Presented by:

Sheeri K. Cabral

Writing Joins in MySQL

Topics Covered
JOINs

OUTER

INNER

LEFT, RIGHT, FULL OUTER

INNER, NATURAL, comma (,)

CROSS

Subqueries

DEPENDENT SUBQUERY

DERIVED TABLE

Changing a subquery to a JOIN

Example

6-week intensive course

Homework every Friday

Each assignment is 6% of your grade

Lowest grade is dropped

30% of your grade, total

Weekly tests every Monday

Same grading structure as hw

Midterm Wed. 1/20 15% of your grade

Final exam Friday 2/12 25% of your grade

Sample data

work table

CREATE TABLE work (

work_id tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
wname varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
given date DEFAULT NULL,
pct_of_grade tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (work_id)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1

Sample data
mysql> SELECT * FROM work;
+---------+---------+------------+--------------+
| work_id | wname
| given
| pct_of_grade |
+---------+---------+------------+--------------+
|
1 | hw1
| 2010-01-01 |
6 |
|
2 | test1
| 2010-01-04 |
6 |
|
3 | hw2
| 2010-01-08 |
6 |
|
4 | test2
| 2010-01-11 |
6 |
|
5 | hw3
| 2010-01-15 |
6 |
|
6 | test3
| 2010-01-18 |
6 |
|
7 | midterm | 2010-01-20 |
15 |
|
8 | hw4
| 2010-01-22 |
6 |
|
9 | test4
| 2010-01-25 |
6 |
|
10 | hw5
| 2010-01-29 |
6 |
|
11 | test5
| 2010-02-01 |
6 |
|
12 | hw6
| 2010-02-05 |
6 |
|
13 | test6
| 2010-02-08 |
6 |
|
14 | final
| 2010-02-12 |
25 |
+---------+---------+------------+--------------+

Sample data

student table

CREATE TABLE student (

student_id tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT
name varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
email varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (student_id)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

Entries

+------------+-----------------+------------------+
| student_id | name
| email
|
+------------+-----------------+------------------+
|
1 | Sheeri Cabral
| [email protected]
|
|
2 | Giuseppe Maxia | [email protected] |
|
3 | Colin Charles
| [email protected]
|
|
4 | Ronald Bradford | [email protected]
|
+------------+-----------------+------------------+

Sample data

student_work table

Create Table: CREATE TABLE student_work (

student_id tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL,
work_id tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL,
grade_num tinyint(3) unsigned DEFAULT NULL,
grade_letter char(2) DEFAULT NULL,
for_grade enum('y','n') DEFAULT 'y',
KEY student_id (student_id),
KEY work_id (work_id),
CONSTRAINT student_work_ibfk_1 FOREIGN KEY (student_id)
REFERENCES student (student_id),
CONSTRAINT student_work_ibfk_2 FOREIGN KEY (work_id)
REFERENCES work (work_id)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

Sample data

student_work entries

INSERT INTO student_work (student_id,work_id,grade_num)

VALUES
- Sheeri had 88 for each hw/test except hw6 (72),
- midterm 88, final 90, and she did not take test3.
(1,1,88),(1,2,88),(1,3,88),(1,4,88),(1,5,88),(1,7,88),
(1,9,88),(1,10,88),(1,11,88),(1,12,72),(1,13,88),
(1,14,90),
- Giuseppe completed all assignments/tests:
(2,1,100),(2,2,100),(2,3,90),(2,4,88),(2,5,88),(2,6,85),
(2,7,95),(2,8,100),(2,9,100),(2,10,82),(2,11,85),
(2,12,89),(2,13,90),(2,14,96);

Sample data

student_work entries

INSERT INTO student_work (student_id,work_id,grade_num)

VALUES
- Colin is busy planning 2010 User Conference, and
- did not complete any hw assignments, and as a result
- did not do well on the tests
(3,2,75),(3,4,77),(3,6,89),(3,7,85),(3,9,72),(3,11,89),
(3,13,70),(3,14,80)
- Ronald knew his stuff but got busy as the course
- went on....
(4,1,100),(4,2,100),(4,3,95),(4,4,95),(4,5,90),(4,6,90),
(4,7,95),(4,8,85),(4,9,85),(4,10,80),(4,11,80),(4,12,75),
(4,13,75),(4,14,83);

Sample data

Global grade_num_letter table

CREATE TABLE grade_num_letter (

grade_num tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL,
grade_letter char(2) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
PRIMARY KEY (grade_num)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
mysql> select min(grade_num),max(grade_num),count(*) from
grade_num_letter;
+----------------+----------------+----------+
| min(grade_num) | max(grade_num) | count(*) |
+----------------+----------------+----------+
|
0 |
100 |
101 |
+----------------+----------------+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Venn Diagram

table 1

overlap

table 2

t1.col1

t1.col2=

t2.col2

t1.col3

t2.col1

t2.col3

MySQL JOINs

A JOIN clause is optional

ON (tbl1.col1 ? tbl2.col2 AND ...)

