03/06/2016 SQL/Databases:Whatisaselfjoin?

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Innervs.Outerjoins

SQLKeyDefinition
Whatisaselfjoin?Explainitwithanexampleand
DifferencesbetweenPrimaryand
ForeignKeys tutorial.
NaturalKeyInDatabase
Letsillustratetheneedforaselfjoinwithanexample.Supposewehavethefollowing
SecondaryKey tablethatiscalledemployee.Theemployeetablehas2columnsonefortheemployee
SimplekeyinSQL
name(calledemployee_name),andonefortheemployeelocation(called

SuperkeyExample
employee_location): Purva
WhatisReferentialIntegrity employee Silversand
Havingvs.Whereclause employee_name employee_location in Pune
Howdodatabaseindexeswork? Joe NewYork

Whatisaselfjoin? Sunil India

1/2/3/4 BHK
ExampleofDISTINCTinSQL Alex Russia
Residential in
RetrieveuniquerowswithoutDISTINCT
Mundhwa.
Albert Canada
PracticeInterviewQuestion1
Book Your
Jack NewYork
PracticeInterviewQuestion1continued
Dream Home @
Now,supposewewanttofindoutwhichemployeesarefromthesamelocationasthe Puravankara.
PracticeInterviewQuestion1continued
employeenamedJoe.Inthisexample,thatlocationwouldbeNewYork.Letsassume
PracticeInterviewQuestion2 forthesakeofourexamplethatwecannotjustdirectlysearchthetableforpeople
AdvancedSQLInterviewQuestionsand wholiveinNewYorkwithasimplequerylikethis(maybebecausewedontwantto
Answers hardcodethecityname)intheSQLquery:

AdvancedSQLInterviewQuestionsand
AnswersPart2
SELECTemployee_name
PracticeInterviewQuestion2continued
FROMemployee
DataMiningvs.DataWarehousing WHEREemployee_location="NewYork"
Ternary/ThreevaluedLogicinSQL

FindMaximumValueWithoutUsing So,insteadofaquerylikethatwhatwecoulddoiswriteanestedSQLquery(basicallya
Aggregate
querywithinanotherquerywhichismorecommonlycalledasubquery)likethis:
SQLInjectionExampleandTutorial

SQLInjectionPrevention

BlindSQLInjectionExample SELECTemployee_name
FROMemployee
ParameterizedQueriesvsPrepared
Statements WHEREemployee_locationin
(SELECTemployee_location
PreparedStatementExample
FROMemployee
Differencebetweenafulljoinandan WHEREemployee_name="Joe")
innerjoin?
Differencebetweenaleftouterjoinand
rightouterjoin?

Differencebetweenaleftjoinandaleft
outerjoin? Asubqueryisinefficient
SQL:HavingvsGroupBy Usingasubqueryforsuchasimplequestionisinefficient.Isthereamoreefficientand
SQL:GroupBywithmultiplecolumns elegantsolutiontothisproblem?

SQLSelectDistinctandOrderBy Itturnsoutthatthereisamore
efficientsolutionwecanuse
SQLOrderBydefaultsortorder
somethingcalledaselfjoin.Aself
Derivedtablevssubquery joinisbasicallywhenatableis
CorrelatedvsUncorrelatedSubquery joinedtoitself.Thewayyoushould
visualizeaselfjoinforagiventable
FindnthhighestsalarySQL
isbyimaginingthatajoinis
CardinalityinSQL

