What type of join would you expect from the Append Fields tool?

The Append Fields tool in Alteryx is designed to add fields from one input dataset to another, creating a Cartesian join. This means that every record from the first dataset is paired with every record from the second dataset, resulting in a combination of all possible records between the two inputs. The output contains all fields from both datasets, essentially expanding the number of records exponentially based on the number of records in each input.

This type of join is particularly useful when you want to associate every record of one set with every record of another set without any specific key matching criteria, in contrast to other types of joins that typically rely on matching keys to combine data. It is important to note that since a Cartesian join can greatly increase the size of the output dataset, it should be used thoughtfully to keep processing efficient.