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DBMS Keys: Primary, Candidate, Super, Alternate and Foreign Etc

DBMS keys like primary, foreign, and candidate keys allow rows in tables to be uniquely identified. Primary keys uniquely identify each row, foreign keys link tables together by matching primary keys, and candidate keys could be chosen as primary keys but aren't currently. Keys help enforce data integrity and relationships between tables in a database.

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Deepak Malusare
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128 views25 pages

DBMS Keys: Primary, Candidate, Super, Alternate and Foreign Etc

DBMS keys like primary, foreign, and candidate keys allow rows in tables to be uniquely identified. Primary keys uniquely identify each row, foreign keys link tables together by matching primary keys, and candidate keys could be chosen as primary keys but aren't currently. Keys help enforce data integrity and relationships between tables in a database.

Uploaded by

Deepak Malusare
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as ODP, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DBMS Keys:

Primary, Candidate, Super, Alternate and


Foreign etc.
What are Keys?

A DBMS key is an attribute or set of an attribute


which helps you to identify a row(tuple) in a
relation(table). They allow you to find the
relation between two tables. Keys help you
uniquely identify a row in a table by a
combination of one or more columns in that
table.
Why we need a Key?
● Here, are reasons for using Keys in the DBMS
system.
● Keys help you to identify any row of data in a
table. In a real-world application, a table could
contain thousands of records. Moreover, the
records could be duplicated. Keys ensure that you
can uniquely identify a table record despite these
challenges.
● Allows you to establish a relationship between
and identify the relation between tables
● Help you to enforce identity and integrity in the
relationship.
Various Keys in Database
Management System
DBMS has folwing seven types of Keys each have
their different functionality:
● Super Key
● Primary Key
● Candidate Key
● Alternate Key
● Foreign Key
● Compound Key
● Composite Key
● Surrogate Key
What is the 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.
What is a Primary Key?
● A column or group of columns in a table which
helps us to uniquely identifies every row in that
table is called a primary key. This DBMS can't be a
duplicate. The same value can't appear more than
once in the table.
● Rules for defining Primary key:
– Two rows can't have the same primary key value
– It 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.
● What is a Primary Key?
● What is the Alternate key?
● All the keys which are not primary key are called
an alternate key. It is a candidate key which is
currently not the primary key. However, A table
may have single or multiple choices for the
primary key.
● What is the Alternate key?
What is a Candidate Key?
● A super key with no repeated attribute is called candidate
key.

● The Primary key should be selected from the candidate


keys. Every table must have at least a single candidate key.

● Properties of Candidate key:


– It must contain unique values
– Candidate key may have multiple attributes
– Must not contain null values
– It should contain minimum fields to ensure uniqueness
– Uniquely identify each record in a table
What is a Candidate Key?
What is a Candidate Key?
What is the Foreign key?
● A foreign key is a column which is added to create
a relationship with another table. Foreign keys
help us to maintain data integrity and also allows
navigation between two different instances of an
entity. Every relationship in the model needs to be
supported by a foreign key.
● In this example, we have two table, teach and
department in a school. However, there is no way
to see which search work in which department.
● In this table, adding the foreign key in Deptcode to
the Teacher name, we can create a relationship
between the two tables.
● This concept is also known as Referential Integrity.
What is the Compound key?
● Compound key has many fields which allow you to
uniquely recognize a specific record. It is possible
that each column may be not unique by itself
within the database. However, when combined
with the other column or columns the combination
of composite keys become unique.
What is the Compound key?
What is the Composite key?
● A key which has multiple attributes to uniquely
identify rows in a table is called a composite key.
The difference between compound and the
composite key is that any part of the compound
key can be a foreign key, but the composite key
may or maybe not a part of the foreign key.
What is a Surrogate Key?
● An artificial key which aims to uniquely identify
each record is called a surrogate key. These kind
of key are unique because they are created when
you don't have any natural primary key. They do
not lend any meaning to the data in the table.
Surrogate key is usually an integer.
What is a Surrogate Key?

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