How to use mysql JOIN without ON condition?

Question

Is it possible to write join query without ON statement? and how do these joins differ LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN works.

Solution 1

MySQL documentation covers this topic.

Here is a synopsis. When using join or inner join, the on condition is optional. This is different from the ANSI standard and different from almost any other database. The effect is a cross join. Similarly, you can use an on clause with cross join, which also differs from standard SQL.

A cross join creates a Cartesian product -- that is, every possible combination of 1 row from the first table and 1 row from the second. The cross join for a table with three rows ('a', 'b', and 'c') and a table with four rows (say 1, 2, 3, 4) would have 12 rows.

In practice, if you want to do a cross join, then use cross join:

from A cross join B

is much better than:

from A, B

and:

from A join B -- with no on clause

The on clause is required for a right or left outer join, so the discussion is not relevant for them.

Solution 2

See some example in http://www.sitepoint.com/understanding-sql-joins-mysql-database/

You can use 'USING' instead of 'ON' as in the query

SELECT * FROM table1 LEFT JOIN table2 USING (id);

Solution 3

There are several ways to do a cross join or cartesian product:

SELECT column_names FROM table1 CROSS JOIN table2;

SELECT column_names FROM table1, table2;

SELECT column_names FROM table1 JOIN table2;

Neglecting the on condition in the third case is what results in a cross join.

Comments

[rmirabelle]

For additional clarification, the joining column in both tables must be identically named for USING to work