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PostgreSQL CONSTRAINTS

CONSTRAINTS

Constraints are a part of the table definition that limits the values inserted into its columns.

Which type of data a table can store that may be decided by the type of data. That is why CONSTRAINTS needed. Suppose the age of a student is always be a positive value but there is no such data type which can accept the only positive value, a CONSTRAINT can do this.

Usage of CONSTRAINTS

  • SQL allows defining constraints on columns and tables.
  • SQL rejects any value that violates the criteria that were defined.
  • The column constraints apply only to individual columns.
  • The table constraints apply to groups of one or more columns.
  • The constraints are declared at the time of creating a table with the CREATE TABLE command.
  • Constraints can be added to a table after its creation and also temporarily disabled.
  • All detail of constraints is stored in data dictionary.
  • Each constraint is assigned a name.
  • It is easier if we give use defined names so that it is easily referenced otherwise the name is automatically generated.

Name and Description of CONSTRAINTS

Name Description
NOT NULL The not-null constraint in PostgreSQL ensure that a column can not contain any null value. This is a column constraint. No name can be defined to create a not-null constraint.
UNIQUE The unique constraint in PostgreSQL ensure that the value entered into a column or a field of a table is unique.
CHECK The check constraint in PostgreSQL is used to specify that the value in a specific column or field of a table must match a boolean expression. This constraint can be defined as a separate name.
PRIMARY KEY This the requirement of an efficient database to ensure that there are no duplicate records within a single table. A field whose value uniquely identifies a record in a table is called a primary key.
FOREIGN KEY The unique constraint in PostgreSQL specifies that the valued in a field or a column of a table must match to the actual value of the primary key of another table.

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