Is this a right query? If it is what does it mean - oracle

Question

I was given a query to explain. Could someone please explain it to me:
select j.ip_num from
jobs j, address a
where j.jobtype='C' and
a.sel_code(+)='H' and
j.ip_num=a.ip_num and
a.ip_num is null order by a.ip_num

Answer 1

That query selects every JOB.IP_NUM which doesn't have a matching ADDRESS record or where the matching ADDRESS record has a SEL_CODE not equal to 'H'.
The (+) is Oracle's old outer join syntax. It is the only OUTER JOIN syntax supported in versions of Oracle before 9i.
In this query we get one row for every row in EMP which matches a department, plus a row for the DEPTNO=40, which has no employees:
SQL> select d.dname
2 , e.ename
3 from dept d
4 , emp e
5 where d.deptno = e.deptno(+)
6 /
DNAME ENAME
-------------- ----------
ACCOUNTING SCHNEIDER
ACCOUNTING BOEHMER
ACCOUNTING KISHORE
RESEARCH ROBERTSON
RESEARCH KULASH
RESEARCH GASPAROTTO
RESEARCH RIGBY
RESEARCH CLARKE
SALES HALL
SALES CAVE
SALES SPENCER
SALES BILLINGTON
SALES PADFIELD
SALES VAN WIJK
SALES KESTELYN
SALES LIRA
OPERATIONS PSMITH
HOUSEKEEPING VERREYNNE
HOUSEKEEPING FEUERSTEIN
HOUSEKEEPING PODER
HOUSEKEEPING TRICHLER
COMMUNICATIONS
22 rows selected.
SQL>
Now, if we put an additional filter on the EMP table like this, we simply get one record for each Department, because only one record in EMP now matches:
SQL> select d.dname
2 , e.ename
3 from dept d
4 , emp e
5 where d.deptno = e.deptno(+)
6 and e.ename(+) = 'CAVE'
7 /
DNAME ENAME
-------------- ----------
ACCOUNTING
RESEARCH
SALES CAVE
OPERATIONS
HOUSEKEEPING
COMMUNICATIONS
6 rows selected.
SQL>
/
To convert this query into the ANSI SQL syntax we have to do this:
SQL> select d.dname
2 , e.ename
3 from dept d
4 left outer join emp e
5 on ( d.deptno = e.deptno
6 and e.ename = 'CAVE' )
7 /
DNAME ENAME
-------------- ----------
ACCOUNTING
RESEARCH
SALES CAVE
OPERATIONS
HOUSEKEEPING
COMMUNICATIONS
6 rows selected.
SQL>
Note that if we don't include the additonal clause in the JOIN but leave it in the WHERE clause we get a different result:
SQL> select d.dname
2 , e.ename
3 from dept d
4 left outer join emp e
5 on ( d.deptno = e.deptno )
6 where e.ename = 'CAVE'
7 /
DNAME ENAME
-------------- ----------
SALES CAVE
SQL>
This is the equivalent of omitting the (+) in the second old skool query.

Answer 2

The query is joining the 2 tables jobs, and address. These tables are joining on the field ip_num but you are looking for the records that exist in the jobs table but do not exist in the address table.
This is a LEFT OUTER JOIN. This query could also be written
SELECT j.ip_num
FROM jobs j
LEFT OUTER JOIN address a
ON j.ip_num=a.ip_num
WHERE j.jobtype='C' AND
a.sel_code(+)='H' AND
a.ip_num is null
ORDER BY a.ip_num
It might be useful to see a visual picture joins http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/10/a-visual-explanation-of-sql-joins.html