Re: (FAQ?) JOIN condition - 'WHERE NULL = NULL'

From: Craig Ringer <craig(at)postnewspapers(dot)com(dot)au>
To: Ian Sillitoe <ian(dot)sillitoe(at)googlemail(dot)com>
Cc: pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: (FAQ?) JOIN condition - 'WHERE NULL = NULL'
Date: 2008-04-02 17:24:17
Message-ID: 47F3C141.8040205@postnewspapers.com.au
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Ian Sillitoe wrote:
> This is probably a stupid question that has a very quick answer, however it
> would be great if someone could put me out of my misery...
>
> I'm trying to JOIN two tables (well a table and a resultset from a PL/pgsql
> function) where a joining column can be NULL
>
Sounds like you might want something like:

SELECT * FROM tablea INNER JOIN tableb ON (NOT tablea.id IS DISTINCT
FROM tableb.tablea_id_fk);

which can also be written as:

SELECT * FROM tablea, tableb WHERE NOT tablea.id IS DISTINCT FROM
tableb.tableid_id_fk ;

There's been lots of recent discussion of IS DISTINCT FROM, which is why
it comes straight to mind.

If that's not what you meant (by NULL = NULL) then might you be looking
for an OUTER JOIN ?

--
Craig Ringer

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