How to do multiple or nesting left joins in mysql? 07.12.13

This is a bit complicated looking syntax because taken out from a webapplication system,
it should just show that you can use alias and than add multiple join lefts.
check the mysql reference to see a simple example

SELECT                                                                                                                                                                                  
  c.category, c.categoryid, od.itemid, p.*, od.*, IF(p.productid IS NULL, 'Y', '') as is_deleted, IF(od.product = '', p.product, od.product) as product                         
FROM                                                                                                                                                                                    
  $sql_tbl[order_details] as od                                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                                                        
LEFT JOIN                                                                                                                                                                               
  ($sql_tbl[products] as p)                                                                                                                                                             
ON                                                                                                                                                                                      
  od.productid = p.productid $join                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                                                        
LEFT JOIN                                                                                                                                                                               
  ($sql_tbl[products_categories] as pc)                                                                                                                                                 
ON                                                                                                                                                                                      
  pc.productid = p.productid                                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                                                        
LEFT JOIN                                                                                                                                                                               
  ($sql_tbl[categories] as c)                                                                                                                                                           
ON                                                                                                                                                                                      
  c.categoryid = pc.categoryid                                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                                                        
WHERE                                                                                                                                                                                   
  od.orderid='$orderid'")

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/join.html

Anonymous