SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint
The PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely identifies each record in a table.
Primary keys must contain UNIQUE values, and cannot contain NULL values.
A table can have only ONE primary key; and in the table, this primary key can consist of single or multiple columns (fields).
SQL PRIMARY KEY on CREATE TABLE
The following SQL creates a PRIMARY KEY on the "ID" column when the "Persons" table is created:
MySQL:
CREATE TABLE Persons(
ID int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Age int,
PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Persons(
ID int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Age int
);
To allow naming of a PRIMARY KEY constraint, and for defining a PRIMARY KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Persons(
ID int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Age int,
CONSTRAINT PK_Person PRIMARY KEY (ID,LastName)
);
Note: In the example above there is only ONE PRIMARY KEY (PK_Person). However, the VALUE of the primary key is made up of TWO COLUMNS (ID + LastName).
SQL PRIMARY KEY on ALTER TABLE
To create a PRIMARY KEY constraint on the "ID" column when the table is already created, use the following SQL:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD PRIMARY KEY (ID);
To allow naming of a PRIMARY KEY constraint, and for defining a PRIMARY KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD CONSTRAINT PK_Person PRIMARY KEY (ID,LastName);
Note: If you use ALTER TABLE to add a primary key, the primary key column(s) musthave been declared to not contain NULL values (when the table was first created).
DROP a PRIMARY KEY Constraint
To drop a PRIMARY KEY constraint, use the following SQL:
MySQL:
ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP PRIMARY KEY;
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP CONSTRAINT PK_Person;
