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A non-primary key that can be used to identify only one row in a table. Alternate keys may be used like a primary key in a single-table select. Foreign. A key that has migrated to another entity. At the most basic definition, "a key is a unique identifier", [1] so unique key is a pleonasm. Keys that are within their originating entity are ...
Cardinality (SQL statements) In SQL (Structured Query Language), the term cardinality refers to the uniqueness of data values contained in a particular column (attribute) of a database table. The lower the cardinality, the more duplicated elements in a column. Thus, a column with the lowest possible cardinality would have the same value for ...
Database normalization is the process of structuring a relational database in accordance with a series of so-called normal forms in order to reduce data redundancy and improve data integrity. It was first proposed by British computer scientist Edgar F. Codd as part of his relational model. Normalization entails organizing the columns ...
An identity column is a column (also known as a field) in a database table that is made up of values generated by the database. This is much like an AutoNumber field in Microsoft Access or a sequence in Oracle. Because the concept is so important in database science, many RDBMS systems implement some type of generated key, although each has its ...
Surrogate key. A surrogate key (or synthetic key, pseudokey, entity identifier, factless key, or technical key[citation needed]) in a database is a unique identifier for either an entity in the modeled world or an object in the database. The surrogate key is not derived from application data, unlike a natural (or business) key.
Natural key. A natural key (also known as business key[1] or domain key[2]) is a type of unique key in a database formed of attributes that exist and are used in the external world outside the database (i.e. in the business domain or domain of discourse). [3] In the relational model of data, a natural key is a superkey and is therefore a ...
The SQL SELECT statement returns a result set of rows, from one or more tables. [ 1 ][ 2 ] A SELECT statement retrieves zero or more rows from one or more database tables or database views. In most applications, SELECT is the most commonly used data manipulation language (DML) command. As SQL is a declarative programming language, SELECT ...
PostgreSQL, MySQL and Oracle support natural joins; Microsoft T-SQL and IBM DB2 do not. The columns used in the join are implicit so the join code does not show which columns are expected, and a change in column names may change the results. In the SQL:2011 standard, natural joins are part of the optional F401, "Extended joined table", package.