners table.

A Note on INNER JOINs, or, Where's Lil' Bub?

When we say that an INNER JOIN returns all of the data for which a certain condition is true, we mean that any data that does not meet a JOIN condition will not be returned. The JOIN condition, in this case, is the thing that our two tables are joined ON:

ON cats.owner_id = owners.id;

Our query, therefore, will select all of the appropriate data concerning cats and owners who are joined by an owner_id/id foreign key/primary key relationship. In other words, it will select all of the cats who have a value in the owner_id column that matches a value in the id column of the owners table. Any cats that have an empty owner_id column, or have a value in that column that does not match the id of an existing owner, will not be selected by the query.

You might have noticed that the data returned by our query did not include Lil' Bub. That's because when we inserted Lil' Bub into our cats table, we didn't give her an owner_id:

id          name        age         breed          owner_id
----------  ----------  ----------  -------------  ----------
1           Maru        3           Scottish Fold  1
2           Hana        1           Tabby          1
3           Nona        4           Tortoiseshell  2
4           Lil' Bub    2           perma-kitten

Other types of JOIN statements, however, can return such data.

Code Along 2: LEFT JOIN

I don't know about you, but I miss Lil' Bub. It would be nice if we could query our database for both cat and owner information without excluding her. With a LEFT JOIN we can do just that.

`LEFT JOIN` Definition

A LEFT JOIN query returns all rows from the left, or first, table, regardless of whether or not they met the JOIN condition. The query will also return the matched data from the right, or second, table.

In the case of data from the first table that doesn't meet our JOIN condition, the resulting output will include NULL, or empty, values for the missing matched columns.

Let's take a look at a boiler-plate LEFT JOIN:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM first_table
LEFT JOIN second_table
ON first_table.column_name = second_table.column_name;

Now let's try it out on our pets_database.

Writing `LEFT JOIN`s

Execute the following command:

SELECT cats.name, cats.breed, owners.name
FROM cats
LEFT OUTER JOIN owners
ON cats.owner_id = owners.id;

You should see the following output returned to you:

name             breed            name
---------------  ---------------  ----------
Maru             Scottish Fold    mugumogu
Hana             Tabby            mugumogu
Nona             Tortoiseshell    Sophie
Lil' Bub         perma-kitten

Here, our LEFT JOIN has returned to us all of the cats (including Lil' Bub!), with matched data regarding owner's name for those cats that have an owner, and empty space in the owner's name column for the cat that doesn't have an owner.

Here's a visualization of a LEFT JOIN:

As you can see, with a left join, all the data is returned from the first table regardless of whether there's a foreign key match in the second table. We get back all the data from the cats data, and we get data from the owners table when our cats table has an owner_id that corresponds with an id in the owners table.

Other `JOIN` Types

Some SQL databases support two other types of joins: RIGHT JOIN and FULL JOIN. These are far less common than INNER JOIN and LEFT JOIN — in fact, SQLite doesn't support these types of joins, and it's very rare that you will need to use them. You can read more about these other join types here, if you're curious!

Conclusion

With INNER JOIN and LEFT JOIN, along with our knowledge of primary keys and foreign keys, we now have all the tools at our disposal to access data across related tables using SQL! These concepts will also translate back to our object oriented Ruby code once we start using Active Record, and knowing how tables relate is essential when it comes to creating the different tables you will need to effectively store data for your applications.

cmwilson21/phase-3-sql-table-relations-intro-to-joins

SQL Joins

Learning Goals

Introduction

What Is a JOIN?

JOIN Types

A Reminder on Foreign Keys

Code Along I: INNER JOIN

Definition

Writing INNER JOINs

A Note on INNER JOINs, or, Where's Lil' Bub?

Code Along 2: LEFT JOIN

`LEFT JOIN` Definition

Writing `LEFT JOIN`s

Other `JOIN` Types

Conclusion

Resources

cmwilson21/phase-3-sql-table-relations-intro-to-joins

SQL Joins

Learning Goals

Introduction

What Is a JOIN?

JOIN Types

A Reminder on Foreign Keys

Code Along I: INNER JOIN

Definition

Writing INNER JOINs

A Note on INNER JOINs, or, Where's Lil' Bub?

Code Along 2: LEFT JOIN

LEFT JOIN Definition

Writing LEFT JOINs

Other JOIN Types

Conclusion

Resources

`LEFT JOIN` Definition

Writing `LEFT JOIN`s

Other `JOIN` Types