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Constraints

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15 views4 pages

Constraints

Uploaded by

pavithramuthu2021
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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SQL constraints are used to specify rules for the data in a table.

Constraints are used to limit the type of data that can go into a table. This
ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data in the table

Constraints can be column level or table level. Column level constraints apply to
a column, and table level constraints apply to the whole table.

The following constraints are commonly used in SQL:

 NOT NULL - Ensures that a column cannot have a NULL value


 UNIQUE - Ensures that all values in a column are different
 PRIMARY KEY - A combination of a NOT NULL and UNIQUE. Uniquely
identifies each row in a table
 FOREIGN KEY - Prevents actions that would destroy links between tables
 CHECK - Ensures that the values in a column satisfies a specific condition
 DEFAULT - Sets a default value for a column if no value is specified

SQL NOT NULL Constraint


By default, a column can hold NULL values.

The NOT NULL constraint enforces a column to NOT accept NULL values.

This enforces a field to always contain a value, which means that you cannot
insert a new record, or update a record without adding a value to this field.

Example:

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOT NULL,

LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,

FirstName varchar(255) NOT NULL,

Age int

);

SQL UNIQUE Constraint


The UNIQUE constraint ensures that all values in a column are different.
Both the UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints provide a guarantee for
uniqueness for a column or set of columns.

A PRIMARY KEY constraint automatically has a UNIQUE constraint.

Example:

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOT NULL UNIQUE,

LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,

FirstName varchar(255),

Age int

);

SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint


The PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely identifies each record in a table.

Primary keys must contain UNIQUE values, and cannot contain NULL values.

A table can have only ONE primary key; and in the table, this primary key
can consist of single or multiple columns (fields).

Example:

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,

LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,

FirstName varchar(255),

Age int

);
SQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint
The FOREIGN KEY constraint is used to prevent actions that would destroy
links between tables.

A FOREIGN KEY is a field (or collection of fields) in one table, that refers to
the PRIMARY KEY in another table.

The table with the foreign key is called the child table, and the table with the
primary key is called the referenced or parent table.

Example:

CREATE TABLE Orders (

OrderID int NOT NULL,

OrderNumber int NOT NULL,

PersonID int,

PRIMARY KEY (OrderID),

FOREIGN KEY (PersonID) REFERENCES Persons(PersonID)

);

SQL CHECK Constraint


The CHECK constraint is used to limit the value range that can be placed in a
column.

If you define a CHECK constraint on a column it will allow only certain values
for this column.

If you define a CHECK constraint on a table it can limit the values in certain
columns based on values in other columns in the row.

Example:

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOT NULL,

LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,


FirstName varchar(255),

Age int,

CHECK (Age>=18)

);

SQL DEFAULT Constraint

The DEFAULT constraint is used to set a default value for a column.

The default value will be added to all new records, if no other value is
specified.

Example:

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOT NULL,

LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,

FirstName varchar(255),

Age int,

City varchar(255) DEFAULT ‘Sandnes’

);

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