Difference between Primary Key and Foreign Key

Difference between Primary Key and Foreign Key

A primary key is used to ensure data in the specific column is unique. It is a column that cannot have NULL values. It is either an existing table column or a column that is specifically generated by the SQL database according to a defined sequence.

What is Primary key:

Example: Refer to the image above:
STUD_NO, as well as STUD_PHONE both, are candidate keys for relation STUDENT but STUD_NO can be chosen as the primary key (only one out of many candidate keys).

What is a Foriegn key:

Example: Refer to the above image
STUD_NO in STUDENT_COURSE is a foreign key to STUD_NO in STUDENT relation.

A foreign key is a column or group of columns in a relational database table that provides a link between data in two tables. It is a column (or columns) that references a column (most often the primary key) of another table.

Let’s see the difference between Primary Key and Foreign Key:

S.NO.	PRIMARY KEY	FOREIGN KEY
1	A primary key is used to ensure data in the specific column is unique.	A foreign key is a column or group of columns in a relational database table that provides a link between data in two tables.
2	It uniquely identifies a record in the relational database table.	It refers to the field in a table which is the primary key of another table.
3	Only one primary key is allowed in a table.	More than one foreign key is allowed in a table.
4	It is a combination of UNIQUE and Not Null constraints.	It can contain duplicate values and a table in a relational database.
5	It does not allow NULL values.	It can also contain NULL values.
6	Its value cannot be DELETE FROM the parent table.	Its value can be deleted from the child table.
7	It constraint can be implicitly defined on the temporary tables.	Its constraint cannot be defined on the local or global temporary tables.

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