Can also specify tbl1.col1 ? expr, (tbl1.col1<10)

USING (col1,col2,...)

Same as tbl1.col1=tbl2.col1 AND tbl1.col2=tbl2.col2

INNER, CROSS, comma (,) all do the same thing

As of MySQL 5.0, COMMA join is lower

precedence than other JOINS

SELECT...FROM tbl1, tbl2 ON (tbl1.col=tbl2.col)

INNER JOIN tbl3 ON (tbl2.col=tbl3.col) WHERE
tbl1.col=tbl2.col;

CROSS JOIN

Cartesian product

All combinations
SELECT name, wname
FROM student CROSS JOIN work;

Usually not desired

INNER JOIN

table 1

overlap

table 2

t1.col1

t1.col2=

t2.col2

t1.col3

t2.col1

t2.col3

INNER JOIN

Show only rows that matches on both sides

SELECT s.grade_num, g.grade_letter

FROM student_work AS s
INNER JOIN grade_num_letter AS g
ON (s.grade_num=g.grade_num);

CROSS, INNER are semantic

CROSS JOIN acting as an INNER JOIN:

SELECT s.grade_num, g.grade_letter

FROM student_work AS s
CROSS JOIN grade_num_letter AS g
ON (s.grade_num=g.grade_num);

INNER JOIN acting as a CROSS JOIN:

SELECT name, wname FROM student INNER JOIN

work;

In fact you do not need either!

JOIN acting as an INNER JOIN:

SELECT s.grade_num, g.grade_letter

FROM student_work AS s
JOIN grade_num_letter AS g
ON (s.grade_num=g.grade_num);

JOIN acting as a CROSS JOIN:

SELECT name, wname FROM student JOIN work;

JOIN clause

ON () or USING(...)

Can specify in the WHERE clause

Same results

My Best Practices

Don't use a comma to join

Never use JOIN; always use INNER JOIN or

CROSS JOIN

Unexpected behavior with other JOINs in a query

Whoever debugs will know your intention

Use a JOIN clause instead of a WHERE clause

More clear what is a filter and what is a join

Getting the letter grades

student_work

grade_num_letter

AS s

AS g

student_id

grade_num_letter

work_id

s.grade_num=

grade_num_letter

g.grade_num

for_grade

OUTER JOIN

Show all rows that match on one side

get all grades for test3

SELECT name, wname, grade_num

FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT OUTER JOIN student_work
USING (student_id,work_id)
WHERE wname='test3';

OUTER JOIN

LEFT OUTER JOIN

RIGHT OUTER JOIN

OUTER is redundant

LEFT JOIN, inclusive

table 1

overlap

table 2

t1.col1

t1.col2=

t2.col2

t1.col3

t2.col1

t2.col3

LEFT JOIN, exclusive

table 1

overlap

table 2

t1.col1

t1.col2=

t2.col2

t1.col3

t2.col1

t2.col3

....WHERE t2.col1 IS NULL

FULL OUTER JOIN

Does not exist in MySQL

Can be simulated

FULL OUTER JOIN, inclusive

table 1 overlap
t1.col2

t1.col1=

t1.col3

t2.col1

table 2
t2.col2
t2.col3

SELECT FROM tbl1 LEFT JOIN tbl2 ...

UNION [ALL] FROM tbl1 RIGHT JOIN tbl2

FULL OUTER JOIN

If it is already in the first result, do not put it in the
second result:

SELECT FROM tbl1 LEFT JOIN tbl2 ...

UNION ALL FROM tbl1 RIGHT JOIN tbl2
WHERE tbl1.col IS NULL
nd

In the 2 query in the union, only rows that have no

match in tbl1 are taken.

