Common table expressions (CTEs) allow users to define temporary result sets within a single SQL statement that can be referenced within that statement, making complex queries easier to read and maintain by breaking them down into simpler components, while subqueries return data from a nested SQL query to filter the results of the outer query. Joins combine data from two or more tables by linking common columns between them and come in various types like inner, left, right, full, and cross joins.
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