Which join returns only rows with matches in both tables?

• A. INNER JOIN
• B. CROSS JOIN
• C. RIGHT OUTER JOIN
• D. FULL OUTER JOIN

Answer: (A)

Inner joins filter results to include only rows where the join condition finds a match in both tables. It pairs each row from the first table with rows from the second table and keeps only those pairs that satisfy the condition, so rows without a corresponding match in the other table are excluded. This is exactly the behavior described by “only rows with matches in both tables.”

By comparison, a cross join produces every combination of rows from both tables, regardless of matches. A right outer join keeps all rows from the right table and fills in NULLs for any missing matches on the left. A full outer join returns all rows from both tables, with NULLs where there is no match.