Equi Join vs Natural Join in SQL

[Demetrius]

There is something called Equi Join in SQL. Is it different from the Join operation we normally perform in SQL ? I want to know what is the difference between equi join and the natural join? Which join option is better ?
Can anyone help me with this......thanks

[MindSpace]

In SQL, there are following categories for Join operations -

• Inner Joins
• Outer Joins
• Subtract Joins
• Full Outer Joins
• Self Joins
• Equi-Joins
• Natural Joins
• Cartesian Products

For detailed information on each of the above join operations,
visit the following microsoft site - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/136699

[opaper]

For Equi join, you need to specify columns which you want to put equi join
For Example :
SQL> select dpt.dptno from dept join emp on emp.dptno=dpt.dptno;

whereas

For natural join, you dont need to specify column names for the join – it will automatically join same name columns in two different tables
For Example :
SQL> select dptno from dept natural join emp;

[Modifier]

SQL Joins acan be classified into - EQUI Join and NON-EQUI Join

EQUI Join -
It is a sql join condition which uses the equal sign as the comparison operator. An equi-join is further classified into two categories:
a) SQL Inner Join
b) SQL Outer Join

In SQL Inner Join, all the rows returned by the sql query satisfy the sql join condition specified.

In SQL Outer Join, it returns all rows from both tables which satisfy the join condition along with rows which do not satisfy the join condition from one of the tables.

NON-EQUI Join -
A Non Equi Join is a SQL Join whose condition is established using all comparison operators except the equal (=) operator. (>=, <=, <, >).