Difference between JOIN and INNER JOIN

driis_13627 0
Viewed 821070

Both these joins will give me the same results:

SELECT * FROM table JOIN otherTable ON table.ID = otherTable.FK

vs

SELECT * FROM table INNER JOIN otherTable ON table.ID = otherTable.FK

Is there any difference between the statements in performance or otherwise?

Does it differ between different SQL implementations?

inner-join join sql-server sql
6 Answers

They are functionally equivalent, but INNER JOIN can be a bit clearer to read, especially if the query has other join types (i.e. LEFT or RIGHT or CROSS) included in it.

user_3120
user_551590

Similarly with OUTER JOINs, the word "OUTER" is optional. It's the LEFT or RIGHT keyword that makes the JOIN an "OUTER" JOIN.

However for some reason I always use "OUTER" as in LEFT OUTER JOIN and never LEFT JOIN, but I never use INNER JOIN, but rather I just use "JOIN":

SELECT ColA, ColB, ...
FROM MyTable AS T1
     JOIN MyOtherTable AS T2
         ON T2.ID = T1.ID
     LEFT OUTER JOIN MyOptionalTable AS T3
         ON T3.ID = T1.ID
Kristen_657030
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