Lab 4

Lab Session 04
OBJECT
Data retrieval operations in SQL using join operations
THEORY
In lab session 3, we learned different ways to retrieve data from a single table. However, we
frequently need data from more than one table. For example, suppose we need a report that displays
employee id, name, job and department name. The first three attributes are present in EMP table
where as the last one is in DEPT table (see lab session 2). To produce the report, we need to link the
EMP and DEPT tables and access data from both of them. This is called join operation. To gain
better understanding of join, it would be helpful to first clarify the concept of Cartesian Product.
Figure 4.1: The join operation collects data from multiple sources
Cartesian Product
A Cartesian Product results when all rows in the first table are joined to all rows in the second table.
A Cartesian product is formed under following conditions:-
i. When a join condition is omitted
ii. When a join condition is invalid
Consider the following example:- SELECT *
FROM EMP, DEPT;
In the above example, if EMP table has 14 rows and DEPT table has 4 rows, then their Cartesian
product would generate 14 x 4 = 56 rows.
In fact, the ISO standard provides a special format of the SELECT statement for the Cartesian
product:-
SELECT *
FROM EMP CROSS JOIN DEPT;
A Cartesian product tends to generate a large number of rows and its result is rarely useful. It is
always necessary to include a valid join condition in a WHERE clause. Hence a join is always a
subset of a Cartesian product.
Types of Joins
There are various forms of join operation, each with subtle differences, some more useful than
others. The Oracle 9i database offers join syntax that is SQL 1999 compliant. Prior to release 9i, the
join syntax was different from the ANSI standard. However, the new syntax does not offer any
performance benefits over the Oracle proprietary join syntax that existed in prior releases.
i. Inner-Join/Equi-Join
If the join contains an equality condition, it is called equi-join.
Examples
i. To retrieve the employee name, their job and department name, we need to extract data from
two tables, EMP and DEPT. This type of join is called equijoin-that is, values in the
DEPTNO column on both tables must be equal. Equijoin is also called simple join or inner
join.
SELECT E.ENAME, E.JOB, D.DNAME
FROM EMP E, DEPT D
WHERE E.DEPTNO = D.DEPTNO;
The SQL-1999 standard provides the following alternative ways to specify this join:-
SELECT ENAME, JOB, DNAME
FROM EMP NATURAL JOIN DEPT; ii.
Outer-Join
A join between two tables that returns the results of the inner join as well as unmatched rows in
the left or right tables is a left or right outer join respectively. A full outer join is a join between
two tables that returns the results of a left and right join.
Left Outer Join
SELECT E.ENAME, D.DEPTNO, D.DNAME
FROM EMP E, DEPT D
WHERE E.DEPTNO = D.DEPTNO(+); NOTE: The outer join operator appears on only that
side that has information missing.
The SQL-1999 standard provides the following alternative way to specify this join:-
FROM EMP E LEFT OUTER JOIN DEPT D
ON (E.DEPTNO = D.DEPTNO);
Right Outer Join
FROM EMP E, DEPT D
WHERE E.DEPTNO(+) = D.DEPTNO;
The SQL-1999 standard provides the following alternative way to specify this join:-
FROM EMP E RIGHT OUTER JOIN DEPT D
ON (E.DEPTNO = D.DEPTNO);
NOTE: In the equi-join condition of EMP and DEPT tables, department OPERATIONS does not
appear because no one works in that department. In the outer join condition, the OPERATIONS
department also appears. The output is shown in figure 4.2.
Figure 4.2: Joining tables using right outer-join
Full Outer Join

The SQL-1999 standard provides the following way to specify this join:-
FROM EMP E FULL OUTER JOIN DEPT D ON
(E.DEPTNO = D.DEPTNO);
iii. Non-Equijoin
If the join contains inequality condition, it is called non-equijoin. E.g. to retrieve employee name,
salary and their grades using non-equijoins, we need to extract data from two tables,
EMP and SALGRADE.
SELECT E.ENAME, E.SAL, S.GRADE
FROM EMP E, SALGRADE S
WHERE E.SAL
BETWEEN S.LOSAL AND S.HISAL;
iv. Self Join

To find the name of each employee’s manager, we need to join the EMP table to itself, or perform
a self join.
SELECT WORKER.ENAME || ‘ works for ‘ || MANAGER.ENAME
FROM EMP WORKER, EMP MANAGER
WHERE WORKER.MGR = MANAGER.EMPNO;
EXERCISES
i. To display the employee name, department name, and location of all employees
who earn a commission.
ii. To display all the employee’s name (including KING who has no manager) and
their manager name.
iii. To display the name of all employees whose manager is KING.
iv. Create a unique listing of all jobs that in department 30. Include the location of
department 30 in the Output.
v. Write a query to display the name, job, department number and department
name for all employees who work in DALLAS.
vi. Display the employee name and employee number along with their manager’s
name Manager Number. Label the columns Employee, Emp#, Manager, and
Manager#, respectively.
*****

Lab 4

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lab 4

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lab 4

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lab Session 04

Full Outer Join

iv. Self Join

iii. To display the name of all employees whose manager is KING.

You might also like