Joining tables using foreign key

Question

I have 2 tables , employees and departments.

departments(id, department)

employees(id, department_id, name, and a bunch more here)

so employees.department_id is a foreign key to departments.id.

I need to show the table employees, but instead of department_id (showing the IDs of the departments) I need to show the actual departments name, so in place of department_id, i need to place departments.department.

How should I do this?

Answer 1

Your friend told you the truth :p

You just have to use a inner join between your two tables like this:

SELECT d.name, e.name, e.email, ... FROM deparments d INNER JOIN employees e ON d.id = e.department_id.

You have to adapt your field to have the desired output :)

Answer 2

SELECT employees.id, employees.department_id, employees.name, departments.department
FROM employees
INNER JOIN departments ON employees.department_id = departments.id