KEYS IN DBMS
A key in DBMS is an attribute or a set of attributes that help to uniquely
identify a tuple (or row) in a relation (or table). Keys are also used to establish
relationships between the different tables and columns of a relational database.
Individual values in a key are called key values.
There are some following keys in DBMS:
1. Primary key
2. Foreign key
3. Candidate key2q2q
4. Alternative key
5. Super key
6. Composite key
1.Primary Key
A primary key is a special relational database table column designated to
uniquely identify each table record.
A primary key is used as a unique identifier to quickly parse data within the
table. A table cannot have more than one primary key.
A primary key’s main features are:
It must contain a unique value for each row of data.
It cannot contain null values.
Every row must have a primary key value.
2. Foreign Key
A foreign key is generally a primary key from one table that appears as a field in
another where the first table has a relationship to the second. In other words, if we
had a table A with a primary key X that linked to a table B where X was a field in
B, then X would be a foreign key in B.
An example might be a student table that contains the course_id the student is
attending. Another table lists the courses on offer with course_id being the primary
key. The 2 tables are linked through course_id and as such course_id would be a
foreign key in the student table.
3. Candidate Key
A candidate is a subset of a super key. A candidate key is a single field or the
least combination of fields that uniquely identifies each record in the table. The
least combination of fields distinguishes a candidate key from a super key.
Every table must have at least one candidate key but at the same time can have
several.
As an example we might have a student_id that uniquely identifies the students
in a student table. This would be a candidate key. But in the same table we
might have the student’s first name and last name that also, when combined,
uniquely identify the student in a student table. These would both be candidate
keys.
In order to be eligible for a candidate key it must pass certain criteria.
It must contain unique values
It must not contain null values
It contains the minimum number of fields to ensure uniqueness
It must uniquely identify each record in the table
Once your candidate keys have been identified you can now select one to be
your primary key.
4. Alternative Key
Alternate Key or Secondary Key is the key that has not been selected to be the
primary key, but are candidate keys. However, it is considered a candidate key
for the primary key.
A candidate key not selected as a primary key is called alternate or secondary
key. Candidate key is an attribute or set of attributes that you can consider as a
Primary key.
Example:
Student_ID Student_Enroll Student_Name Student_Email
Above, Student_ID, Student_Enroll and Student_Email are the candidate
keys. They are considered candidate keys since they can uniquely identify the
student record. Select any one of the candidate key as the primary. Rest of the
two keys would be Alternate or Secondary Key.
Let’s say you selected Student_ID as primary key,
therefore Student_Enroll and Student_Email will be Alternate Key
(candidates of primary key).
5. Super key
Super Key is an attribute (or a set of attributes) that uniquely identify a tuple
i.e. an entity in entity set.
It is a superset of Candidate Key, since Candidate Keys are selected from super
key.
Example
Let us see an example −
<Student>
Student_ID Student_Enroll Student_Name Student_Email
The following are the super keys for the above table −
{Student_ID}
{Student_Enroll}
{Student_Email}
{Student_ID, Student_Enroll}
{Student_ID, Student_Name}
{Student_ID, Student_Email}
{Student_Name, Student_Enroll}
{Student_ID, Student_Enroll, Student_Name}
{Student_ID, Student_Enroll, Student_Emai}
{Student_ID, Student_Enroll, Student_Name, Student_Email}
The following would be the candidate key from the above −
{Student_ID}
{Student_Enroll} {Student_Email}
6. Composite key
A primary key having two or more attributes is called composite key. It is a
combination of two or more columns.
An example can be −
<Student>
StudentID StudentEnrollNo StudentMarks StudentPercentage
S001 0721722 570 90
S002 0721790 490 80
S003 0721766 440 86
Above, our composite keys are StudentID and StudentEnrollNo. The table has two
attributes as primary key.
Therefore, the Primary Key consisting of two or more attribute is called Composite
Key.
2 Normal form (2NF)
It is a normalization level in DBMS. A relation is said to be in the 2nd
Normal Form in DBMS (or 2NF) when it is in the First Normal Form
but has no non-prime attribute functionally dependent on any
candidate key’s proper subset in a relation.
Used for:
It is make use of functional dependency and tries to remove problem
of redundant data that was introduced by 1NF.
“A relation is in 2NF, if it is in 1NF and every non-key attributes
is fully functionality depended on primary key of the relation.”
RULES:
It should be in 1NF.
There should not be any partial dependency.
Decompose the following table into 2NF:
TUTOR table
TUTOR_ID COURSE TUTOR_AGE
2115 Java 30
2115 C 30
4997 Python 35
8663 C++ 38
8663 Go 38
Answer:
TUTOR_DETAIL table:
TUTOR_ID TUTOR_AGE
2115 30
4997 35
8663 38
TUTOR_COURSE table:
TUTOR_ID COURSE
2115 Java
2115 C
4997 Python
8663 C++
8663 Go
Example 2:
Decompose the following table into 2NF:
<Candidate_Courses>
Candidate_ID Course_ID Candidate_Name Course_Name
C829 A09 Beverly CSS
C736 A07 Sheldon PHP
C546 A03 Leonard HTML
C952 A05 Zach Ruby
Answer:
<Candidate_Info>
Candidate_ID Course_ID Candidate_Name
C829 A09 Beverly
C736 A07 Sheldon
C546 A03 Leonard
C952 A05 Zach
<Course_Info>
Course_ID Course_Name
A09 CSS
A07 PHP
A03 HTML
A05 Ruby