FULL OUTER JOIN, exclusive

table 1 overlap
t1.col2

t1.col1=

t1.col3

t2.col1

table 2
t2.col2
t2.col3

SELECT
FROM tbl1 LEFT JOIN tbl2 ...
WHERE tbl2.col1 IS NULL
UNION ALL SELECT FROM tbl1 RIGHT JOIN tbl2
WHERE tbl1.col IS NULL

NATURAL modifier

Does not use a JOIN clause

JOIN clause is all matching field names

Works for:

NATURAL JOIN

NATURAL LEFT JOIN

NATURAL RIGHT JOIN

NATURAL JOIN example

Instead of:

SELECT name,grade_num
FROM student INNER JOIN student_work USING
(student_id)
WHERE name='Sheeri Cabral';

Write:

SELECT name,grade_num
FROM student NATURAL JOIN student_work
WHERE name='Sheeri Cabral';

NATURAL JOIN gone awry

Having the same field names when the fields are
not equal:

SELECT sw.grade_num, gnl.grade_letter FROM

student_work AS sw INNER JOIN
grade_num_letter AS gnl USING (grade_num);

Is NOT equivalent to:

SELECT sw.grade_num, gnl.grade_letter FROM

student_work AS sw NATURAL JOIN
grade_num_letter AS gnl;

This is why the field is called work.wname!

Subqueries

A subquery is a query within a query

More natural way of thinking for procedural

thinkers

SQL is declarative, and optimized that way

Procedural Thinking

How to get the names and grades for test1

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1

Get names and grades

SELECT name, grade_num

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1
SELECT name, grade_num

start with the join table

FROM student_work

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student_work

get the name

INNER JOIN student USING (student_id)

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student_work
INNER JOIN student USING (student_id)

But only get test1

WHERE work_id IN (SELECT work_id FROM work

WHERE wname='test1')

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student_work
INNER JOIN student USING (student_id)
WHERE work_id IN (SELECT work_id FROM work
WHERE wname='test1');

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student_work
INNER JOIN student USING (student_id)
WHERE work_id IN (SELECT work_id FROM work
WHERE wname='test1');

Declarative Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1

I have 3 sets of data

student has the name

student_work has the grades

work has the name of the assignment

SELECT name, grade_num FROM .... WHERE

wname='test1'

Declarative Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1

student and student_work relate by student_id

SELECT name, grade_num FROM

student INNER JOIN student_work USING
(student_id)
....
WHERE wname='test1';

Declarative Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1

work and student_work relate by work_id

SELECT name, grade_num FROM

student INNER JOIN student_work USING
(student_id)
INNER JOIN work USING (work_id)
WHERE wname='test1';
SELECT name, wname, grade_num
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT OUTER JOIN student_work
USING (student_id,work_id)
WHERE wname='test3';

But.....
That falls apart for test3, because Sheeri did not
take test3.

So now what?

Get all grades for test3

Start with:

SELECT name, grade_num FROM....

WHERE wname='test3';

Get all grades for test3

We want a listing for each row in work against
each row in student

SELECT name, grade_num

FROM student CROSS JOIN work
....
WHERE wname='test3';

Get all grades for test3

We want a listing for each row in work against
each row in student

What we want, not how to get it. That's declarative!

Get all grades for test3

Grades might not exist for all the rows

...so we'll need an outer join

Fill in the values from student_work for the grades

that do exist, joining on student_id and work_id:

SELECT name, grade_num

FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id) WHERE wname='test3';

Drop the lowest test score

How?

Drop the lowest test score

For our purposes, NULL = 0.
So we'll need to keep the CROSS JOIN as in the
previous query:
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id)

Drop the lowest test score

Get all tests:
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id) WHERE wname like 'test_';
We expect 24 rows returned....

Drop the lowest test score

Get minimum grade from all tests per person:
SELECT name, min(grade_num)
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id) WHERE wname like 'test_'
GROUP BY student_id;
We expect 4 rows

Drop the lowest test score

Convert to an UPDATE statement.....
SELECT name, min(grade_num)
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id) WHERE wname like 'test_'
GROUP BY student_id;
This is hard!

Drop the lowest test score

Now add in the rest...
UPDATE student_work as upd
INNER JOIN student_work as sel USING
(student_id, work_id)
RIGHT JOIN student USING (student_id, work_id)
CROSS JOIN work
SET upd.for_grade='n' WHERE wname like 'test_'
AND upd.grade_num=min(sel.grade_num)
GROUP BY sel.student_id;

That doesn't work....

