Keys in a Relational Database

Module Objective

To describe the structure of Relational Model .

To understand database schema , relational model objects and characteristics of relations

To discuss different keys in relational database like Super Key , Candidate key ,Primary Key ,
Composite Key , Secondary Key or Alternate Key , Surrogate Key , Foreign and Unique Key

To explain different constraints like schema based or integrity , entity integrity or key ,
Referential integrity and domain constraints

To discuss SMS Case study with all constraints

To understand basic concepts of SQL

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Topics Covered

Day 9 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12

• Structure of • Keys in • Constraints • SMS case
Relational Relational • Schema Based Study design
Model Database Constraints or with complete
• Database • Super Key Integrity Constraints
Schema • Candidate Key Constraints • Introduction to
• Relational • Primary Key • Entity Integrity SQL
Model of • Composite Key Constraint or
Objects • Secondary Key Key Constraint
• Characteristics or Alternate Key • Referential
of Relations • Surrogate Keys Integrity
• Foreign and Constraints
• Domain
Unique Key
constraint

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Session Plan - Day 10

 Database keys
 Objectives of Database Keys
 Types of Database Keys

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 Need of Database key
In a database relation, it is easy to identify a particular (specific) column; however, we
need a mechanism (way) to identify a particular (specific) row in a database relation. For
this, the concept of database keys is used so that we can identify each row uniquely.

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 Database key

A database key (database relation key) is an attribute or a set of attributes in a

particular relation that can uniquely identify each row (tuple) in that relation.
 Database keys have three primary objectives given in below figure.

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Type of database keys

There are mainly seven different types of Keys in DBMS and each key has its
different functionality:

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Super Key
A super key (SK) is a set of one or more attributes that allows us to uniquely identify a
row (tuple) in the relation.

SK is a set of attributes of a relation schema R with the property that no two tuples t1 and
t2 in any relation state r of R should have the same combination of values for these
attributes. This is known as uniqueness property.
Thus, we can state that: t1[SK] ≠ t2[SK] or t1.SK ≠ t2.SK

Example:1.(roll_no, first_name, last_name)

2.(roll_no)
We can say that t1[roll_no, first_name, last_name] ≠ t2[roll_no, first_name, last_name]
similarly, t1[roll_no] ≠ t2[roll_no].

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Super Key(Contd..)
Consider the Schema, STUDENT(adhaar_no, roll_no, first_name, last_name, address,
dob, gender, mobile_no, email_id).

Maximum no. of possible super keys for a relation with n attributes = 2 n-1
Below are some sets of super keys for the above STUDENT schema:
SK1 = (adhaar_no) SK7 = (first_name, last_name,
SK2 = (roll_no) address, mobile_no)
SK3 = (mobile_no) SK8 = (roll_no, first_name, gender)
SK4 = (email_id) SK9 = (first_name, last_name,
SK5=(adhaar_no, first_name, last_name) address, email_id)
SK6 =(roll_no, first_name, last_name ) SK10 = (first_name, mobile_no, email_id,
dob) etc.

Thus student relation with 9 attributes maximum no. of possible super keys will be equal to
29-1.

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 Some facts to remember about super keys

 A super key specifies uniqueness property for a row (tuple) i.e. t1 [SK] ≠ t2 [SK] .

 Every relation has one default super key, i.e., the set of all attributes of that relation.
 A super key can have extraneous attribute/s. For super key SK2 i.e.
{roll_no, first_name, last_name}, first_name and last_name are extraneous attributes. If
we remove these attributes, then also uniqueness property holds.
 If SK is a super key, then any superset of SK will also be a super key.

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 Candidate Key
A candidate key is a minimal super key that can identify each row (tuple) of a given
relation uniquely.

 A candidate key has a minimum number of attributes that are definitely needed to
establish a row (tuple) uniqueness in a given relation.
 The set of all possible candidate keys is known as the candidate key set.

Example: Consider STUDENT(adhaar_no, roll_no, first_name, last_name, address,

dob, gender, mobile_no, email_id) below are the candidate keys:

CK1=(adhaar_no), CK2 = (roll_no) , CK3 = (first_name, last_name,address),

CK4 = (email_id)

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Some facts to remember about candidate keys

 All the attributes in a candidate key are sufficient as well as necessary to

identify each tuple uniquely.​
 Removing any attribute from the candidate key fails in identifying each tuple
uniquely.​
 The value of the candidate key must always be unique.​
 The value of the candidate key can never be NULL.​
 It is possible to have multiple candidate keys in a relation.​
 Those attributes which appear in any candidate key are called prime
attributes.​
 A candidate key is a super key but not vice versa.

