SQL Constraints

SQL Constraints are the rules applied to a data columns or the complete table to limit the type of data that can go into a table. When you try to perform any INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE operation on the table, RDBMS will check whether that data violates any existing constraints and if there is any violation between the defined constraint and the data action, it aborts the operation and returns an error.

We can define a column level or a table level constraints. The column level constraints are applied only to one column, whereas the table level constraints are applied to the whole table.

SQL Create Constraints

We can create constraints on a table at the time of a table creation using the CREATE TABLE statement, or after the table is created, we can use the ALTER TABLE statement to create or delete table constraints.

CREATE TABLE table_name (
   column1 datatype constraint,
   column2 datatype constraint,
   ....
   columnN datatype constraint
);

Different RDBMS allows to define different constraints. This tutorial will discuss about 7 most important constraints available in MySQL.

NOT NULL Constraint

When applied to a column, NOT NULL constraint ensure that a column cannot have a NULL value. Following is the example to create a NOT NULL constraint:

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS (
   ID INT NOT NULL,
   NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
   AGE INT NOT NULL,
   ADDRESS CHAR (25),
   SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2)
);

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UNIQUE Key Constraint

When applied to a column, UNIQUE Key constraint ensure that a column accepts only UNIQUE values. Following is the example to create a UNIQUE Key constraint on column ID. Once this constraint is created, column ID can”t be null and it will accept only UNIQUE values.

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS (
   ID INT NOT NULL UNIQUE,
   NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
   AGE INT NOT NULL,
   ADDRESS CHAR (25),
   SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2)
);

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DEFAULT Value Constraint

When applied to a column, DEFAULT Value constraint provides a default value for a column when none is specified. Following is the example to create a DEFAULT constraint on column NAME. Once this constraint is created, column NAME will set to “Not Available” value if NAME is not set to a value.

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS (
   ID INT NOT NULL UNIQUE,
   NAME VARCHAR (20) DEFAULT ''Not Available'',
   AGE INT NOT NULL,
   ADDRESS CHAR (25),
   SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2)
);

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PRIMARY Key Constraint

When applied to a column, PRIMARY Key constraint ensure that a column accepts only UNIQUE value and there can be a single PRIMARY Key on a table but multiple columns can constituet a PRIMARY Key. Following is the example to create a PRIMARY Key constraint on column ID. Once this constraint is created, column ID can”t be null and it will accept only unique values.

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)
);

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FOREIGN Key Constraint

FOREIGN Key constraint maps with a column in another table and uniquely identifies a row/record in that table. Following is an example to create a foreign key constraint on column ID available in CUSTOMERS table as shown in the statement below −

CREATE TABLE ORDERS (
   ID INT NOT NULL,
   DATE DATETIME,
   CUSTOMER_ID INT FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES CUSTOMERS(ID),
   AMOUNT DECIMAL,
   PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);

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CHECK Value Constraint

When applied to a column, CHECK Value constraint works like a validation and it is used to check the validity of the data entered into the particular column of the table. table and uniquely identifies a row/record in that table. Following is an example to create a CHECK validation on AGE column which will not accept if its value is below to 18.

CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(
   ID          INT NOT NULL,
   NAME        VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
   AGE         INT NOT NULL CHECK(AGE>=18),
   ADDRESS     CHAR (25),
   SALARY      DECIMAL (18, 2),
   PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);

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INDEX Constraint

The INDEX constraints are created to speed up the data retrieval from the database. An Index can be created by using a single or group of columns in a table. A table can have a single PRIMARY Key but can have multiple INDEXES. An Index can be Unique or Non Unique based on requirements. Following is an example to create an Index on Age Column of the CUSTOMERS table.

CREATE INDEX idx_age ON CUSTOMERS ( AGE );

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Dropping SQL Constraints

Any constraint that you have defined can be dropped using the ALTER TABLE command with the DROP CONSTRAINT option. For example, to drop the primary key constraint from the CUSTOMERS table, you can use the following command.

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS DROP CONSTRAINT PRIMARY KEY;

Some RDBMS allow you to disable constraints instead of permanently dropping them from the database, which you may want to temporarily disable the constraints and then enable them later.

Data Integrity Constraints

Data integrity constraints are used to ensure the overall accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data. Now a days data integrity also refers to the data safety in regard to regulatory compliance, such as GDPR compliance etc.

Data integrity is handled in a relational database through the concept of referential integrity. There are many types of integrity constraints that play a role in Referential Integrity (RI). These constraints include Primary Key, Foreign Key, Unique Constraints and other constraints which are mentioned above.