Oracle “(+)” Operator

Question

I am checking some old SQL Statements for the purpose of documenting them and probably enhancing them.

The DBMS is Oracle

I did not understand a statement wh

Answer 1

In Oracle, (+) denotes the "optional" table in the JOIN. So in your query,

SELECT a.id, b.id, a.col_2, b.col_2, ...
FROM a,b
WHERE a.id=b.id(+)

it's a LEFT OUTER JOIN of table 'b' to table 'a'. It will return all data of table 'a' without losing its data when the other side (optional table 'b') has no data.

The modern standard syntax for the same query would be

SELECT  a.id, b.id, a.col_2, b.col_2, ...
FROM a
LEFT JOIN b ON a.id=b.id

or with a shorthand for a.id=b.id (not supported by all databases):

SELECT  a.id, b.id, a.col_2, b.col_2, ...
FROM a
LEFT JOIN b USING(id)

If you remove (+) then it will be normal inner join query

Older syntax, in both Oracle and other databases:

SELECT  a.id, b.id, a.col_2, b.col_2, ...
FROM a,b
WHERE a.id=b.id

More modern syntax:

SELECT  a.id, b.id, a.col_2, b.col_2, ...
FROM a
INNER JOIN b ON a.id=b.id

Or simply:

SELECT  a.id, b.id, a.col_2, b.col_2, ...
FROM a
JOIN b ON a.id=b.id

It will only return all data where both 'a' & 'b' tables 'id' value is same, means common part.

If you want to make your query a Right Join

This is just the same as a LEFT JOIN, but switches which table is optional.

Old Oracle syntax:

SELECT  a.id, b.id, a.col_2, b.col_2, ...
FROM a,b
WHERE a.id(+)=b.id

Modern standard syntax:

SELECT  a.id, b.id, a.col_2, b.col_2, ...
FROM a
RIGHT JOIN b ON a.id=b.id

Ref & help:

https://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:::::P11_QUESTION_ID:6585774577187

Left Outer Join using + sign in Oracle 11g

https://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_join_left.asp