MySQL UNION/JOIN on the same column -

i have normalization table rows 2 foreign keys point primary keys in table of widgets. idea widgets occur in pairs, hence normalization table has 2 columns: widget1 , widget2.

+--------------------+ | widget1 | widget2  | +--------------------+ |    1    |    3     | |    2    |    4     | +--------------------+ 

each widget has 2 columns well; primary key , name. eg

+------------+ | pk | name  | +------------+ | 1  | bob   | | 2  | joe   | | 3  | max   | | 4  | tim   | +------------+ 

i'm trying build query name corresponds other name, i.e.:

+--------------------+ | widget1 | widget2  | +--------------------+ |   bob   |   max    | |   joe   |   tim    | +--------------------+ 

unioning 2 select statements gives 1 long column. how can desired output? here's sqlfiddle.

you want 2 joins, not union:

select w1.name, w2.name   norm   join widgets w1 on w1.pk = norm.widget1   join widgets w2 on w2.pk = norm.widget2 

see on sqlfiddle.