Advantages of Inner Join

  • Reduced Data Duplication: Inner joins only return rows that have matching values in both tables being joined, which can reduce the amount of duplicate data returned in the result set.
  • Efficient Query Execution: Since inner joins only involve rows that match in both tables, they can be more efficient in terms of query execution time compared to outer joins.
  • Data Accuracy: Inner joins only return rows that have matching values in both tables, which can improve data accuracy by excluding irrelevant or mismatched data.

Inner Join vs Outer Join

Inner Join and Outer Join are the types of join. The inner join has the work to return the common rows between the two tables, whereas the Outer Join has the work of returning the work of the inner join in addition to the rows which are not matched. 

Let’s discuss both of them in detail in this article. Before moving ahead, let’s discuss what is Join in SQL.

In a relational database management system (RDBMS), there are different types of joins that can be used to combine data from two or more tables in a database. The two most common types of joins are Inner Join and Outer Join.

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What is Join in SQL?

SQL Joins are simply a way to combine data from two or more tables based on a common field between them. SQL joins are of two types. We will discuss the types of SQL in detail....

Inner Join/Simple Join

In an INNER join, it allows retrieving data from two tables with the same ID....

How To Use Inner Join?

Inner Join is basically performed by just selecting the records having the common values or the matching values in both tables. In case of no common values, no data is shown in the output....

Advantages of Inner Join

Reduced Data Duplication: Inner joins only return rows that have matching values in both tables being joined, which can reduce the amount of duplicate data returned in the result set. Efficient Query Execution: Since inner joins only involve rows that match in both tables, they can be more efficient in terms of query execution time compared to outer joins. Data Accuracy: Inner joins only return rows that have matching values in both tables, which can improve data accuracy by excluding irrelevant or mismatched data....

Disadvantages of Inner Join

Data Loss: Since inner joins only return rows that have matching values in both tables, some data may be lost if there are no matching values. Query Complexity: Inner joins can become complex and difficult to write and understand when working with multiple tables. Overlapping Data: In some cases, inner joins may return overlapping data that needs to be deduplicated in post-processing....

Outer Join

An Outer Join returns all the rows from one table and matching rows from the other table based on a specified condition. It combines data from two tables based on a common column between them, which is also specified using the ON keyword in SQL. In addition to the matching rows, it also includes rows from one table that do not have matching rows in the other table....

How To Use Outer Join?

Outer Join is performed by the selection of the records from all the tables given there. Left Outer Join works by selecting all records from the left table and matching records from the right table. Similarly, Right Outer Join works by selecting all records from the right table and matching records from the left table and the Full Outer Join returns all records if a match occurs in the left or the right table....

Advantages of Outer Join

Increased Data Retrieval: Outer joins can retrieve more data than inner joins since they include non-matching rows in the result set. Data Integrity: Outer joins can help maintain data integrity by ensuring that all records in the primary table are returned, even if there are no corresponding records in the secondary table. Data Analysis: Outer joins can be useful for data analysis, especially when exploring relationships between data sets and identifying trends and patterns....

Disadvantages of Outer Join

Slow Query Execution: Outer joins can be slower to execute than inner joins, especially when dealing with large data sets. Data Duplication: Outer joins can return duplicate data when the secondary table has multiple matching records. Data Quality: Outer joins may return inaccurate or incomplete data if the tables being joined have incomplete or inconsistent data....