Sometimes you need a subquery.....
UPDATE student_work
SET for_grade='n' WHERE
CONCAT(student_id,work_id) IN (SELECT
CONCAT(student_id,work_id) FROM
student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id) WHERE wname like 'test_'
GROUP BY student_id);

That doesn't work either....

Sometimes you need to do it in >1 query!

Sometimes it's not necessary, but more optimal

Problem is the min(grade_num)....GROUP BY

So use a temporary table:

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE grade_to_drop

SELECT min(coalesce(grade_num,0)) FROM
student CROSS JOIN work LEFT JOIN student_work
USING (student_id,work_id) WHERE wname like
'test_' group by student_id;

Temporary table
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE grade_to_drop (
student_id tinyint unsigned not null,
work_id tinyint unsigned default null,
grade_num tinyint unsigned default null
);

Temporary table
INSERT INTO grade_to_drop (student_id,
grade_num)
SELECT student_id,min(coalesce(grade_num,0))
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING
(student_id,work_id)
WHERE wname like 'test_'GROUP BY student_id;

Temporary table
UPDATE grade_to_drop AS gtd INNER JOIN
student_work AS sw USING
(student_id,grade_num)
SET gtd.work_id = sw.work_id ;
UPDATE student_work AS sw INNER JOIN
grade_to_drop AS gtd USING
(student_id,work_id)
SET sw.for_grade='n' ;

Temporary table
Repeat for dropping the lowest homework
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS grade_to_drop;

More best practices

EXPLAIN all your queries, and get the best type
possible

Avoid JOIN hints (index hints, STRAIGHT_JOIN)

Try to optimize subqueries into JOINs if possible

That's it!
Questions?

Comments?

01/29/10

Presented by:
Sheeri K. Cabral

01/29/10

Writing Joins in MySQL

Topics Covered
JOINs

OUTER

INNER

LEFT, RIGHT, FULL OUTER

INNER, NATURAL, comma (,)

CROSS

Subqueries

DEPENDENT SUBQUERY

DERIVED TABLE

Changing a subquery to a JOIN

2

Example

6-week intensive course

Homework every Friday

Each assignment is 6% of your grade

Lowest grade is dropped

30% of your grade, total

Weekly tests every Monday

Same grading structure as hw

Midterm Wed. 1/20 15% of your grade

Final exam Friday 2/12 25% of your grade

3

Hw due the first day of class, how cruel!

Sample data

work table

CREATE TABLE work (

work_id tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
wname varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
given date DEFAULT NULL,
pct_of_grade tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (work_id)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1

Sample data
mysql> SELECT * FROM work;
+---------+---------+------------+--------------+
| work_id | wname
| given
| pct_of_grade |
+---------+---------+------------+--------------+
|
1 | hw1
| 2010-01-01 |
6 |
|
2 | test1
| 2010-01-04 |
6 |
|
3 | hw2
| 2010-01-08 |
6 |
|
4 | test2
| 2010-01-11 |
6 |
|
5 | hw3
| 2010-01-15 |
6 |
|
6 | test3
| 2010-01-18 |
6 |
|
7 | midterm | 2010-01-20 |
15 |
|
8 | hw4
| 2010-01-22 |
6 |
|
9 | test4
| 2010-01-25 |
6 |
|
10 | hw5
| 2010-01-29 |
6 |
|
11 | test5
| 2010-02-01 |
6 |
|
12 | hw6
| 2010-02-05 |
6 |
|
13 | test6
| 2010-02-08 |
6 |
|
14 | final
| 2010-02-12 |
25 |
+---------+---------+------------+--------------+
5

Sample data

student table

CREATE TABLE student (

student_id tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT
name varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
email varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (student_id)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

Entries

+------------+-----------------+------------------+
| student_id | name
| email
|
+------------+-----------------+------------------+
|
1 | Sheeri Cabral
| [email protected]
|
|
2 | Giuseppe Maxia | [email protected] |
|
3 | Colin Charles
| [email protected]
|
|
4 | Ronald Bradford | [email protected]
|
+------------+-----------------+------------------+
6

