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Asked: 2026-05-10T23:16:30+00:00

Two snippets of MySQL: SELECT * FROM annoyingly_long_left_hand_table LEFT JOIN annoyingly_long_right_hand_table ON annoyingly_long_left_hand_table.id =

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Two snippets of MySQL: 

SELECT * FROM annoyingly_long_left_hand_table      LEFT JOIN annoyingly_long_right_hand_table      ON annoyingly_long_left_hand_table.id = annoyingly_long_right_hand_table.id;

vs

SELECT * FROM annoyingly_long_left_hand_table      LEFT JOIN annoyingly_long_right_hand_table      USING (id);

Given that both tables have an id field, is there any disadvantage to using the second version. It isn’t just laziness – the version with USING seems far clearer to me.

(Please don’t mention aliasing – I want to know if there is any reason to favour one conditional structure over the other)

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1 Answer

  1. There is a small functional difference between the two, in that instead of getting 2 ID columns, you only get one.

    SELECT * FROM foo JOIN bar ON ( foo.id == bar.id )

    id , fooname, id, barname

    SELECT * FROM foo JOIN bar USING ( id )

    id, fooname, barname

    So there are at least some additional knowledge requirements for users utilising this syntax, http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/join.html

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