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03/06/2016
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http://www.programmerinterview.com/index.php/databasesql/whatisaselfjoin/
SQL/Databases:Whatisaselfjoin?
performedbetweentwoidentical
copiesofthattable.Andthatis
exactlywhyitiscalledaselfjoin
becauseofthefactthatitsjustthe
sametablebeingjoinedtoanother
copyofitselfratherthanbeing
joinedwithadifferenttable.
Howdoesaselfjoin
work
Beforewecomeupwithasolution
forthisproblemusingaselfjoin,we
shouldgooversomeconceptsso
thatyoucanfullyunderstandhowa
selfjoinworks.Thiswillalsomake
theSQLinourselfjointutorialaloteasiertounderstand,whichyouwillseefurther
below.
Aselfjoinmusthavealiases
Inaselfjoinwearejoiningthesametabletoitselfbyessentiallycreatingtwocopiesof
thattable.But,howdowedistinguishbetweenthetwodifferentcopiesofthetable
becausethereisonlyonetablenameafterall?Well,whenwedoaselfjoin,thetable
namesabsolutelymustusealiasesotherwisethecolumnnameswouldbeambiguous.In
otherwords,wewouldnotknowwhichofthetwocopiesofthetablescolumnsisbeing
referencedwithoutusinganaliasforeachcopyofthetable.Ifyoudontalreadyknow
whatanaliasis,itssimplyanothernamegiventoatablethinkofanaliasasa
nicknameandthatnicknameisthenusedintheSQLquerytoreferencethetable.
Becauseweneedtwocopiesoftheemployeetable,wewilljustusethealiasese1ande2
fortheemployeetablewhenwedoaselfjoin.
Selfjoinpredicate
Aswithanyjointheremustbeaconditionuponwhichaselfjoinisperformedwecan
notjustarbitrarilysaydoaselfjoin,withoutspecifyingsomecondition.Thatcondition
willbeourjoinpredicate.Ifyouneedarefresheronjoinpredicates(orjustjoinsin
general)thencheckthislinkout:Innervs.Outerjoins.
Now,letscomeupwithasolutiontotheoriginalproblemusingaselfjoininsteadofa
subquery.Thiswillhelpillustratehowexactlyaselfjoinworks.Thekeyquestionthatwe
mustaskourselvesiswhatshouldourjoinpredicatebeinthisexample?Well,wewantto
findalltheemployeeswhohavethesamelocationasJoe.
Becausewewanttomatchbetweenourtwotables(bothofwhicharethesametable
employeealiasedase1ande2)onlocationourjoinpredicateshouldclearlybeWHERE
e1.employee_location=e2.employee_location.Butisthatenoughtogiveuswhatwe
want?No,itsnot,becausewealsowanttofiltertherowsreturnedsinceweonlywant
peoplewhoarefromthesamelocationasJoe.
So,howcanwefiltertherowsreturnedsothatonlypeoplefromJoeslocationare
returned?Well,whatwecandoissimplyaddaconditionononeofthetables(e2inour
example)sothatitonlyreturnstherowwherethenameisJoe.Then,theothertable
(e1)willmatchupallthenamesthathavethesamelocationine2,becauseofourjoin
predicatewhichisWHEREe1.employee_location=e2.employee_location.Wewill
thenjustselectthenamesfrome1,andnote2becausee2willonlyhaveJoesname.If
thatsconfusingthenkeepreadingfurthertounderstandmoreabouthowthequerywill
work.
So,theselfjoinquerythatwecomeupwithlookslikethis:
SelfJoinSQLExample
SELECTe1.employee_name
FROMemployeee1,employeee2
WHEREe1.employee_location=e2.employee_location
ANDe2.employee_name="Joe"
ThisquerywillreturnthenamesJoeandJacksinceJackistheonlyotherpersonwho
livesinNewYorklikeJoe.
Generally,queriesthatrefertothesametablecanbegreatlysimplifiedbyrewritingthe
queriesasselfjoins.And,thereisdefinitelyaperformancebenefitforthisaswell.
Whatdoesaselfjoinlooklike?
2/9
03/06/2016 SQL/Databases:Whatisaselfjoin?
Whatdoesaselfjoinlooklike?
AmericanVocabulary
Itwillhelptremendouslytoactuallyvisualizetheactualresultsofaselfjoininternally.
TechnicalVocabulary Rememberthataselfjoinisjustlikeanyotherjoin,wherethetwotablesaremergedinto
onetemporarytable.Firstoff,youshouldvisualizethatwehavetwoseparatecopiesof
ScienceQuestions
theemployeetable,whicharegivenaliasesofe1ande2.Thesecopieswouldsimplylook
likethisnotethatweshortenedthecolumnnamesfromemployee_nameand
employee_locationtojustNameandLocationforconvenience:
FindaJob
JuniorProgrammer e1 e2
Paradigm...Columbia,MD
SoftwareDeveloper... Name Location Name Location
EsriPortland,OR Joe NewYork Joe NewYork
SoftwareProgrammer
Sunil India Sunil India
Seattle...Seattle,WA
SoftwareProgrammer Alex Russia Alex Russia
Future...Moorestown,NJ Albert Canada Albert Canada
EntryLevel...
Jack NewYork Jack NewYork
Gongos...AuburnHills,MI
SoftwareDeveloper...
Andthefinalresultsofrunningtheselfjoinqueryabovetheactualjoinedtablewould
Informatio...Calverton,MD
looklikethis:
WebApplication...
Deptof...Richmond,VA
e1.employee_name e1.employee_location e2.employee_name e2.employee_location
JrProgrammer...
LeidosSanDiego,CA Joe NewYork Joe NewYork
Scientific... Jack NewYork Joe NewYork
Columbia...NewYork,NY
SoftwareProgrammer Selfjoinsversusinnerjoins
ROBOVENTSterlingHeights,MI
Areselfjoinsandinnerjoinsthe
What: title,keywords same?Youmightbewonderingifall
Where: city,state,orzip selfjoinsarealsoinnerjoins.After
MicrosoftMechanics
all,inourexampleaboveourself
FindJobs
joinusesaninnerjoinbecauseonly
therowsthatmatchbasedonthe
joinpredicatearereturnednon
matchingrowsarenotreturned.
Well,itturnsoutthataselfjoinand
innerjoinarecompletelydifferent
concepts.Aselfjoincouldjustas
jobsby
wellbeanouterjoinoraninnerjoin
itjustdependsonhowthequery
01 Job Performance Office365SecurityMgmt
Visibility&ControlinyourtenantWatchandlearnto
iswritten.Wecouldeasilychange
thequeryweusedabovetodoa
activate.
LEFTOUTERJOINwhilethequery
02 SQL Query Examples stillremainsaselfjoinbutthat
wouldntgiveustheresultswewant

03 Find Programmer Jobs inourexample.So,weuseanimpliedinnerjoininsteadbecausethatgivesusthecorrect

results.Rememberthataqueryisaselfjoinaslongasthetwotablesbeingjoinedare
exactlythesametable,butwhetheritsaninnerjoinorouterjoindependsonwhatis
04 Java Programming specifiedintheSQL.And,inner/outerjoinsareseparateconceptsentirelyfromaselfjoin.

Selfjoinsmanageremployeeexample
05 SQL Server Optimization
Themostcommonlyusedexampleforselfjoinsistheclassicemployeemanagertable.
ThetableiscalledEmployee,butholdsallemployeesincludingtheirmanagers.Every
employeehasanID,andthereisalsoacolumnforthemanagerID.So,forexample,lets
saywehaveatablethatlookslikethisandwecallitEmployee:

Email EmployeeID Name ManagerID

1 Sam 10
Country UnitedStates
2 Harry 4

4 Manager NULL

10 AnotherManager NULL

Noticethatinthetableabovetherearetwomanagers,convenientlynamedManager
I'm not a robot
andAnotherManager.And,thosemanagersdonthavemanagersoftheirownas
notedbytheNULLvalueintheirManagercolumn.

Now,giventhetableabove,howcanwereturnresultsthatwillshoweachemployees
reCAPTCHA
name,andhis/hermanagersnameinnicelyarrangedresultswiththeemployeeinone
Privacy - Terms
columnandhis/hermanagersnameintheothercolumn.Well,itturnsoutwecanusea

http://www.programmerinterview.com/index.php/databasesql/whatisaselfjoin/ 3/9
03/06/2016 SQL/Databases:Whatisaselfjoin?
selfjointodothis.TrytocomeupwiththeSQLonyourownbeforereadingouranswer.

Selfjoinmanageremployeeanswer
Inordertocomeupwithacorrectanswerforthisproblem,ourgoalshouldbetoperform
aselfjointhatwillhaveboththeemployeeinformationandmanagerinformationinone
row.Firstoff,sincewearedoingaselfjoin,ithelpstovisualizetheonetableastwotables
letsgivethemaliasesofe1ande2.Now,withthatinmind,wewanttheemployees
informationononesideofthejoinedtableandthemanagersinformationontheother
sideofthejoinedtable.So,letsjustsaythatwewante1toholdtheemployee
informationande2toholdthecorrespondingmanagersinformation.Whatshouldour
joinpredicatebeinthatcase?

Well,thejoinpredicateshouldlooklikeONe1.ManagerID=e2.EmployeeIDthis
basicallysaysthatweshouldjointhetwotables(aselfjoin)basedontheconditionthat
themanagerIDine1isequaltotheemployeeIDine2.Inotherwords,anemployees
managerine1shouldhavethemanagersinformationine2.Anillustrationwillhelp
clarifythis.Supposeweusethatpredicateandjustselecteverythingafterwejointhe
tables.So,ourSQLwouldlooklikethis:

SELECT*
FROMEmployeee1
INNERJOINEmployeee2
ONe1.ManagerID=e2.EmployeeID

Theresultsofrunningthequeryabovewouldlooklikethis:

e1.EmployeeID e1.Name e1.ManagerID e2.EmployeeID e2.Name e2.ManagerID

1 Sam 10 10 AnotherManager NULL

2 Harry 4 4 Manager NULL

Notethatthereareonly2rowsreturnedthisisbecauseaninnerjoinisperformed,
whichmeansthatonlywhenthereisamatchbetweenemployeeIDsandmanagerIDs
willtherebearesultreturned.Andsincethereare2peoplewithoutmanagers(whohave
amanagerIDofNULL),theywillnotbereturnedaspartoftablee1,becauseno
employeeshaveamatchingIDofNULL.

Now,rememberthatweonlywanttoreturnthenamesoftheemployeeand
correspondingmanagerasapair.So,wecanfinetunetheSQLasfollows:

SELECTe1.Name,e2.Name
FROMEmployeee1
INNERJOINEmployeee2
ONe1.ManagerID=e2.EmployeeID

RunningtheSQLabovewouldreturn:

SamAnotherManager
HarryManager

Andthatistheanswertotheemployeemanagerproblemusingaselfjoin!Feelfreeto
postanycomments.

01 Job Performance Appraisal

02 SQL Query Examples
03 SQL Server Optimization
04 Find Programmer Jobs
05 SQL Joins

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03/06/2016 SQL/Databases:Whatisaselfjoin?
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41Comments ProgrammerInterview
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Jointhediscussion

Shwetha 3yearsago
Excellentexplanation.OneofthebesttutorialwebsitesIhavevisitedso
far.Everythingisexplainedinsuchasimpleway.greatwork!!
19 Reply Share

nitinchauhan 3yearsago
Iwouldliketoassertthatthisistutorialisamongstthetopofjavaand
databasetutorialsavailableonotherwebsitesandIsincerelythanksfor
providingsuchanexcellentqualityoftechnicalmaterialonsubjectslike
databaseandJava.ThemainthingthatIhaveobservedistheelaborate,
efficientandindepthexplanationofthekeyconceptswithexamplesthat
havehelpedmealotinfurthersharpeningmyskillsandknowledge.
Ihopethatyouwillcontinuethelegacyofprovidingthesameonotherhot
subjectsrelatedtojavaanddatabaseinthefuture.
Thanks,
NitinChauhan
4 Reply Share
http://www.programmerinterview.com/index.php/databasesql/whatisaselfjoin/ 5/9
03/06/2016 SQL/Databases:Whatisaselfjoin?
4 Reply Share

juhi 2yearsago
Bestexplanationavailableoninternet..:)
2 Reply Share

anonymous 3yearsago
oneofthebestexplanations...greatwork!
2 Reply Share

SmijiJohn ayearago
Goodone.Simpleandclear.

ifanemployeeismanagerformorethanoneemployees,thatmanager
nameappearinmultiplerows.

IfIwanttogetthelistofonlymanagersfromthetableandIdon'twant
employeename,wemayhavetouseeitherdistinctorasubquery.

Isthereanybetterapproachtoavoidduplicatesinsuchcases.

eg:

selectNamefromEmployeewhereEmployeeIDin(selectManagerID
fromEmployee)
or
selectdistinct(e2.Name)"ManagerName"fromEmployeee1innerjoin
Employeee2one1.ManagerID=e2.EmployeeID
1 Reply Share

Shubham 2yearsago
Awesomeexplanation..!!Thanks..!!
1 Reply Share

Ranju 2yearsago
Greatexplanation.Thankyou!
1 Reply Share

Amit 2yearsago
reallysuperbusefullexplaination...Thankyouverymuch
1 Reply Share

Steve0 2yearsago
ThefirstexplanationIgrokked.You'reawesome!
1 Reply Share

alia 2yearsago
THanx..forexplanation,
1 Reply Share

Sampath 2yearsago
ThanksfortheexcellentpostVaroon..Itisreallyreallyhelpfulforpeople
whowanttounderstandthebasics.MayGodBlessyou.
1 Reply Share

DharmenderKumar 2yearsago
inverysimplewords,theveryusefulexplanation.Thanks
1 Reply Share