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 Primary Key

A primary key is a constraint in a table which uniquely identifies each row record in a
database table by enabling one or more the column in the table as primary key.

 A relation can have many candidate keys, which can uniquely identify each row (tuple)
of a given relation. Any one of these candidate keys can be chosen as a Primary key
(PK) of a given relation.
 Some facts to remember about primary keys are given below:
 The value of the primary key field will always be unique​
 The value of a primary key field can never be NULL
 A relation is allowed to have only one primary key

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 Primary Key(Contd..)

The primary key should be chosen such that:

 Its attributes are never, or very rarely, changed ,

i.e., time-invariant.

 It should consist of either a single attribute or a

small number of attributes.

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Composite key
A composite key is a primary key consisting of two or more columns that uniquely
identify rows in a relation.

 The combination of columns guarantees uniqueness, though individually uniqueness is

not guaranteed. Hence, they are combined to identify records in a relation uniquely.

Example: Consider Section table

composite key consisting of
(section_name) and (dept_id).

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Secondary Key or Alternate key

Secondary or Alternate key (s) are the candidate keys that are left unimplemented
or unused after implementing the primary key.

 The secondary keys are used for data retrieval purposes and indexing. Indexing
is done for better and faster data searching and retrieval from the database.

 If in the student relation, (roll_no) is designated as a primary key, the remaining

candidate keys – (adhaar_no), (email_id), (first_name, last_name, address) are the
secondary keys or alternate keys of the student relation.

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 Can you answer this ?
Q. Which one of the following is a set of one or more attributes taken collectively to
uniquely identify a record?

a) Candidate key
b) Sub key
c) Super key
d) Foreign key

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Can you answer this ?

2. The subset of a super key is a candidate key under what condition?

a) No proper subset is a super key

b) All subsets are super keys
c) Subset is a super key
d) Each subset is a super key

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Can you answer this ?
Q. A _____ is a property of the entire relation, rather than of the individual tuples in
which each tuple is unique.

a) Rows
b) Key
c) Attribute
d) Fields

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Can you answer this ?

Q. An attribute in a relation is a foreign key if the _______ key from one relation
is used as an attribute in that relation.

a) Candidate
b) Primary
c) Super
d) Sub

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 Surrogate Keys

A surrogate key is a system-generated value with no business meaning that is

used to identify a record in a relation uniquely. This key is used as a primary key
in a given relation when a natural primary key is not available.

 The surrogate key is usually an integer and thus does not lend any meaning to
the data in the relation. A surrogate key is a value generated right before the
record is inserted into a relation.
 When the primary key is too big or complicated, Surrogate keys are preferred. A
surrogate key is generated for each unique combination of the primary key.

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Surrogate Keys(Contd..)

Example:

 key comprising of a combination of various components of address

(house_no, street_name, city, state, Pincode).
 A surrogate key can be introduced as address_id for each unique combination
of address (house_no, street_name, city, state, Pincode).

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Foreign Key
When the primary key (PK) of one relation (also referred to as parent relation) is
included as a non-unique attribute in another relation (also referred to as child relation),
then such a database key is called a foreign key (FK).

 The primary purpose of the foreign key (FK) is to define and create a relationship
between the two relations.
 The relation which is being referenced is called referenced relation, and the
corresponding attribute is called a referenced attribute.
 The relation which refers to the referenced relation is called referencing
relation, and the corresponding attribute is called referencing attribute.

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Foreign Key (Contd..)
Example:
In below given figure attribute (dept_id) in course relation is a foreign key (FK),
and all values for this attribute will match the values of the primary key (PK)
attribute (dept_id) in the department relation.

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 Unique Key

Unique key constraints also identifies an individual tuple uniquely in a relation or table.

 Multiple unique keys can present in a table. NULL values are allowed in case of a
unique key. These can also be used as foreign keys for another table
 It can be used when someone wants to enforce unique constraints on a column and
a group of columns which is not a primary key.

Example: In Department relation, dept_name is a unique key and in Course relation,

course_name is a unique key.

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Difference between Primary Key and Unique Key

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Review Questions

Q 1.What are Super key, Primary key, Candidate key, and Foreign keys?
Q 2. What is the difference between Primary key and Unique key?
Q 3. What is importance of keys in Database?

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Thank You

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