DBMS

Joins in Relational
Algebra

Understanding Inner and Outer Joins

 Natural Join
• Natural Join combines the tables based on
columns with the same name and data type.

• Automatically matches common columns

between tables.

• SQL: SELECT * FROM Employees NATURAL

JOIN Departments;

• PQL: Employees ⋈ Departments

 Example - Natural Join
emp_id name dept_id
dept_id dept_name
101 Alice 1
102 Bob 2 1 HR
103 Charlie 1 2 Engineering
104 David 3 3 Marketing
105 Eva NULL 4 Finance

Employees Departments

emp_id name dept_id dept_name

101 Alice 1 HR
102 Bob 2 Engineering
103 Charlie 1 HR
104 David 3 Marketing

Employees ⋈ Departments
 Theta Join
• Theta Join combines the tables based on a
specified condition (not necessarily equality).
• Conditional Operators incudes: >,<, <=, >= etc.
SQL –
SELECT * FROM Employees E, Departments D
WHERE E.dept_id < D.dept_id;
PQL-
Employees⋈(E.dept_id<D.dept_id) Departments
 Example - Theta Join
emp_id name dept_id dept_id dept_name
101 Alice 1 1 HR
102 Bob 2 2 Engineering
103 Charlie 1
3 Marketing
105 Eva NULL
4 Finance

Employees Departments
emp_id name dept_id dept_id dept_name
101 Alice 1 2 Engineering
101 Alice 1 3 Marketing
101 Alice 1 4 Finance
102 Bob 2 3 Marketing
102 Bob 2 4 Finance
103 Charlie 1 2 Engineering
103 Charlie 1 3 Marketing
103 Charlie 1 4 Finance
Employees ⋈(E.dept_id < D.dept_id) Departments
 Equi Join
• Joins tables based on equality between
specified columns.

SQL-
SELECT * FROM Employees E, Departments D
WHERE E.dept_id =
D.dept_id;

PQL-
Employees⋈(E.dept_id=D.dept_id) Departments
 Example - Equi Join
emp_id name dept_id
dept_id dept_name
101 Alice 1
1 HR
102 Bob 2
2 Engineering
103 Charlie 1
3 Marketing
104 David 3
4 Finance
105 Eva NULL
Employees Departments

emp_id name dept_id dept_id dept_name

101 Alice 1 1 HR
102 Bob 2 2 Engineering
103 Charlie 1 1 HR
104 David 3 3 Marketing

Employees ⋈(E.dept_id = D.dept_id) Departments

 Outer Joins
• Outer Joins Returns matching rows plus
unmatched rows from one or both tables.

• Types:
1. Left Outer Join
2. Right Outer Join
3. Full Outer Join
 Left Outer Join
• It returns all rows from the left table and
matching rows from the right table.
SQL-
SELECT * FROM Employees E LEFT OUTER JOIN
Departments D ON E.dept_id = D.dept_id;
PQL-
π*​(Employees ⟕ (E.dept_id=D.dept_id)​Departments)
 Example – Left Outer Join
emp_id name dept_id
dept_id dept_name
101 Alice 1
1 HR
102 Bob 2
2 Engineering
103 Charlie 1
3 Marketing
104 David 3
4 Finance
105 Eva NULL
Employees Departments

emp_id name dept_id dept_id dept_name

101 Alice 1 1 HR
102 Bob 2 2 Engineering
103 Charlie 1 1 HR
104 David 3 3 Marketing
105 Eva NULL NULL NULL

Employees ⟕ (E.dept_id = D.dept_id) Departments

 Right Outer Join
• It returns all rows from the right table and
matching rows from the left table.
SQL-
SELECT * FROM Employees E RIGHT OUTER JOIN
Departments D ON E.dept_id = D.dept_id;

PQL-
π* ​(Employees ⟖ (E.dept_id=D.dept_id) ​Departments)
 Example – Right Outer Join
emp_id name dept_id
dept_id dept_name
101 Alice 1
1 HR
102 Bob 2
2 Engineering
103 Charlie 1
3 Marketing
104 David 3
4 Finance
105 Eva NULL
Employees Departments

emp_id name dept_id dept_id dept_name

101 Alice 1 1 HR
103 Charlie 1 1 HR
102 Bob 2 2 Engineering
104 David 3 3 Marketing
NULL NULL NULL 4 Finance

Employees ⟖ (E.dept_id = D.dept_id) Departments

 Full Outer Join
• It returns all rows when there's a match in
either the left or right table.
SQL –
SELECT * FROM Employees E FULL OUTER JOIN
Departments D ON E.dept_id = D.dept_id;

PQL –
π*(Employees ⟗ (E.dept_id=D.dept_id) ​Departments)
 Example – Full Outer Join
emp_id name dept_id
dept_id dept_name
101 Alice 1
1 HR
102 Bob 2
2 Engineering
103 Charlie 1
3 Marketing
104 David 3
4 Finance
105 Eva NULL
Employees Departments
emp_id name dept_id dept_name
101 Alice 1 HR
102 Bob 2 Engineering
103 Charlie 1 HR
104 David 3 Marketing
105 Eva NULL NULL
NULL NULL 4 Finance

Employees ⟗ (E.dept_id = D.dept_id) Departments

 Includes Includes Non-
Join Type Definition Matching Matching Rows?
Rows?

Natural Join Joins based on common column(s) with the Yes No

same name and data type.
Joins based on a condition other than
Theta Join equality (e.g., <, >, !=). Yes No

Joins based on equality between specific

Equi Join columns. Yes No

Returns all rows from the left table, plus

Left Outer matching rows from the right table. Non- Yes Left table only
Join matching right table values are filled with
NULL.

Returns all rows from the right table, plus

Right Outer matching rows from the left table. Non- Yes Right table only
Join matching left table values are filled with
NULL.

Returns all rows when there is a match in

Full Outer either table. Non-matching values from both Yes Both tables
Join tables are filled with NULL.
Thank You