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Overview

The RIGHT JOIN returns all matching records from the right table combined with the left table. Even if there are no match records in the left table, the RIGHT JOIN will still return a row in the result, but with NULL in each column from the left table.

We support table aliasing used in the RIGHT JOIN clause.

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Syntax

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a) Basic Syntax

SELECT column_1, column_2...
FROM table_1
RIGHT JOIN table_2
ON table_1.matching_field = table2.matching_field;

In the above syntax:

  1. SELECT column_1, column_2... defines the columns from both tables where we want to display data.
  2. FROM table_1, defines the left table with table_1 in the FORM clause.
  3. RIGHT JOIN table_2 defines the right table with table_2 in the RIGHT JOIN condition.
  4. ON table_1.matching_field = table2.matching_field sets the join condition after the ON keyword with the matching field between the two tables.

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b) Syntax with an Alias

You can use an alias to refer to the table’s name. The results will stay the same. It only helps to write the query easier.

SELECT A.column_1, B.column_2...
FROM table_1 A //table_1 as A
RIGHT JOIN table_2 B //table_2 as B
ON A.matching_field = B.matching_field;

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Example

customer table

CREATE TABLE customer (
  id int NOT NULL,
  customer_name text
);

INSERT INTO customer
    (id, customer_name)
VALUES
    (201011,'James'),
    (200914,'Harry'),
    (201029,'Ellie'),
    (201925,'Mary');

SELECT * FROM customer;

It will create a table as shown below:

+-----------+----------------+
| id        | customer_name  |
+-----------+----------------+
| 201011    | James          |
| 200914    | Harry          |
| 201029    | Ellie          |
| 201925    | Mary           |
+-----------+----------------+

orders table

CREATE TABLE orders (
  order_id int NOT NULL,
  order_date date,
  order_amount int,
  customer_id int
);

INSERT INTO orders
    (order_id, order_date, order_amount, customer_id)
VALUES
    (181893,'2021-10-08',3000,201029),
    (181894,'2021-11-18',2000,201029),
    (181891,'2021-10-08',9000,201011),
    (181892,'2021-10-08',7000,201925),
    (181897,'2021-10-08',6000,null),
    (181899,'2021-10-08',4500,201011);

SELECT * FROM orders;

It will create a table as shown below:

+------------+------------------+---------------+-------------+
| order_id   | order_date       | order_amount  | customer_id |
+------------+------------------+---------------+-------------+
| 181893     | 2021-10-08       | 3000          | 201029      |
| 181894     | 2021-11-18       | 2000          | 201029      |
| 181891     | 2021-09-10       | 9000          | 201011      |
| 181892     | 2021-10-10       | 7000          | 201925      |
| 181897     | 2022-05-27       | 6700          | null        |
| 181899     | 2021-07-22       | 4500          | 201011      |
+------------+------------------+---------------+-------------+
  1. Based on the above tables, we can write a RIGHT JOIN query as follows:
SELECT customer_name, order_date, order_amount
FROM customer
RIGHT JOIN orders
ON customer.id = orders.customer_id;
  • The customer= left table and the orders = right table.
  • Then it combines the values from the orders table using the customer_id and matches the records using the id column from the customer table.
  • If the records are equal, a new row will be created with customer_name and order_amount columns as defined in the SELECT clause.
  • ELSE will still create a new row with a NULL value from the left table (customer).
  1. The above query will give the following result:
+------------------+----------------+-----------------+
| customer_name    | order_date     | order_amount    |
+------------------+----------------+-----------------+
| James            | 2021-09-10     | 9000            |
| James            | 2021-07-22     | 4500            |
| Ellie            | 2021-10-08     | 3000            |
| Ellie            | 2021-11-18     | 2000            |
| Mary             | 2021-10-10     | 7000            |
| null             | 2022-05-27     | 6700            |
+------------------+----------------+-----------------+

Based on the data from the customer and orders tables:

  • The order id: 181893 matches the customer: Ellie.
  • The order id: 181894 matches the customer: Ellie.
  • The order id: 181891 matches the customer: James.
  • The order id: 181899 matches the customer: James.
  • The order id: 181892 matches the customer: Mary.
  • The order id: 181897 doesn’t match with any customer. Thus the customer_name column is filled with: null.
A customer can have zero or many orders. An item from orders belongs to zero or one customer.

The following Venn diagram illustrates the RIGHT JOIN: