'LEFT JOIN' vs 'LEFT OUTER JOIN'

Question

I know there is really no difference, but is 'LEFT JOIN' an ANSI form or are there any RDBMS's that will fail 'LEFT JOIN' and require 'LEFT OUTER JOIN'. [I am asking here so I can save a few clicks, form fillings, etc to get the correct ANSI standard!]

Stomatal

Answer 1

[OUTER] is optional, per the ANSI spec (92, but I'm sure later versions also cover it).

Of course, you're assuming that every SQL product is ANSI compatible. For joins, they probably are..

Niela

Answer 2

ANSI JOINS

http://www.oratechinfo.co.uk/ansi_joins.html

Note, the OUTER can be dropped, since, by definition, LEFT, RIGHT and FULL JOINs MUST be OUTER joins (it's down to personal preference and readability)

Nusku