In SQL, the NATURAL JOIN is a type of join that combines tables based on matching column names.

Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
NATURAL JOIN table2;

Example

Suppose we have two tables: employees and departments.

employees table

| emp_id | emp_name | emp_dept_id | emp_salary | |——–|———-|————-|————| | 1 | John | 101 | 50000 | | 2 | Alice | 102 | 60000 | | 3 | Bob | 101 | 55000 |

departments table

| dept_id | dept_name | |———|———–| | 101 | HR | | 102 | Finance |

SELECT *
FROM employees
NATURAL JOIN departments;

This will produce the result of joining the two tables on the column emp_dept_id in the employees table and dept_id in the departments table.

Result

| emp_id | emp_name | emp_dept_id | emp_salary | dept_name | |——–|———-|————-|————|———–| | 1 | John | 101 | 50000 | HR | | 2 | Alice | 102 | 60000 | Finance | | 3 | Bob | 101 | 55000 | HR |

Conclusion

NATURAL JOIN simplifies the join operation by automatically matching and combining tables based on their column names, eliminating the need for explicit join conditions.

For more information, you can refer to the SQL documentation or reputable SQL tutorial websites.