SQL Gurus ...

Can someone please explain how I can ever get a lower row count from a left outer join than the number of rows that exist in the left table?

select count(*)
from table1 a left outer join table2 b
on a.email = b.email
where b.event = '2103SM'
order by attend;

That returns query returns a count of 848 rows. There are 858 rows in table1! (left table). And just for fun an inner join also returns 848 rows.

Any ideas anyone? I thought it was an absolute that a left outer always returned all rows in the left table.


Jon Paris