Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2000 Programming by Example

ANSI SQL-92 Syntax

In earlier versions of theSQL language (ANSI SQL-89), a JOIN operation was specified in the FROM clause and the WHERE clause. Specifically, the tables involved in the JOIN operation were specified in the FROM clause, and the JOIN conditions in the WHERE clause. For example, Listing 5.1 indicates how this old syntax is used to specify an inner join. (This type of join will be explained in the next section.) As you can see in this example, the two tables involved are listed in the FROM clauseseparated by a comma, and the columns that link these two tables are specified in the WHERE clause (the JOIN condition).

Code Listing 5.1. Using the ANSI SQL-89 Syntax in Inner Joins

USE Northwind SELECT * FROM Products, Categories WHERE ...