title: MySQL Performance: JOIN ON vs WHERE
body: <blockquote>
    <p><strong>Possible Duplicates:</strong><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5273942/mysql-inner-join-vs-where">MySQL: Inner join vs Where</a><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44917/explicit-vs-implicit-sql-joins">Explicit vs implicit SQL joins</a>  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  
  
  <p>Is there any difference performance wise when we run join queries using "JOIN ON" and "WHERE" clause? (regardless of the number of tables or the number of entries in the tables) </p>
  
  <p>Not sure whether this topic has already been discussed over. Even if so, I wish to know whether with the latest versions of mySQL(5.1 and above), things have changed. </p>
  
  <p>An Explain statement clearly shows a lot of difference in the number of rows taken for consideration. </p>
  
  <p>The Syntax I am using is: </p>
  
  <h1>Using JOIN ON</h1>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT &lt;field names&gt;
  FROM &lt;table1&gt;
  JOIN &lt;table2&gt; ON &lt;join_condition&gt;
  AND JOIN &lt;table3&gt; ON &lt;join_condition&gt; 
  AND JOIN &lt;table4&gt; ON &lt;join_condition&gt; 
  .... 
  </code></pre>
  
  <h1>Using WHERE</h1>
  
  <pre><code>SELECT &lt;field names&gt; 
  FROM &lt;table names list separated by comma&gt; 
  WHERE &lt;join_condition&gt; 
  AND &lt;join_condition&gt; 
  AND &lt;join_condition&gt; 
  .... 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So not sure whether usage of JOIN ON or WHERE clause would make a difference. Please assist. </p>