How can I implement SQL INTERSECT and MINUS operations in MS Access
I have researched and haven't found a way to run INTERSECT and MINUS operations in MS Access. Does any way exist
INTERSECT is an inner join. MINUS is an outer join, where you choose only the records that don't exist in the other table.
INTERSECT
select distinct
a.*
from
a
inner join b on a.id = b.id
MINUS
select distinct
a.*
from
a
left outer join b on a.id = b.id
where
b.id is null
If you edit your original question and post some sample data then an example can be given.
EDIT: Forgot to add in the distinct to the queries.
INTERSECT is NOT an INNER JOIN. They're different. An INNER JOIN will give you duplicate rows in cases where INTERSECT WILL not. You can get equivalent results by:
SELECT DISTINCT a.*
FROM a
INNER JOIN b
on a.PK = b.PK
Note that PK must be the primary key column or columns. If there is no PK on the table (BAD!), you must write it like so:
SELECT DISTINCT a.*
FROM a
INNER JOIN b
ON a.Col1 = b.Col1
AND a.Col2 = b.Col2
AND a.Col3 = b.Col3 ...
With MINUS, you can do the same thing, but with a LEFT JOIN, and a WHERE condition checking for null on one of table b's non-nullable columns (preferably the primary key).
SELECT DISTINCT a.*
FROM a
LEFT JOIN b
on a.PK = b.PK
WHERE b.PK IS NULL
That should do it.