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DBMS Keys: Types of Key

Keys such as primary keys, candidate keys, foreign keys, and alternate keys play an important role in relational databases by uniquely identifying records and establishing relationships between tables. The document defines different types of keys like primary keys which uniquely identify records, foreign keys which link tables, and composite keys which are made of multiple attributes. It provides examples of how these keys are used in tables like employees and departments to relate information between entities.

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Priyanka Gupta
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116 views

DBMS Keys: Types of Key

Keys such as primary keys, candidate keys, foreign keys, and alternate keys play an important role in relational databases by uniquely identifying records and establishing relationships between tables. The document defines different types of keys like primary keys which uniquely identify records, foreign keys which link tables, and composite keys which are made of multiple attributes. It provides examples of how these keys are used in tables like employees and departments to relate information between entities.

Uploaded by

Priyanka Gupta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DBMS Keys

o Keys play an important role in the relational database.


o It is used to uniquely identify any record or row of data from the table. It is also used to
establish and identify relationships between tables.

For example: In Student table, ID is used as a key because it is unique for each student.
In PERSON table, passport_number, license_number, SSN are keys since they are unique
for each person.

Types of key:
1. Primary key
o It is the first key used to identify one and only one instance of an entity uniquely. An
entity can contain multiple keys, as we saw in the PERSON table. The key which is most
suitable from those lists becomes a primary key.
o In the EMPLOYEE table, ID can be the primary key since it is unique for each employee. In
the EMPLOYEE table, we can even select License_Number and Passport_Number as
primary keys since they are also unique.
o For each entity, the primary key selection is based on requirements and developers.

2. Candidate key
o A candidate key is an attribute or set of attributes that can uniquely identify a tuple.
o Except for the primary key, the remaining attributes are considered a candidate key. The
candidate keys are as strong as the primary key.

For example: In the EMPLOYEE table, id is best suited for the primary key. The rest of
the attributes, like SSN, Passport_Number, License_Number, etc., are considered a
candidate key.
3. Super Key
Super key is an attribute set that can uniquely identify a tuple. A super key is a superset
of a candidate key.

For example: In the above EMPLOYEE table, for(EMPLOEE_ID, EMPLOYEE_NAME), the


name of two employees can be the same, but their EMPLYEE_ID can't be the same.
Hence, this combination can also be a key.

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The super key would be EMPLOYEE-ID (EMPLOYEE_ID, EMPLOYEE-NAME), etc.

4. Foreign key
o Foreign keys are the column of the table used to point to the primary key of another
table.
o Every employee works in a specific department in a company, and employee and
department are two different entities. So we can't store the department's information in
the employee table. That's why we link these two tables through the primary key of one
table.
o We add the primary key of the DEPARTMENT table, Department_Id, as a new attribute in
the EMPLOYEE table.
o In the EMPLOYEE table, Department_Id is the foreign key, and both the tables are
related.

5. Alternate key
There may be one or more attributes or a combination of attributes that uniquely
identify each tuple in a relation. These attributes or combinations of the attributes are
called the candidate keys. One key is chosen as the primary key from these candidate
keys, and the remaining candidate key, if it exists, is termed the alternate key. In other
words, the total number of the alternate keys is the total number of candidate keys
minus the primary key. The alternate key may or may not exist. If there is only one
candidate key in a relation, it does not have an alternate key.

For example, employee relation has two attributes, Employee_Id and PAN_No, that act
as candidate keys. In this relation, Employee_Id is chosen as the primary key, so the
other candidate key, PAN_No, acts as the Alternate key.
6. Composite key
Whenever a primary key consists of more than one attribute, it is known as a composite
key. This key is also known as Concatenated Key.

For example, in employee relations, we assume that an employee may be assigned


multiple roles, and an employee may work on multiple projects simultaneously. So the
primary key will be composed of all three attributes, namely Emp_ID, Emp_role, and
Proj_ID in combination. So these attributes act as a composite key since the primary key
comprises more than one attribute.

7. Artificial key
The key created using arbitrarily assigned data are known as artificial keys. These keys
are created when a primary key is large and complex and has no relationship with many
other relations. The data values of the artificial keys are usually numbered in a serial
order.
For example, the primary key, which is composed of Emp_ID, Emp_role, and Proj_ID, is
large in employee relations. So it would be better to add a new virtual attribute to
identify each tuple in the relation uniquely.

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