Fai 3yearsago
SupertututhankyouyouAceIt:)
1 Reply Share

EswaranThirumalairaj 3yearsago
veryusefull
1 Reply Share
http://www.programmerinterview.com/index.php/databasesql/whatisaselfjoin/ 6/9
03/06/2016 SQL/Databases:Whatisaselfjoin?
1 Reply Share

abhynay 3yearsago
Veryinsightfulexplanation.Reallylovedthewayyouhandledthetopic.
1 Reply Share

JoeMann 3yearsago
GreatExample!Keepitup!
1 Reply Share

MarcoPeters amonthago
Excellentexplanation.
Reply Share

EmmaAbbas 7monthsago
thebestexplanationforselfjoins!
Thankyou.
Reply Share

Sandeep 8monthsago
Iwasfortunatetofindthiswebsite!!Thanksforthisgreatstuff.
Reply Share

titasbhattacharya 9monthsago
mostniceanddetailedexplanationthatIhaveevercomeacross..OSM
OSMWEBSITE,PLEASEKEEPUPTHEGOODWORK..andcontinue
tofeeduswithyourinvaluablecontent.BIGTHANKS
Reply Share

kumarik ayearago
veryniceexplanation
Reply Share

Bala ayearago
goodexplanationbutstillneedmoreclearansweraboutselfjoin
Reply Share

Anjali ayearago
soconfusedbeforeregardingselfjoin,nowigetit.Thanksalot...
Reply Share

MdFarooq ayearago
whatanexplantion,hatsofftoyouguys.
Reply Share

kanu ayearago
oneofthebestexplanation
Reply Share

BhavinRathod ayearago
Veryhandytoolforlastminutepreparation.Explainseverytopicperfectly
anddeeply.
Reply Share

suniltewatia ayearago
propert_detailstablenameorproperty_id,property_nametwocolumns
thenhowtogetalldata
Reply Share

G ayearago
Veryclearexplanation!Thanks
Reply Share

Ashi ayearago
http://www.programmerinterview.com/index.php/databasesql/whatisaselfjoin/ 7/9
03/06/2016 SQL/Databases:Whatisaselfjoin?
Ashi ayearago
explainedineasyway...thumbsup
Reply Share

Nishtha ayearago
Excellentexplanation.ThankYou
Reply Share

Cici 2yearsago
awesome!
Reply Share

raj 2yearsago
greatexplanation.Thankyou
Reply Share

FromIndia 2yearsago
thankusoomuch!!!!:)
Reply Share

NehaSood 2yearsago
howcanwesolveemployeemanagerproblemusingaliasing?
Reply Share

baidpunit1017>NehaSood ayearago
itisalreadysolvedusingaliasing.
Reply Share

cromateu 2yearsago
seemstobeasyyetcomplicated
Reply Share

allwynmascarenhas 2yearsago
itriedthesameexample..thisiswhatiget.someassistanceplease!
http://postimg.org/image/ntukt...
Reply Share

allwynmascarenhas 2yearsago
Igotlilconfusedinthelastexample.Isitthatonly1tableholdsboth
employeesandmanagersthenwhatisthemeaningofmanagerand
anothermanager.Alsothenamecolumniscommonforbothmanagers
andemployees?I'malsothinkingmaybesomethingwasleftout
somewhere..pleasecommentsomeone.Andgreatanswers,youare
addingsomuchvaluetoourlives!THANKS!
Reply Share

harami 3yearsago
brilliantdon
Reply Share

RAMAA ayearago
SELECTe1.employee_name
FROMemployeee1,employeee2
WHEREe1.employee_location=e2.employee_location
ANDe2.employee_name="Joe"

InthisSQLselfjoinexample,thequerydon'thaveanyformofJOIN
keyword,
isthis'sstillaJOIN??

whetheraquerymeantforjoinmusthaveJOINkeywordinitorit's
optional??
Reply Share

venkateshkannan>RAMAA 2monthsago
http://www.programmerinterview.com/index.php/databasesql/whatisaselfjoin/ 8/9
03/06/2016 SQL/Databases:Whatisaselfjoin?
venkateshkannan>RAMAA 2monthsago
IhavethesamedoubtasRAMAA.
Alsofortheemployeemanagerexample,isthebelowSQlsame
astheonementionedinthetutorial.

SELECTe1.Name,e2.Name
FROMEmployeee1
WHEREEmployeee1=Employeee2
ONe1.ManagerID=e2.EmployeeID

Pleasecomment.Thankyouforyourtime.
Reply Share

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