Database

How is a LEFT JOIN different from a normal join? First of all, the syntax is quite different and somewhat more complex. Besides looking different, the LEFT JOIN gives extra consideration to the table that is on the left.

Being "on the left" simply refers to the table that appears before the LEFT JOIN in our SQL statement. Nothing tricky about that. This extra consideration to the left table can be thought of as special kind of preservation. Each item in the left table will show up in a MySQL result, even if there isn't a match with the other table that it is being joined to.