You don't need 30 join conditions for a FULL OUTER JOIN
here.
You can just Full Outer Join on the PK, preserve rows with at least one difference with WHERE EXISTS (SELECT A.* EXCEPT SELECT B.*)
and use CROSS APPLY (SELECT A.* UNION ALL SELECT B.*)
to unpivot out both sides of the JOIN
ed rows into individual rows.
WITH TableA(Col1, Col2, Col3)
AS (SELECT 'Dog',1,1 UNION ALL
SELECT 'Cat',27,86 UNION ALL
SELECT 'Cat',128,92),
TableB(Col1, Col2, Col3)
AS (SELECT 'Dog',1,1 UNION ALL
SELECT 'Cat',27,105 UNION ALL
SELECT 'Lizard',83,NULL)
SELECT CA.*
FROM TableA A
FULL OUTER JOIN TableB B
ON A.Col1 = B.Col1
AND A.Col2 = B.Col2
/*Unpivot the joined rows*/
CROSS APPLY (SELECT 'TableA' AS what, A.* UNION ALL
SELECT 'TableB' AS what, B.*) AS CA
/*Exclude identical rows*/
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT A.*
EXCEPT
SELECT B.*)
/*Discard NULL extended row*/
AND CA.Col1 IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY CA.Col1, CA.Col2
Gives
what Col1 Col2 Col3
------ ------ ----------- -----------
TableA Cat 27 86
TableB Cat 27 105
TableA Cat 128 92
TableB Lizard 83 NULL
Or a version dealing with the moved goalposts.
SELECT DISTINCT CA.*
FROM TableA A
FULL OUTER JOIN TableB B
ON EXISTS (SELECT A.* INTERSECT SELECT B.*)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT 'TableA' AS what, A.* UNION ALL
SELECT 'TableB' AS what, B.*) AS CA
WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT A.* INTERSECT SELECT B.*)
AND CA.Col1 IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY CA.Col1, CA.Col2
For tables with many columns it can still be difficult to identify the specific column(s) that differ. For that you can potentially use the below.
(though just on relatively small tables as otherwise this method likely won't have adequate performance)
SELECT t1.primary_key,
y1.c,
y1.v,
y2.v
FROM t1
JOIN t2
ON t1.primary_key = t2.primary_key
CROSS APPLY (SELECT t1.*
FOR xml path('row'), elements xsinil, type) x1(x)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT t2.*
FOR xml path('row'), elements xsinil, type) x2(x)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT n.n.value('local-name(.)', 'sysname'),
n.n.value('.', 'nvarchar(max)')
FROM x1.x.nodes('row/*') AS n(n)) y1(c, v)
CROSS APPLY (SELECT n.n.value('local-name(.)', 'sysname'),
n.n.value('.', 'nvarchar(max)')
FROM x2.x.nodes('row/*') AS n(n)) y2(c, v)
WHERE y1.c = y2.c
AND EXISTS(SELECT y1.v
EXCEPT
SELECT y2.v)
In many cases, there are more than one way to join two tables; See the other answers for lots of examples. Of course, one could say that it would be an error to use the 'automatic join' in those cases. Then only a handfull of simple cases where it can be used would be left.
However, there is a severe drawback! Queries that are correct today, might become an error tomorrow just by adding a second FK to the same table!
Let me say that again: by adding columns, queries that do not use those columns could turn from 'correct' into 'error'!
That is such a maintenance nightmare, that any sane style guide would prohibit to use this feature. Most already prohibit select *
for the same reason!
All this would be acceptable, if performance would be enhanced. However, that's not the case.
Summarizing, this feature could be used in only a limited set of simple cases, does not increase performance, and most style guides would prohibit its usage anyway.
Therefor it is not supprising that most database vendors choose to spend their time on more important things.
Best Answer
I'm not sure if this sample data cover your current issue.
This solution assumes that, at least, there is a
created_date
on yourTable1
>= of thecreated_date
onTabel2
dbfiddle here
If there is no an exact date, you can build a list of periods:
And then try to find the best match:
dbfiddle here