Sample data

student_work table

Create Table: CREATE TABLE student_work (

student_id tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL,
work_id tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL,
grade_num tinyint(3) unsigned DEFAULT NULL,
grade_letter char(2) DEFAULT NULL,
for_grade enum('y','n') DEFAULT 'y',
KEY student_id (student_id),
KEY work_id (work_id),
CONSTRAINT student_work_ibfk_1 FOREIGN KEY (student_id)
REFERENCES student (student_id),
CONSTRAINT student_work_ibfk_2 FOREIGN KEY (work_id)
REFERENCES work (work_id)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

Sample data

student_work entries

INSERT INTO student_work (student_id,work_id,grade_num)

VALUES
- Sheeri had 88 for each hw/test except hw6 (72),
- midterm 88, final 90, and she did not take test3.
(1,1,88),(1,2,88),(1,3,88),(1,4,88),(1,5,88),(1,7,88),
(1,9,88),(1,10,88),(1,11,88),(1,12,72),(1,13,88),
(1,14,90),
- Giuseppe completed all assignments/tests:
(2,1,100),(2,2,100),(2,3,90),(2,4,88),(2,5,88),(2,6,85),
(2,7,95),(2,8,100),(2,9,100),(2,10,82),(2,11,85),
(2,12,89),(2,13,90),(2,14,96);

Sample data

student_work entries

INSERT INTO student_work (student_id,work_id,grade_num)

VALUES
- Colin is busy planning 2010 User Conference, and
- did not complete any hw assignments, and as a result
- did not do well on the tests
(3,2,75),(3,4,77),(3,6,89),(3,7,85),(3,9,72),(3,11,89),
(3,13,70),(3,14,80)
- Ronald knew his stuff but got busy as the course
- went on....
(4,1,100),(4,2,100),(4,3,95),(4,4,95),(4,5,90),(4,6,90),
(4,7,95),(4,8,85),(4,9,85),(4,10,80),(4,11,80),(4,12,75),
(4,13,75),(4,14,83);

Sample data

Global grade_num_letter table

CREATE TABLE grade_num_letter (

grade_num tinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL,
grade_letter char(2) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
PRIMARY KEY (grade_num)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
mysql> select min(grade_num),max(grade_num),count(*) from
grade_num_letter;
+----------------+----------------+----------+
| min(grade_num) | max(grade_num) | count(*) |
+----------------+----------------+----------+
|
0 |
100 |
101 |
+----------------+----------------+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

10

Venn Diagram

table 1

overlap

table 2

t1.col1

t1.col2=

t2.col2

t1.col3

t2.col1

t2.col3

11

The overlap is only what is equal, even though there

may be 2 fields with the same name.

MySQL JOINs

A JOIN clause is optional

ON (tbl1.col1 ? tbl2.col2 AND ...)

Can also specify tbl1.col1 ? expr, (tbl1.col1<10)

USING (col1,col2,...)

Same as tbl1.col1=tbl2.col1 AND tbl1.col2=tbl2.col2

INNER, CROSS, comma (,) all do the same thing

As of MySQL 5.0, COMMA join is lower

precedence than other JOINS

SELECT...FROM tbl1, tbl2 ON (tbl1.col=tbl2.col)

INNER JOIN tbl3 ON (tbl2.col=tbl3.col) WHERE
tbl1.col=tbl2.col;
12

CROSS JOIN

Cartesian product

All combinations
SELECT name, wname
FROM student CROSS JOIN work;

Usually not desired

13

INNER JOIN

table 1

overlap

table 2

t1.col1

t1.col2=

t2.col2

t1.col3

t2.col1

t2.col3

14

Show only rows that matches on both sides

Note that the SELECT may show the columns, but
the venn diagram is showing the matching.

INNER JOIN

Show only rows that matches on both sides

SELECT s.grade_num, g.grade_letter

FROM student_work AS s
INNER JOIN grade_num_letter AS g
ON (s.grade_num=g.grade_num);

15

CROSS, INNER are semantic

CROSS JOIN acting as an INNER JOIN:

SELECT s.grade_num, g.grade_letter

FROM student_work AS s
CROSS JOIN grade_num_letter AS g
ON (s.grade_num=g.grade_num);

INNER JOIN acting as a CROSS JOIN:

SELECT name, wname FROM student INNER JOIN

work;
16

In fact you do not need either!

JOIN acting as an INNER JOIN:

SELECT s.grade_num, g.grade_letter

FROM student_work AS s
JOIN grade_num_letter AS g
ON (s.grade_num=g.grade_num);

JOIN acting as a CROSS JOIN:

SELECT name, wname FROM student JOIN work;

17

JOIN clause

ON () or USING(...)

