LEFT OUTER JOIN multiple tables - using the 9i syntax

Question

I've always written my queries using the (+) operator for outer joins. I want to start using the new ANSI standard available in 9i. I can do it when I'm joining two tables in a simple query, but how does it work when I am joining multiple tables?
Here is an example of some SQL that works with the (+) outer join syntax. How can I convert this to use the LEFT OUTER JOIN syntax?
SELECT *
FROM audit_entry aue,
audit_table aut,
audit_statement aus,
audit_row aur,
audit_row_pkey aup1,
audit_row_pkey aup2
WHERE aue.audit_entry_id = aus.audit_entry_id
AND aut.table_name = 'TEST_AUDITING'
AND aut.table_owner = 'CLA_JOURNAL'
AND aus.audit_table_id = aut.audit_table_id
AND aur.audit_statement_id (+) = aus.audit_statement_id
AND aup1.audit_row_id (+) = aur.audit_row_id
AND aup1.pk_column_name (+) = 'TEST_AUDTING_PK_1'
AND aup2.audit_row_id (+) = aur.audit_row_id
AND aup2.pk_column_name (+) = 'TEST_AUDITING_PK_2'
I can join audit_statement to audit_entry easy enough, but then I want to join audit_table to audit_statement, how do I do that, do I start nesting the join statements?
Thanks
Richard

Answer 1

Thanks for getting back so quickly, I have tried the suggested SQL with mixed results:
SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM audit_entry aue
JOIN audit_statement aus ON aue.audit_entry_id = aus.audit_entry_id
JOIN audit_table aut ON aus.audit_table_id = aut.audit_table_id
RIGHT OUTER JOIN audit_row aur ON aur.audit_statement_id = aus.audit_statement_id
RIGHT OUTER JOIN audit_row_pkey aup1 ON aup1.audit_row_id = aur.audit_row_id
RIGHT OUTER JOIN audit_row_pkey aup2 ON aup2.audit_row_id = aur.audit_row_id
WHERE aut.table_name = 'TEST_AUDITING_TWO'
AND aut.table_owner = 'CLA_JOURNAL'
AND aup1.pk_column_name = 'TEST_AUDTING_PK_1'
AND aup2.pk_column_name = 'TEST_AUDITING_PK_2'
I had to change the order slightly, between the first two JOINs but otherwise it executed OK. My problem is, it should only return 175 rows but its returning 30625 rows. If I comment out the second reference to audit_row_pkey I get the expected result:
SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM audit_entry aue
JOIN audit_statement aus ON aue.audit_entry_id = aus.audit_entry_id
JOIN audit_table aut ON aus.audit_table_id = aut.audit_table_id
RIGHT OUTER JOIN audit_row aur ON aur.audit_statement_id = aus.audit_statement_id
RIGHT OUTER JOIN audit_row_pkey aup1 ON aup1.audit_row_id = aur.audit_row_id
--RIGHT OUTER JOIN audit_row_pkey aup2 ON aup2.audit_row_id = aur.audit_row_id
WHERE aut.table_name = 'TEST_AUDITING_TWO'
AND aut.table_owner = 'CLA_JOURNAL'
AND aup1.pk_column_name = 'TEST_AUDTING_PK_1'
--AND aup2.pk_column_name = 'TEST_AUDITING_PK_2'
It looks the same condition is being used in each case but why do I suddenly get so many rows - its joining differently somehow. It must be to do with the order, do I need to bracket the query?
Thanks again
Richard