The SQL Cross Join returns the Cartesian product of both the tables. Cartesian product means Number of Rows present in Table 1 Multiplied by Number of Rows present in Table 2. The SQL Server Cross Join does not require any common column to join two tables. Let us see the visual representation of the Cartisian Join for better understanding.
From the above screenshot, you can easily understand that SQL Cross join displays the Cartesian product of two tables. It means, every record in Table A is combining with every record Table B
SQL Cross Join Syntax
The syntax of the Cross Join in SQL Server is
SELECT Table1.Column(s), Table2.Column(s),
FROM Table1
CROSS JOIN
Table2
--OR We can Simply Write it as
SELECT Table1. Column(s), Table2. Column(s),
FROM Table1, Table2
For this Cross Join example, we use two tables (Employee and Department). Data present in the Employee
Data present in the SQL Server Department is:
SQL Cross Join Select * Example
The following SQL Cartesian Join query will display all the existing columns in an employee & Department tables
SELECT * FROM [Employee] CROSS JOIN [Department];
If you observe the below Join screenshot, It is displaying 120 records. It means 15 rows from the Employee multiplies by 8 rows in the Department table
NOTE: I suggest you select individual column names. Please avoid SELECT * Statement in Cross Join to avoid unwanted columns like id, DeptID, id, etc.
Select Few Columns Example
As we said before, please select the required columns after the SELECT Statement to avoid unwanted columns. The following query will display the Cartesian product of the columns present in Employee and Department tables.
SELECT [FirstName]
,[LastName]
,[DepartmentName]
FROM [Employee]
CROSS JOIN [Department]
SQL Cross Join Ambiguous Columns
Above Transact query will work flawlessly if column names from both tables (Employee and Department) are different like above. What happens if they had the same column names in both the tables? Well, with the above-specified approach, you will end up with an error.
Let me show you one practical example. We added id from the department table as an additional column to the above query.
SELECT [FirstName]
,[LastName]
,id
,[DepartmentName]
FROM [Employee]
CROSS JOIN [Department]
As you see, SQL Server Cross Join is throwing an error: Ambiguous column name id. It is because the id column is present in both Employee and department table. And Server doesn’t know which column you are asking it to retrieve.
To resolve these kinds of issues, you always have to use the table name before the column name. The following query is using the ALIAS table name before the column names. By this approach, we can inform the Server that we are looking for id column belonging to the department table.
We can write the above query as:
SELECT Emp.[FirstName]
,Emp.[LastName]
,Dept.id
,Dept.[DepartmentName]
FROM [Employee] AS Emp
CROSS JOIN
[Department] AS Dept
You can also avoid the CROSS JOIN keyword to get the result.
SELECT Emp.[FirstName] AS [First Name]
,Emp.[LastName] AS [Last Name]
,Dept.[DepartmentName] AS [Department Name]
FROM [Employee] AS Emp,
CROSS JOIN
[Department] AS Dept
--OR We Can simply Write it as
SELECT Emp.[FirstName] AS [First Name]
,Emp.[LastName] AS [Last Name]
,Dept.[DepartmentName] AS [Department Name]
FROM [Employee] AS Emp,
[Department] AS Dept
SQL Cross Join Where Clause
We can use the Where Clause along with this in restricting the number of rows returned by the Cross Join. Here, we use that WHERE Clause along with this.
SELECT Emp.[FirstName] AS [First Name]
,Emp.[LastName] AS [Last Name]
,Dept.[DepartmentName] AS [Department Name]
FROM [Employee] AS Emp,
[Department] AS Dept
WHERE Dept.[DepartmentName] = 'Software Developer'
Order By Clause Example
The cross join allows us to use Order By Clause to rearrange the order of the records.
SELECT Emp.[FirstName] AS [First Name]
,Emp.[LastName] AS [Last Name]
,Dept.[DepartmentName] AS [Department Name]
FROM [Employee] AS Emp,
[Department] AS Dept
WHERE Dept.[DepartmentName] = 'Software Developer'