Can specify in the WHERE clause

Same results

18

My Best Practices

Don't use a comma to join

Never use JOIN; always use INNER JOIN or

CROSS JOIN

Unexpected behavior with other JOINs in a query

Whoever debugs will know your intention

Use a JOIN clause instead of a WHERE clause

More clear what is a filter and what is a join

19

Getting the letter grades

student_work

grade_num_letter

AS s

AS g

student_id

grade_num_letter

work_id

s.grade_num=

grade_num_letter

g.grade_num

for_grade

20

OUTER JOIN

Show all rows that match on one side

get all grades for test3

SELECT name, wname, grade_num

FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT OUTER JOIN student_work
USING (student_id,work_id)
WHERE wname='test3';

21

OUTER JOIN

LEFT OUTER JOIN

RIGHT OUTER JOIN

OUTER is redundant

22

LEFT JOIN, inclusive

table 1

overlap

table 2

t1.col1

t1.col2=

t2.col2

t1.col3

t2.col1

t2.col3

23

LEFT JOIN, exclusive

table 1

overlap

table 2

t1.col1

t1.col2=

t2.col2

t1.col3

t2.col1

t2.col3

....WHERE t2.col1 IS NULL

24

RIGHT JOIN is just a mirror image

FULL OUTER JOIN

Does not exist in MySQL

Can be simulated

25

FULL OUTER JOIN, inclusive

table 1 overlap
t1.col2

t1.col1=

t1.col3

t2.col1

table 2
t2.col2
t2.col3

SELECT FROM tbl1 LEFT JOIN tbl2 ...

UNION [ALL] FROM tbl1 RIGHT JOIN tbl2
26

UNION will eliminate duplicate rows

UNION ALL just adds togeher the 2 sets

FULL OUTER JOIN

If it is already in the first result, do not put it in the
second result:

SELECT FROM tbl1 LEFT JOIN tbl2 ...

UNION ALL FROM tbl1 RIGHT JOIN tbl2
WHERE tbl1.col IS NULL
In the 2nd query in the union, only rows that have no
match in tbl1 are taken.

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FULL OUTER JOIN, exclusive

table 1 overlap
t1.col2

t1.col1=

t1.col3

t2.col1

table 2
t2.col2
t2.col3

SELECT
FROM tbl1 LEFT JOIN tbl2 ...
WHERE tbl2.col1 IS NULL
UNION ALL SELECT FROM tbl1 RIGHT JOIN tbl2
WHERE tbl1.col IS NULL
28

NATURAL modifier

Does not use a JOIN clause

JOIN clause is all matching field names

Works for:

NATURAL JOIN

NATURAL LEFT JOIN

NATURAL RIGHT JOIN

29

NATURAL JOIN example

Instead of:

SELECT name,grade_num
FROM student INNER JOIN student_work USING
(student_id)
WHERE name='Sheeri Cabral';

Write:

SELECT name,grade_num
FROM student NATURAL JOIN student_work
WHERE name='Sheeri Cabral';
30

NATURAL JOIN gone awry

Having the same field names when the fields are
not equal:

SELECT sw.grade_num, gnl.grade_letter FROM

student_work AS sw INNER JOIN
grade_num_letter AS gnl USING (grade_num);

Is NOT equivalent to:

SELECT sw.grade_num, gnl.grade_letter FROM

student_work AS sw NATURAL JOIN
grade_num_letter AS gnl;

This is why the field is called work.wname!

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Subqueries

A subquery is a query within a query

More natural way of thinking for procedural

thinkers

SQL is declarative, and optimized that way

32

Procedural Thinking

How to get the names and grades for test1

33

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1

Get names and grades

SELECT name, grade_num

34

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1
SELECT name, grade_num

start with the join table

FROM student_work

35

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student_work

get the name

INNER JOIN student USING (student_id)

36

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student_work
INNER JOIN student USING (student_id)

But only get test1

WHERE work_id IN (SELECT work_id FROM work

WHERE wname='test1')

37

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student_work
INNER JOIN student USING (student_id)
WHERE work_id IN (SELECT work_id FROM work
WHERE wname='test1');

38

Procedural Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student_work
INNER JOIN student USING (student_id)
WHERE work_id IN (SELECT work_id FROM work
WHERE wname='test1');

