KRISHOBA ACADEMY

TRB-CS DBMS-PART-2
7 Different Types of Database Keys Explained with Example

Why there are so many different keys in a Database system?

This is the first question struck to me when I learned about Different Types of
Database Keys.
Each key serves a different purpose in the database.

What is the role/use of a key in the database?

 Keys play a very important role in DBMS. They are crucial for the arrangement
of tables in the database.
 Keys uniquely identify records or a combination of records from huge
database tables.
 Database keys are also useful in establishing a relationship between one
table with other tables.
 In this article, we will discuss various database keys and their application by
considering instance of the database table.

Usually, many find it difficult to distinguish different keys in the database. By going
through each one of the keys explained, you can easily find the difference between
any keys.
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7 Different Types of Database Keys

First, let’s have a look at different types of keys in the database:

Primary Key
Candidate Key
Super Key
Alternate key
Composite or Compound Key
Unique Key
Foreign Key

Database Table Example:

It is easy to explain the database keys by taking table example. In this article, we are
going us Employee table with the following keys.

Emaployee Table
--------------------------------------------------

E_Id E_Name E_Designation E_PhoneNumber E_PanNumber E_Address

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These columns names are self-explanatory to understand anyone what kind of data
stored in each column. So I so skip explaining it.

Primary Key
The primary key is the most important key in the database. There can be only one
primary key in a table.

 It will not accept duplicate or null values. Primary key contains unique values.

For Example:

 In the Employee table, Employee_Id is one such element which can never be
the same for two employees. Thus, this can be the primary key for the
Employee table.

 So, the user can extract details of any employee from huge records of
employees using the primary key.

 If you use SQL select query command with employee_Id as where clause, it
returns a single row.

Select * from Employee where employee_Id=203;

This select SQL query retains employee detail whose employee_Id is 203.
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Unique Key
The unique key is a set of one or more columns or fields of a table that can uniquely
identify a record in the table. Other than primary key there can also be other unique
fields in a table.

 The unique key cannot have duplicate values and can accept only one null
value.

For Example:

Employee_PhoneNumber is another unique field and can be used to extract records.

This Employee_PhoneNumber is a unique key.

Super Key
Super key is a set of one or more keys that are used to identify data or records
uniquely in a database table. It includes only those fields that have unique values.

For Example:

To form super key, you can combine any table column with the primary key. In the
above example, {Employee_Designation and Employee_Id} is a super key.

Alternate key
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The alternate key can be an alternative or a candidate for primary key when needed
but it is not the primary key. An alternate key is a function of all candidate keys
except the primary key.

For Example:

In Employee table, Employee_PhoneNumber will have unique values thus it can be

used as an alternate key but it is not a primary key.

Candidate Key
A candidate key is a set of one or multiple columns in a database table. It can identify
a record uniquely just like a primary key. These are other unique columns that can
become a primary key.

There can be any number of candidate keys that can be used in place of the primary
key if required.

For Example:

In Employee table, Employee_PhoneNumber and Employee_PanNumber are two

unique fields that can be used as candidate keys.

Composite Key
This is a combination of one or more columns that can uniquely identify the records
in a table. The composite key can be a combination of primary and candidate keys.
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For Example:

Consider the Employee table. We can use Employee_Id and Employee_PanNumber as

composite key to extract data from the table.

Foreign Key
A foreign key can be a common key in two database table. Suppose a Company table
where it has a column Employee_Id which is also present in the Employee table in
which it is the primary key.

 Using a foreign key we can identify records from multiple tables. It accepts
duplicate values as well as null values.

 Foreign key also helps you to reduce the data redundancy.

For Example:

In the Employee database, we can use the primary key “Employee_Id” from Employee
table as a foreign key for the new Employee salary table.