Joined query producing more results compared to solo query - sql

Question

I am performing the following query which has an inner join against another table.
select count(myTable.name)
from sch2.sample_detail as myTable
inner join sch1.otherTable as otherTable on myTable.name = otherTable.name
where otherTable.is_valid = 1
and myTable.name IS NOT NULL;
This produces a count of 4912304.
The following is a query just on a single table (my table).
SELECT COUNT(myTable.name)
from sch2.sample_detail as myTable
where myTable.name IS NOT NULL;
This produces a count of 2864654.
But how is this possible? Both queries have the clause where myTable.name IS NOT NULL.
Shouldn't the second query produce same results or if not even more cos the second query doesn't have the otherTable.is_valid = 1 clause?
Why does the inner join produces a higher count of result?
Please advice if there is something I should amend in the 1st query, thanks.

Answer 1

Inner, left or cross join can duplicate rows. sch1.otherTable.name is not unique and this causing rows duplication because for each row in left table all corresponding rows from right table are being selected, this is normal join behavior.
To get duplicate names list use this query and decide how to remove duplicated rows: filter or distinct or filter by row_number, etc.
select count(*) cnt,
name
from sch1.otherTable
having count(*)>1
order by cnt desc;
If you need EXISTS (and do not need to select columns from otherTable), use left semi join.
Also subquery with distinct can be used to pre-aggregate name before join and filter:
select count(myTable.name)
from sch2.sample_detail as myTable
LEFT SEMI JOIN (select distinct name from sch1.otherTable otherTable where otherTable.is_valid = 1 ) as otherTable on myTable.name = otherTable.name
where myTable.name IS NOT NULL;