Query on Outer join

Question

Hi all,
I have a doubt, its written below, pls get me solved
Inner join:
SELECT D.DEPTNAME, E.EMPNAME
FROM DEPARTMENT D, EMPLOYEE E
WHERE trim(E.DEPTNAME) = D.DEPTNAME
AND E.EMPNAME = 'ABC'
TO FETCH ALL THE VALUES FROM DEPARTMENT TABLE BUT ONLY MATCHING
VALUES FROM EMPLOYEE TABLE, I THINK WE MUST DO AN OUTER JOIN ON
EMPLOYEE TABLE(OPTIONAL TABLE). SO, QUERY MUST BE SOME THING LIKE AS SHOW BELOW [PLS CORRECT IF I AM WRONG]
SELECT D.DEPTNAME, E.EMPNAME
FROM DEPARTMENT D, EMPLOYEE E
WHERE trim(E.DEPTNAME)(+) = D.DEPTNAME
AND E.EMPNAME(+) = 'ABC'
BUT This, is giving me "invalid relational operator"...CAN any one guide me with the query, to get the required results.
please do remember not to use LEFT OUTER JOIN or RIGHT OUTER JOIN, while rewriting the query.
Explanation to rewritten query is appreciated.
Thanks in Advance,
Vikram Hegde

Answer 1

Hi,
I think your first query is enough to give your desired result.
For your requirement there is no need of outer join.
In your second query problem is AND E.EMPNAME(+) = 'ABC' You can use (+) only if you are joining two tables. You can not use (+) while you are comparing two values.
When to use outer join:
Let say you want to display all records from dept table and there corresponding details from EMP table and few dept_no doesn't have entry in EMP table then
you can use :
D.dept_no= E.dept_no(+)
Regards