postgres.git / summary / log / commit / refs

commit    a6088e1f5a58e47ee6f207ec13c67773852df970
Author:   Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Date:     Thu Jul 20 16:41:26 2017 +0000

    Doc: clarify description of degenerate NATURAL joins.
    
    Claiming that NATURAL JOIN is equivalent to CROSS JOIN when there are
    no common column names is only strictly correct if it's an inner join;
    you can't say e.g. CROSS LEFT JOIN.  Better to explain it as meaning
    JOIN ON TRUE, instead.  Per a suggestion from David Johnston.
    
    Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CAKFQuwb+mYszQhDS9f_dqRrk1=Pe-S6D=XMkAXcDf4ykKPmgKQ@mail.gmail.com


 doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml    | 4 ++--
 doc/src/sgml/ref/select.sgml | 7 +++++--
 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml
index 1010f0508bc..81ccbe6399c 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/queries.sgml
@@ -393,8 +393,8 @@ FROM <replaceable>table_reference</replaceable> <optional>, <replaceable>table_r
         consisting of all column names that appear in both
         input tables.  As with <literal>USING</>, these columns appear
         only once in the output table.  If there are no common
-        column names, <literal>NATURAL</literal> behaves like
-        <literal>CROSS JOIN</literal>.
+        column names, <literal>NATURAL JOIN</literal> behaves like
+        <literal>JOIN ... ON TRUE</literal>, producing a cross-product join.
        </para>
 
        <note>
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/select.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/select.sgml
index b1727b9807a..f740a128b16 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/select.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/select.sgml
@@ -494,9 +494,12 @@ TABLE [ ONLY ] <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [ * ]
      <varlistentry>
       <term><literal>NATURAL</literal></term>
       <listitem>
-       <para><literal>NATURAL</literal> is shorthand for a
+       <para>
+        <literal>NATURAL</literal> is shorthand for a
         <literal>USING</> list that mentions all columns in the two
-        tables that have the same names.
+        tables that have matching names.  If there are no common
+        column names, <literal>NATURAL</literal> is equivalent
+        to <literal>ON TRUE</>.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>


[parent: e947838ae432]