SQL RIGHT JOIN Keyword

The RIGHT JOIN keyword in SQL combines rows from two tables based on a related column. Unlike an INNER JOIN, which only returns rows with matches in both tables, a RIGHT JOIN returns all rows from the right-hand table and the matching rows from the left-hand table.

RIGHT JOIN: Definition and Usage

A RIGHT JOIN (sometimes called a RIGHT OUTER JOIN) is particularly useful when you need to retrieve all data from the right-hand table, even if those rows don't have a match in the left-hand table. If a row in the right-hand table doesn't have a corresponding match in the left-hand table (based on the join condition), that row is still included in the results, but the columns from the left-hand table will have NULL values.

Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
RIGHT JOIN table2
ON table1.column_name = table2.column_name
ORDER BY column_name;
      

Example Databases

We'll use excerpts from the 'Orders' and 'Employees' tables (a simplified version of the Northwind database) for the examples below:

Orders Table (Sample Data)

Employees Table (Sample Data)

Example: RIGHT JOIN

This query uses RIGHT JOIN to get all employees and their orders. Employees without orders will still be listed, with NULL for `OrderID`.

SELECT Orders.OrderID, Employees.LastName, Employees.FirstName
FROM Orders
RIGHT JOIN Employees ON Orders.EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID
ORDER BY Orders.OrderID;
      

OrderID | LastName | FirstName
-------------------------------
NULL    | Davolio   | Nancy
NULL    | Fuller    | Andrew
10309   | Leverling | Janet
(More rows might appear here depending on your data)