Joins

Inner Join Clause

The query builder may also be used to write join statements. To perform a basic "inner join", you may use the join method on a query builder instance. The first argument passed to the join method is the name of the table you need to join to, while the remaining arguments specify the column constraints for the join. Of course, as you can see, you can join to multiple tables in a single query:

Joining using raw SQL

Sometimes you need more control over your join clause in order to add grammar specific instructions, such as adding SQL Server table hints to your queries.

If you need complete control over your join clause you can use the joinRaw() method

Since the joinRaw() takes your string verbatim, it's important that you make sure your SQL declaration is escaped properly. Failure to properly escape your table names may result in SQL errors.

NOTE: Using the joinRaw() will most likely tie your code to a specific database, so think carefully before using the joinRaw() method if you want your project to be database agnostic.

NOTE: All of the join methods have a *Raw equivalent method. This means you can use leftJoinRaw(), rightJoinRaw(), etc.

Complex (multi-conditional) Join Clause

For a compound join clause, pass in the name of the table as the first argument (just as before) but instead of passing the remaining arguments describing the single join clause, we'll pass a single closure with a joinClause argument. Consider a (contrived) example where our users and blogs had to match not only ID but also type:

Left/Right Join Clause

If you would like to perform a "left/right join" instead of an "inner join", use the leftJoin / rightJoin method. The leftJoin / rightJoin method has the same signature as the join method:

Cross Join Clause

To perform a "cross join" use the crossJoin method with the name of the table you wish to cross join to. Cross joins generate a cartesian product between the first table and the joined table:

Joining using Derived Tables

Complex queries often contain derived tables, which are temporal, subqueries defined inline within your SQL.

To join your main table to a derived table you can use the joinSub() methods. Each join method has a corresponding "sub" method which you can use when you need to use a derived table (i.e. leftJoinSub(), rightJoinSub(), etc).

These functions differ slightly than the normal join methods, because the first two arguments specify:

• The alias to use for the derived table (which is how you reference your query)

• Either a QueryBuilder instances or closure defining the subquery