SQL Constraints:

Constraints are the rules enforced on data columns on table. These 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 database.

Constraints could be column level or table level. Column level constraints are applied only to one column, whereas
table level constraints are applied to the whole table.

Following are commonly used constraints available in SQL:

NOT NULL Constraint: Ensures that a column cannot have NULL value.
DEFAULT Constraint: Provides a default value for a column when none is specified.
UNIQUE Constraint: Ensures that all values in a column are different.
PRIMARY Key: Uniquely identified each rows/records in a database table.
FOREIGN Key: Uniquely identified a rows/records in any another database table.
CHECK Constraint: The CHECK constraint ensures that all values in a column satisfy certain conditions.
INDEX: Use to create and retrieve data from the database very quickly.

NOT NULL Constraint:

By default, a column can hold NULL values. If you do not want a column to have a NULL value, then you need to
define such constraint on this column specifying that NULL is now not allowed for that column.

A NULL is not the same as no data, rather, it represents unknown data.

Example:
For example, the following SQL creates a new table called CUSTOMERS and adds five columns, three of which,
ID and NAME and AGE, specify not to accept NULLs:

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(

ID INT NOT NULL,

NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,

AGE INT NOT NULL,

ADDRESS CHAR (25) ,

SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2),

PRIMARY KEY (ID)

);

If CUSTOMERS table has already been created, then to add a NOT NULL constraint to SALARY column in Oracle
and MySQL, you would write a statement similar to the following:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS

MODIFY SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2) NOT NULL;

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DEFAULT Constraint:
The DEFAULT constraint provides a default value to a column when the INSERT INTO statement does not provide
a specific value.

Example:
For example, the following SQL creates a new table called CUSTOMERS and adds five columns. Here, SALARY
column is set to 5000.00 by default, so in case INSERT INTO statement does not provide a value for this column.
then by default this column would be set to 5000.00.

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(

ID INT NOT NULL,

NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,

AGE INT NOT NULL,

ADDRESS CHAR (25) ,

SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2) DEFAULT 5000.00,

PRIMARY KEY (ID)

);

If CUSTOMERS table has already been created, then to add a DFAULT constraint to SALARY column, you would
write a statement similar to the following:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS

MODIFY SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2) DEFAULT 5000.00;

Drop Default Constraint:

To drop a DEFAULT constraint, use the following SQL:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS

ALTER COLUMN SALARY DROP DEFAULT;

UNIQUE Constraint:
The UNIQUE Constraint prevents two records from having identical values in a particular column. In the
CUSTOMERS table, for example, you might want to prevent two or more people from having identical age.

Example:
For example, the following SQL creates a new table called CUSTOMERS and adds five columns. Here, AGE
column is set to UNIQUE, so that you can not have two records with same age:

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(

ID INT NOT NULL,

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 NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,

AGE INT NOT NULL UNIQUE,

ADDRESS CHAR (25) ,

SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2),

PRIMARY KEY (ID)

);

If CUSTOMERS table has already been created, then to add a UNIQUE constraint to AGE column, you would write
a statement similar to the following:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS

MODIFY AGE INT NOT NULL UNIQUE;

You can also use following syntax, which supports naming the constraint in multiple columns as well:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS

ADD CONSTRAINT myUniqueConstraint UNIQUE(AGE, SALARY);

DROP a UNIQUE Constraint:

To drop a UNIQUE constraint, use the following SQL:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS

DROP CONSTRAINT myUniqueConstraint;

If you are using MySQL, then you can use the following syntax:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS

DROP INDEX myUniqueConstraint;

PRIMARY Key:
A primary key is a field in a table which uniquely identifies each row/record in a database table. Primary keys must
contain unique values. A primary key column cannot have NULL values.

A table can have only one primary key, which may consist of single or multiple fields. When multiple fields are used
as a primary key, they are called a composite key.

If a table has a primary key defined on any field(s), then you can not have two records having the same value of
that field(s).

Note: You would use these concepts while creating database tables.

Create Primary Key:

Here is the syntax to define ID attribute as a primary key in a CUSTOMERS table.

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 CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(

ID INT NOT NULL,

NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,

AGE INT NOT NULL,

ADDRESS CHAR (25) ,

SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2),

PRIMARY KEY (ID)

);

To create a PRIMARY KEY constraint on the "ID" column when CUSTOMERS table already exists, use the
following SQL syntax:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMER ADD PRIMARY KEY (ID);

NOTE: If you use the ALTER TABLE statement to add a primary key, the primary key column(s) must already have
been declared to not contain NULL values (when the table was first created).
For defining a PRIMARY KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(

ID INT NOT NULL,

NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,

AGE INT NOT NULL,

ADDRESS CHAR (25) ,

SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2),

PRIMARY KEY (ID, NAME)

);

To create a PRIMARY KEY constraint on the "ID" and "NAMES" columns when CUSTOMERS table already exists,
use the following SQL syntax:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS

ADD CONSTRAINT PK_CUSTID PRIMARY KEY (ID, NAME);

Delete Primary Key:

You can clear the primary key constraints from the table, Use Syntax:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS DROP PRIMARY KEY ;

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FOREIGN Key:
A foreign key is a key used to link two tables together. This is sometimes called a referencing key.

Foreign Key is a column or a combination of columns whose values match a Primary Key in a different table.

The relationship between 2 tables matches the Primary Key in one of the tables with a Foreign Key in the
second table.
If a table has a primary key defined on any field(s), then you can not have two records having the same value of
that field(s).

Example:
Consider the structure of the two tables as follows:

CUSTOMERS table:
CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(

ID INT NOT NULL,

NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,

AGE INT NOT NULL,

ADDRESS CHAR (25) ,

SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2),

PRIMARY KEY (ID)

);

ORDERS table:
CREATE TABLE ORDERS (

ID INT NOT NULL,

DATE DATETIME,

CUSTOMER_ID INT references CUSTOMERS(ID),

AMOUNT double,

PRIMARY KEY (ID)

);

If ORDERS table has already been created, and the foreign key has not yet been set, use the syntax for specifying
a foreign key by altering a table.

ALTER TABLE ORDERS

ADD FOREIGN KEY (Customer_ID) REFERENCES CUSTOMERS (ID);

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