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Keys in DBMS

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Vineel Reddy
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6 views

Keys in DBMS

Uploaded by

Vineel Reddy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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KEYS IN DBMS

KEYS

• KEYS PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE RELATIONAL DATABASE.


• 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, ID IS USED AS A KEY IN THE STUDENT TABLE BECAUSE IT IS
UNIQUE FOR EACH STUDENT. IN THE PERSON TABLE, PASSPORT_NUMBER,
LICENSE_NUMBER, SSN ARE KEYS SINCE THEY ARE UNIQUE FOR EACH PERSON.
TYPES OF KEYS IN DBMS

1. SUPER KEY
2. PRIMARY KEY
3. CANDIDATE KEY
4. ALTERNATE KEY
5. FOREIGN KEY
6. COMPOSITE KEY
7. SURROGATE KEY
SUPER KEY

• A SUPERKEY IS A GROUP OF SINGLE OR MULTIPLE KEYS WHICH IDENTIFIES ROWS IN A TABLE.


• A SUPER KEY MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTES THAT ARE NOT NEEDED FOR UNIQUE
IDENTIFICATION.
• LIKE SUPERSET, FROM WHICH WE CAN DERIVE OTHER KEYS.
EXAMPLE
CANDIDATE KEY

• CANDIDATE KEY IN SQL IS A SET OF ATTRIBUTES THAT UNIQUELY IDENTIFY TUPLES IN A TABLE. CANDIDATE KEY
IS A SUPER KEY WITH NO REPEATED ATTRIBUTES.
• THE PRIMARY KEY SHOULD BE SELECTED FROM THE CANDIDATE KEYS. EVERY TABLE MUST HAVE AT LEAST A
SINGLE CANDIDATE KEY. A TABLE CAN HAVE MULTIPLE CANDIDATE KEYS BUT ONLY A SINGLE PRIMARY KEY.
• PROPERTIES OF CANDIDATE KEY:
o IT MUST CONTAIN UNIQUE VALUES
o CANDIDATE KEY IN SQL MAY HAVE MULTIPLE ATTRIBUTES
o MUST NOT CONTAIN NULL VALUES
o IT SHOULD CONTAIN MINIMUM FIELDS TO ENSURE UNIQUENESS
o UNIQUELY IDENTIFY EACH RECORD IN A TABLE
EXAMPLE
PRIMARY KEY

• PRIMARY KEY IN DBMS IS A COLUMN OR GROUP OF COLUMNS IN A TABLE THAT UNIQUELY


IDENTIFY EVERY ROW IN THAT TABLE.
• THE PRIMARY KEY CAN’T BE A DUPLICATE MEANING THE SAME VALUE CAN’T APPEAR MORE
THAN ONCE IN THE TABLE.
• A TABLE CANNOT HAVE MORE THAN ONE PRIMARY KEY.
RULES FOR DEFINING PRIMARY KEY

• TWO ROWS CAN’T HAVE THE SAME PRIMARY KEY VALUE


• IT IS MUST FOR EVERY ROW TO HAVE A PRIMARY KEY VALUE.
• THE PRIMARY KEY FIELD CANNOT BE NULL.
• THE VALUE IN A PRIMARY KEY COLUMN CAN NEVER BE MODIFIED OR UPDATED IF ANY FOREIGN
KEY REFERS TO THAT PRIMARY KEY.
EXAMPLE
ALTERNATE KEY

• ALTERNATE KEYS IS A COLUMN OR GROUP OF COLUMNS IN A TABLE THAT UNIQUELY IDENTIFY


EVERY ROW IN THAT TABLE.
• A TABLE CAN HAVE MULTIPLE CHOICES FOR A PRIMARY KEY BUT ONLY ONE CAN BE SET AS THE
PRIMARY KEY.
• ALL THE KEYS WHICH ARE NOT PRIMARY KEY ARE CALLED AN ALTERNATE KEY.
EXAMPLE
UNIQUE KEY

• KEY THAT IS UNIQUE IN TERMS OF VALUES BUT CAN ALSO HAVE NULL VALUES IS
CALLED UNIQUE KEY.
• IN THE UPCOMING EXAMPLE EMAIL, {NAME,PHONE} ETC CAN BE UNIQUE KEYS.
EXAMPLE
COMPOSITE KEY

• COMPOSITE KEY IS A COMBINATION OF TWO OR MORE COLUMNS THAT UNIQUELY IDENTIFY


ROWS IN A TABLE.
• THE COMBINATION OF COLUMNS GUARANTEES UNIQUENESS, THOUGH INDIVIDUALLY
UNIQUENESS IS NOT GUARANTEED. HENCE, THEY ARE COMBINED TO UNIQUELY IDENTIFY
RECORDS IN A TABLE.
EXAMPLE
FOREIGN KEY

• FOREIGN KEY IS A COLUMN THAT CREATES A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO TABLES. THE
PURPOSE OF FOREIGN KEYS IS TO MAINTAIN DATA INTEGRITY AND ALLOW NAVIGATION
BETWEEN TWO DIFFERENT INSTANCES OF AN ENTITY.
• IT ACTS AS A CROSS-REFERENCE BETWEEN TWO TABLES AS IT REFERENCES THE PRIMARY KEY
OF ANOTHER TABLE.
EXAMPLE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIMARY KEY & FOREIGN
KEY

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