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I like using NATURAL JOIN in Snowflake, because I find it more elegant than explicit join clauses. However, it appears that the natural join behaves similar to an inner join, in that null values o...
#3: Post edited
by
matthewsnyder
·
2023-07-28T19:37:43Z (10 months ago)
- I like using `NATURAL JOIN` in Snowflake, because I find it more elegant than explicit join clauses.
However, it appears that the natural join behaves similar to an inner join, in that null values of the join key(s) are dropped. In some cases, I want to do a natural join, but I want to include columns where the join key is a null. I tried `OUTER NATURAL JOIN` since Snowflake syntax [appears to support it](https://docs.snowflake.com/en/sql-reference/constructs/join) but it still dropped nulls.- Is the concept of a natural join fundamentally opposed to retaining nulls? Or is there a way to do it?
- I like using `NATURAL JOIN` in Snowflake, because I find it more elegant than explicit join clauses.
- However, it appears that the natural join behaves similar to an inner join, in that null values of the join key(s) are dropped. In some cases, I want to do a natural join, but I want to include columns where the join key is a null. I tried `OUTER NATURAL JOIN` since Snowflake syntax [appears to support it](https://docs.snowflake.com/en/sql-reference/constructs/join):
- >A `NATURAL JOIN` can be combined with an `OUTER JOIN`.
- But when I tried, it still dropped nulls.
- Is the concept of a natural join fundamentally opposed to retaining nulls? Or is there a way to do it?
#2: Nominated for promotion
by
Alexei
·
2023-07-26T15:19:44Z (10 months ago)
#1: Initial revision
by
matthewsnyder
·
2023-07-13T04:17:26Z (10 months ago)
Does Snowflake NATURAL JOIN support outer-style join?
I like using `NATURAL JOIN` in Snowflake, because I find it more elegant than explicit join clauses. However, it appears that the natural join behaves similar to an inner join, in that null values of the join key(s) are dropped. In some cases, I want to do a natural join, but I want to include columns where the join key is a null. I tried `OUTER NATURAL JOIN` since Snowflake syntax [appears to support it](https://docs.snowflake.com/en/sql-reference/constructs/join) but it still dropped nulls. Is the concept of a natural join fundamentally opposed to retaining nulls? Or is there a way to do it?