not grokking outer joins...

i'm trying to wrap outer joins around my cerebellum:

CUST:
id serial
name varchar(30)
ITEM:
cust integer references cust (id)
data varchar(30)
INFO:
cust integer references cust (id)
stuff text

for my query i'd like, for every customer, to have
item.* show up if it exists, and info.* show up
if it exists...

select
CUST.name,
ITEM.data,
INFO.stuff
from
CUST left join ITEM on (CUST.id=ITEM.cust),
CUST left join INFO on (CUST.id=INFO.cust)
.... not!

or does this need some subselect magic?

and (separate question) is there a way to be sure that ONE or the
OTHER or BOTH have joinable data, but don't show CUST if neither
ITEM nor INFO has a match?

foreach CUST
if ITEM matches
show record
elsif INFO matches
show record
else -- neither matches
dont show squat, not even from cust
end if
end foreach

--
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- P.J.Lee ('79-'80)

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