Keys and superkeys
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L
Timo Grossenbacher
Data Journalist
The current database model
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
The database model with primary keys
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
What is a key?
A ribute(s) that identify a record uniquely
As long as a ributes can be removed: superkey
If no more a ributes can be removed: minimal superkey or key
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
license_no | serial_no | make | model | year
-------------------+-----------+------------+---------+------
Texas ABC-739 | A69352 | Ford | Mustang | 2
Florida TVP-347 | B43696 | Oldsmobile | Cutlass | 5
New York MPO-22 | X83554 | Oldsmobile | Delta | 1
California 432-TFY | C43742 | Mercedes | 190-D | 99
California RSK-629 | Y82935 | Toyota | Camry | 4
Texas RSK-629 | U028365 | Jaguar | XJS | 4
SK1 = {license_no, serial_no, make, model, year}
SK2 = {license_no, serial_no, make, model}
SK3 = {make, model, year}, SK4 = {license_no, serial_no}, SKi, ..., SKn
Adapted from Elmasri, Navathe (2011): Fundamentals of Database Systems, 6th Ed., Pearson
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
license_no | serial_no | make | model | year
-------------------+-----------+------------+---------+------
Texas ABC-739 | A69352 | Ford | Mustang | 2
Florida TVP-347 | B43696 | Oldsmobile | Cutlass | 5
New York MPO-22 | X83554 | Oldsmobile | Delta | 1
California 432-TFY | C43742 | Mercedes | 190-D | 99
California RSK-629 | Y82935 | Toyota | Camry | 4
Texas RSK-629 | U028365 | Jaguar | XJS | 4
K1 = {license_no}; K2 = {serial_no}; K3 = {model}; K4 = {make, year}
K1 to 3 only consist of one a ribute
Removing either "make" or "year" from K4 would result in duplicates
Only one candidate key can be the chosen key
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
Let's discover some
keys!
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L
Primary keys
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L
Timo Grossenbacher
Data Journalist
Primary keys
One primary key per database table, chosen from candidate keys
Uniquely identi es records, e.g. for referencing in other tables
Unique and not-null constraints both apply
Primary keys are time-invariant: choose columns wisely!
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
Specifying primary keys
CREATE TABLE products ( CREATE TABLE example (
product_no integer UNIQUE NOT NULL, a integer,
name text, b integer,
price numeric c integer,
); PRIMARY KEY (a, c)
CREATE TABLE products ( );
product_no integer PRIMARY KEY,
name text,
price numeric
);
Taken from the PostgreSQL documentation.
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
Specifying primary keys (contd.)
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD CONSTRAINT some_name PRIMARY KEY (column_name)
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
Let's practice!
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L
Surrogate keys
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L
Timo Grossenbacher
Data Journalist
Surrogate keys
Primary keys should be built from as few columns as possible
Primary keys should never change over time
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
license_no | serial_no | make | model | color
-------------------+-----------+------------+---------+------
Texas ABC-739 | A69352 | Ford | Mustang | blue
Florida TVP-347 | B43696 | Oldsmobile | Cutlass | black
New York MPO-22 | X83554 | Oldsmobile | Delta | silver
California 432-TFY | C43742 | Mercedes | 190-D | champagne
California RSK-629 | Y82935 | Toyota | Camry | red
Texas RSK-629 | U028365 | Jaguar | XJS | blue
make | model | color
-----------+---------+------
Ford | Mustang | blue
Oldsmobile | Cutlass | black
Oldsmobile | Delta | silver
Mercedes | 190-D | champagne
Toyota | Camry | red
Jaguar | XJS | blue
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
Adding a surrogate key with serial data type
ALTER TABLE cars
ADD COLUMN id serial PRIMARY KEY;
INSERT INTO cars
VALUES ('Volkswagen', 'Blitz', 'black');
make | model | color | id
----------+---------+-------------+-------------
Ford | Mustang | blue | 1
Oldsmobile | Cutlass | black | 2
Oldsmobile | Delta | silver | 3
Mercedes | 190-D | champagne | 4
Toyota | Camry | red | 5
Jaguar | XJS | blue | 6
Volkswagen | Blitz | black | 7
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
Adding a surrogate key with serial data type (contd.)
INSERT INTO cars
VALUES ('Opel', 'Astra', 'green', 1);
duplicate key value violates unique constraint "id_pkey"
DETAIL: Key (id)=(1) already exists.
"id" uniquely identi es records in the table – useful for referencing!
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
Another type of surrogate key
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD COLUMN column_c varchar(256);
UPDATE table_name
SET column_c = CONCAT(column_a, column_b);
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD CONSTRAINT pk PRIMARY KEY (column_c);
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
INTRODUCTION TO RELATIONAL DATABASES IN SQL
Let's try this!
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R E L AT I O N A L D ATA B A S E S I N S Q L
