Can we perform nonequi join with outer join? - oracle

Question

Can we perform outer join with inquality operators.
When I tried I got the result for right outer join but it's not working for left outer join.
SELECT EMP.ENAME,EMP.SALARY,SALG.SALARY_GRADE
FROM EMPLOYEE EMP , SALARY_GRADES SALG
WHERE EMP.SAL BETWEEN SALG.FROM_RANGE(+) AND SALG.TO_RANGE
Above query is generating the result as inner join where as below query is working fine.
SELECT EMP.ENAME,EMP.SALARY,SALG.SALARY_GRADE
FROM EMPLOYEE EMP , SALARY_GRADES SALG
WHERE EMP.SAL(+) BETWEEN SALG.FROM_RANGE AND SALG.TO_RANGE
I meant to say that right outer join is working fine but not left outer join.

Answer 1

Ummm, yes. Did you create a simple test case to demonstrate? Please always do this.
Both LEFT and RIGHT JOINs work fine. Given the following schema:
create table a (
id number
, val number );
insert all
into a values (1, 1)
into a values (2, 2)
into a values (3, 5)
select * from dual;
create table b (
id number
, min_val number
, max_val number );
insert all
into b values (1, 1, 1)
into b values (2, 1, 6)
into b values (3, 4, 6)
into b values (3, 10, 12)
select * from dual;
These two queries return the expected data. Please note my use of ANSI joins.
select *
from a
left outer join b
on a.val between b.min_val and b.max_val;
select *
from a
right outer join b
on a.val between b.min_val and b.max_val;
Here's the proof.
If you're ever in any doubt as to whether there is a problem with the database or your code you should assume either that your code is incorrect or that the data in your database simply does not exist. It's highly unlikely to be the database itself.
A very good way to test this is to do as I have done, create a very simple example. A short, self-contained, correct example that demonstrates the concepts you're using. You can then apply this to your own code to work out where you might have been going wrong.
You've commented:
Thanks for your answer but......when I insert one more record with 4
as id and 50 as value using insert into a values(4,50); then if i
query using oracle proprietary syntax like select * from a, b where
a.val between b.min_val(+) and b.max_val; I am not getting inserted
record in the result...? It is working with ansi syntax but not with
traditional syntax.....
So, this would imply that your query using the Oracle proprietary syntax is incorrect. I much prefer the ANSI standard as it's extremely obvious if you've done something wrong and it's portable. However, if you want to use the Oracle syntax the reason is that you've turned it into an INNER JOIN but not stating that both items in the BETWEEN are part of the OUTER JOIN:
select *
from a
, b
where a.val between b.min_val(+) and b.max_val(+);