39

Declarative Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1

I have 3 sets of data

student has the name

student_work has the grades

work has the name of the assignment

SELECT name, grade_num FROM .... WHERE

wname='test1'

40

Declarative Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1

student and student_work relate by student_id

SELECT name, grade_num FROM

student INNER JOIN student_work USING
(student_id)
....
WHERE wname='test1';

41

Declarative Thinking: Get the names

and grades for test1

work and student_work relate by work_id

SELECT name, grade_num FROM

student INNER JOIN student_work USING
(student_id)
INNER JOIN work USING (work_id)
WHERE wname='test1';
SELECT name, wname, grade_num
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT OUTER JOIN student_work
USING (student_id,work_id)
WHERE wname='test3';

42

But.....
That falls apart for test3, because Sheeri did not
take test3.

So now what?

43

Get all grades for test3

Start with:

SELECT name, grade_num FROM....

WHERE wname='test3';

44

Get all grades for test3

We want a listing for each row in work against
each row in student

SELECT name, grade_num

FROM student CROSS JOIN work
....
WHERE wname='test3';

45

Get all grades for test3

We want a listing for each row in work against
each row in student

What we want, not how to get it. That's declarative!

46

Get all grades for test3

Grades might not exist for all the rows

...so we'll need an outer join

Fill in the values from student_work for the grades

that do exist, joining on student_id and work_id:

SELECT name, grade_num

FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id) WHERE wname='test3';
47

Drop the lowest test score

How?

48

Drop the lowest test score

For our purposes, NULL = 0.
So we'll need to keep the CROSS JOIN as in the
previous query:
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id)

49

Drop the lowest test score

Get all tests:
SELECT name, grade_num
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id) WHERE wname like 'test_';
We expect 24 rows returned....
50

Drop the lowest test score

Get minimum grade from all tests per person:
SELECT name, min(grade_num)
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id) WHERE wname like 'test_'
GROUP BY student_id;
We expect 4 rows
51

Drop the lowest test score

Convert to an UPDATE statement.....
SELECT name, min(grade_num)
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id) WHERE wname like 'test_'
GROUP BY student_id;
This is hard!
52

Drop the lowest test score

Now add in the rest...
UPDATE student_work as upd
INNER JOIN student_work as sel USING
(student_id, work_id)
RIGHT JOIN student USING (student_id, work_id)
CROSS JOIN work
SET upd.for_grade='n' WHERE wname like 'test_'
AND upd.grade_num=min(sel.grade_num)
GROUP BY sel.student_id;
53

That doesn't work....

Sometimes you need a subquery.....
UPDATE student_work
SET for_grade='n' WHERE
CONCAT(student_id,work_id) IN (SELECT
CONCAT(student_id,work_id) FROM
student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING (student_id,
work_id) WHERE wname like 'test_'
GROUP BY student_id);
54

That doesn't work either....

Sometimes you need to do it in >1 query!

Sometimes it's not necessary, but more optimal

Problem is the min(grade_num)....GROUP BY

So use a temporary table:

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE grade_to_drop

SELECT min(coalesce(grade_num,0)) FROM
student CROSS JOIN work LEFT JOIN student_work
USING (student_id,work_id) WHERE wname like
'test_' group by student_id;

55

Temporary table
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE grade_to_drop (
student_id tinyint unsigned not null,
work_id tinyint unsigned default null,
grade_num tinyint unsigned default null
);

56

Temporary table
INSERT INTO grade_to_drop (student_id,
grade_num)
SELECT student_id,min(coalesce(grade_num,0))
FROM student CROSS JOIN work
LEFT JOIN student_work USING
(student_id,work_id)
WHERE wname like 'test_'GROUP BY student_id;

57

Temporary table
UPDATE grade_to_drop AS gtd INNER JOIN
student_work AS sw USING
(student_id,grade_num)
SET gtd.work_id = sw.work_id ;
UPDATE student_work AS sw INNER JOIN
grade_to_drop AS gtd USING
(student_id,work_id)
SET sw.for_grade='n' ;

58

Temporary table
Repeat for dropping the lowest homework
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS grade_to_drop;

59

More best practices

EXPLAIN all your queries, and get the best type
possible

Avoid JOIN hints (index hints, STRAIGHT_JOIN)

Try to optimize subqueries into JOINs if possible

60

That's it!
Questions?

Comments?

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