Oracle constraints - overview. What are the types of constraints available in oracle
Oracle constraints are used to maintain consistent of data and ensure the data is properly maintained. A constraint is more or less a restriction we try to apply on a table.
Types of constraints:
- Check constraints
- NOT NULL constraint
- PRIMARY KEY constraint
- REFERENCES constraint
- UNIQUE constraint
Explain Oracle "Check" constraint.
Oracle check constraint is used to ensure that before inserting the data in the database, it is validated and checked for the condition.
Example:Below, the constraint is that the id has to be between 0 and 1000.
create table employee ( id number check (id between 0 and 1000), Name varchar(200) );
Explain Not Null constraint.
Oracle NOT NULL is used on a column to ensure that the value for that column can never be NULL.
Example: Below, the constraint is that the id should never be NULL. If it is, oracle throws an error.
create table employee ( id number NOT NULL, Name varchar(200) );
Explain primary key constraint.
Primary key constraint ensures that the column(s) always has a unique value to identify the record.
Example:Below, the primary key is created for column id with name prim_id.
create table employee ( id number NOT NULL, Name varchar(200) Constraint prim_id primary key(id) );
Explain oracle foreign key constraint.
A foreign key is a reference to another table. It is used to establish relationships between tables. For example, relationship between employee and professor table. One employee can have multiple professors. The Primary key of employee becomes foreign key of professor.
Example:
create table employee ( id number NOT NULL, professor_id NOT NULL, Name varchar(200) Constraint prim_id Foreign key(id) references professor(professor_id) );
Explain unique Constraint.
A unique constraint on a column uniquely identifies the record by a combination of one or more fields. Few unique constraint fields can have a NULL value as long as the combination of values is unique.
Example:
create table employee ( id number NOT NULL, dob DATE, professor_id NOT NULL, Name varchar(200) Constraint id_unique UNIQUE(id,dob) );
Explain with an example how to alter oracle table constraint.
Alter table command can be used to alter oracle table constraint. Alter can be adding a constraint, enable or disable constraints etc
Below is an
example to drop constraint using alter command:
ALTER TABLE employee
drop constraint id_unique;
