on 06-30-2020 05:13 PM - edited on 09-05-2023 12:15 PM by LeandraN
Understanding Join output anchors and when to add a Union tool: The Join tool anchors are separate subsets of data. You can combine them with a Union tool. The Select functionality of the Join tool applies only to the J anchor, not the R- or L-anchored data.
Prerequisites
Procedure
If you've read the Tool Mastery article that covers the Join tool and then played with it on your own some, you've probably noticed some of its more subtle features. One is that Joining two tables can generate a staggeringly large number of rows. That's often due to selecting fields that have some repeated values, and is covered in a fine article titled "Why Your Join Is Getting More Records than Expected."
The Alteryx Join tool has three outputs, L, J, and R as separate subsets of your data. If you examine the output of the L (left), you will see the records that existed in the left data set, but do not match with records from the right. The J (join) output provides only the records that are common between the two data sets. And the R (right) output provides the records from the right that don't match with those on the left.