SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint
SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint
The PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table.
Primary keys must contain unique values.
A primary key column cannot contain NULL values.
Each table should have a primary key, and each table can have only one primary key.
SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint on CREATE TABLE
The following SQL creates a PRIMARY KEY on the "P_Id" column when the "Persons" table is created:
MySQL:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255),
PRIMARY KEY (P_Id)
) |
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255)
) |
To allow naming of a PRIMARY KEY constraint, and for defining a PRIMARY KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255),
CONSTRAINT pk_PersonID PRIMARY KEY (P_Id,LastName)
) |
SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint on ALTER TABLE
To create a PRIMARY KEY constraint on the "P_Id" column when the table is already created, use the following SQL:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD PRIMARY KEY (P_Id) |
To allow naming of a PRIMARY KEY constraint, and for defining a PRIMARY KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD CONSTRAINT pk_PersonID PRIMARY KEY (P_Id,LastName) |
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).
To DROP a PRIMARY KEY Constraint
To drop a PRIMARY KEY constraint, use the following SQL:
MySQL:
ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP PRIMARY KEY |
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP CONSTRAINT pk_PersonID |
 |
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