To query related Salesforce records, choose syntax by direction: use dot notation to read parent fields from a child record, or a nested subquery to retrieve child records from a parent. The relationship must exist in your Salesforce schema, and relationship names—not necessarily object or field API names—determine what you write in the query.
Choose the query pattern by relationship direction
SOQL relationship queries follow defined Salesforce relationships; they are not arbitrary SQL joins. As Salesforce explains in its Relationship Queries reference, the queried objects must have a relationship. First identify which object should supply the top-level rows, then choose the matching pattern.
| What you need | Query from | Syntax | Result shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent fields on each child record | Child object | Dot notation using the parent relationship name | Child rows with selected parent fields |
| Related child records for each parent | Parent object | Nested subquery using the child relationship name | Parent rows with nested child result sets |
Get parent fields from a child record
For a child-to-parent query, put the child object in the outer FROM clause and traverse to parent fields with dot notation. For example, a Contact can retrieve fields from its related Account:
SELECT Id, FirstName, Account.Name
FROM Contact
WHERE Account.Industry = 'Media'Account.Name selects the parent Account’s name for each returned Contact. The filter Account.Industry = 'Media' also refers to the parent. Relationship paths can be used in fields and filters, as described in Salesforce’s Using Relationship Queries guidance.
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The path uses the parent relationship name exposed on the child, not simply an assumption based on a field label. This is especially important for custom fields, where the API field name and the relationship name differ.
Get child records from a parent
For a parent-to-child query, put the parent in the outer FROM clause and add a child subquery in parentheses. The subquery’s FROM uses the child relationship name. For Account and Contact, that name is Contacts:
SELECT Name,
(SELECT LastName FROM Contacts)
FROM AccountThe query returns Account rows, each with a nested result set containing its matching Contacts. You can select child fields and apply a child-specific filter inside that subquery. For example:
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SELECT Name,
(SELECT LastName
FROM Contacts
WHERE CreatedBy.Alias = 'jsmith')
FROM Account
WHERE Industry = 'Media'The outer WHERE filters Accounts; the subquery’s WHERE filters Contacts returned for each Account. Salesforce’s SOQL SELECT examples show relationship query patterns and filtering.
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Understand the returned data shape
The outer query determines the records at the top level. Child-to-parent traversal adds selected parent fields to each child row. Parent-to-child traversal instead places a nested query result set on each parent record.
A simplified parent-to-child response is conceptually shaped like this:
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Account: {
Name: "Acme",
Contacts: [
{ LastName: "Nguyen" },
{ LastName: "Patel" }
]
}This is an illustration of the nesting, not literal JSON returned identically by every Salesforce API. When consuming results, handle the child query result as a collection associated with its parent rather than expecting one flat row per parent-child pair. See Salesforce’s Understanding Query Results reference.
Find the correct relationship name in your org
Relationship names are directional. A child-to-parent path uses the parent relationship name; a parent-to-child subquery uses the child relationship name. Salesforce documents the standard naming distinction in Understanding Relationship Names.
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- Standard example: Account-to-Contact parent-to-child traversal uses
Contactsin the subquery, notContact. - Custom child-to-parent traversal: a custom lookup field whose API name ends in
__cis traversed using its relationship name ending in__r. - Custom parent-to-child traversal: use the configured child relationship name; do not assume it is the plural form of the child object’s name.
To verify names and confirm that a relationship is available to SOQL, inspect the target org’s metadata. Salesforce identifies describeSObjects() as the most reliable way to identify parent and child relationships; the Identifying Parent and Child Relationships reference covers this discovery process. The custom objects and fields guidance explains the __c/__r distinction.
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A relationship diagram alone is not proof that a particular relationship can be traversed in SOQL. Check the metadata for the org and package version where the query will run.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Check depth, API version, and execution context
Relationship limits depend on both query direction and how the query is executed. Salesforce’s current Understanding Relationship Query Limitations documentation specifies these limits:
| Limit | Documented allowance | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Child-to-parent relationships in a query | Up to 55; custom objects allow up to 40 | Polymorphic fields can count more than once; repeated use of the same relationship counts as one. |
| Parent-to-child relationships in a query | Up to 20 | Applies to the documented relationship-query limits. |
| Child-to-parent path depth | Up to five levels | Confirm the queried relationships are exposed and supported in the execution context. |
| Parent-to-child path depth | Two levels or fewer through API v57.0; up to five from API v58.0 | The five-level allowance applies to REST, SOAP, and Apex query calls on standard and custom objects. It is not supported for big objects, external objects, Bulk API, or Bulk API 2.0. |
The API-version boundary is a practical deployment concern: a query that uses deeper parent-to-child traversal can fail when run through an older API version or an unsupported context. Verify the version and interface actually used by the application, integration, or job; do not infer support from the query syntax alone. Salesforce also documents additional external-object constraints, including up to four joins across external and other objects, possible additional round trips and latency, and restrictions on ordering and subquery results. Adapter and object conditions matter, so consult the applicable documentation before applying those external-object figures to a specific setup.
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Troubleshoot a relationship query that fails
When a relationship query is rejected or returns a different shape than expected, check the issue in this order:
- Confirm the direction. If the outer
FROMis the child and you need parent fields, use a dot path. If it is the parent and you need child rows, use a nested subquery. - Verify the relationship name. Check the relevant object’s describe metadata. Use the parent relationship name for dot notation and the child relationship name in a subquery.
- Check custom API names. A custom lookup field ending in
__cis not the traversal name; parent traversal uses the associated relationship name ending in__r. - Confirm a SOQL relationship exists. SOQL does not permit an arbitrary join between unrelated objects.
- Check the path depth and relationship counts. Compare the query with the documented direction-specific limits, including the custom-object relationship count.
- Check API version and execution method. Deep parent-to-child traversal depends on API v58.0 or later and is unavailable in the stated unsupported contexts.
- Inspect the result as nested data when appropriate. A parent-to-child subquery produces a child result set on each parent, not a flat set of child rows.
For a focused example set, see Salesforce’s SOQL SELECT examples; for syntax, naming, and limit details, use the linked official relationship references above.
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