The records in the Input Table value are matched to the records in the Join Table value based on the values of the Input Join Field and Join Table Field parameters. You can also select specific fields from the Join Table value to be appended to the Input Table value during the join.
The Input Table value can be a feature class (including a shapefile) or a table.
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All fields in the Input Table value will be kept during the join. You can also select specific fields from the Join Table value to be added to the output. Use the Transfer Fields parameter to add these fields.
Records from the Join Table value can be matched to more than one record in the Input Table value.
If no fields are selected for the optional Transfer Fields parameter, all fields from the Join Table value will be joined to the output. To alter field names, aliases, or properties, set the Transfer Method parameter to Use field mapping.
Joins can be based on fields of type text, date, or number.
Joins based on text fields are case sensitive.
Fields of different number formats can be joined as long as the values are equal. For example, a field of type float can be joined to a short integer field.
When joined to an input table, fields from the join table with a Global ID type or an Object ID type will not be transferred.
The Input Join Field value and the Join Table Field value can have different field names.
If a join field has the same name as a field from the input table, the joined field will be appended with _1 (or _2, or _3, and so on) to make it unique.
If the Input Table and Join Table parameter values have the same name, clicking the Validate Join button will fail with an error. This is a known limitation. However, the tool will run successfully when you click the Run button.
If the Select transfer fields option is specified for the Transfer Method parameter and field values in the Join Table Field parameter value are not unique, only the first occurrence of each value will be used. To account for values other than the first occurrence (a one-to-many join), set the Transfer Method parameter to Use field mapping. To perform a one-to-many join, the Input Table parameter value must have an Object ID field and be in the same workspace as the Join Table parameter value.
Use the Field Map parameter to manage the fields and their content in the output dataset.
- Add and remove fields from the fields list, reorder the fields list, and rename fields.
- The default data type of an output field is the same as the data type of the first input field (of that name) it encounters. You can change the data type to another valid data type.
- Use an action to determine how values from one or multiple input fields will be merged into a single output field. The available actions are First, Last, Concatenate, Sum, Mean, Median, Mode, Minimum, Maximum, Standard Deviation, and Count.
- When using the Concatenate action, you can specify a delimiter such as a comma or other characters. Click the start of the Delimiter text box to add the delimiter characters.
- Standard Deviation is not a valid option for single input values.
- Use the Slice Text button on text source fields to choose which characters from an input value will be extracted to the output field. To access the Slice Text button, hover over a text field in the input fields list; then specify the start and end character positions.
- Fields can also be mapped using Python scripts.
If the Field Map parameter is specified with the Join merge rule, there is no way to guarantee that the order of the joined values will be consistent with the row order of the Join Table Field parameter if the values are not unique. For example, if three features with the ANIMAL attribute values of mouse, cat, and dog are joined, the result will not necessarily be in the order mouse, cat, and dog.
The Validate Join tool can be used to validate a join between two layers or tables to determine if the layers or
tables have valid field names and Object ID fields, if the join
produces matching records, if the join is a one-to-one or one-to-many join, and
other properties of the join.
A button to validate the join is available on the tool dialog box for ease of use.
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Indexing the input field and join field can improve performance. Use the Index Join Fields parameter to add or replace indexes.
If the join results are unexpected or incomplete, review whether the input field and join field are indexed. If the fields are not indexed, try adding an index. If the fields are already indexed, try deleting and re-adding the index to correct any problems with the index. Use the Index Join Fields parameter to manage indexes while running the tool.