MySQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint

MySQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint

The FOREIGN KEY constraint is used to prevent actions that would destroy links between tables.

A FOREIGN KEY is a field (or collection of fields) in one table, that refers to the PRIMARY KEY in another table.

The table with the foreign key is called the child table, and the table with the primary key is called the referenced or parent table.

Look at the following two tables:

PersonID	LastName	FirstName	Age
1	Hansen	Ola	30
2	Svendson	Tove	23
3	Pettersen	Kari	20

Orders Table

OrderID	OrderNumber	PersonID
1	77895	3
2	44678	3
3	22456	2
4	24562	1

Notice that the "PersonID" column in the "Orders" table points to the "PersonID" column in the "Persons" table.

The "PersonID" column in the "Persons" table is the PRIMARY KEY in the "Persons" table.

The "PersonID" column in the "Orders" table is a FOREIGN KEY in the "Orders" table.

The FOREIGN KEY constraint prevents invalid data from being inserted into the foreign key column, because it has to be one of the values contained in the parent table.

 

FOREIGN KEY On CREATE TABLE

The following SQL creates a FOREIGN KEY on the "PersonID" column when the "Orders" table is created:
 

To allow naming of a FOREIGN KEY constraint, and for defining a FOREIGN KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
 

FOREIGN KEY On ALTER TABLE

To create a FOREIGN KEY constraint on the "PersonID" column when the "Orders" table is already created, use the following SQL:
 

To allow naming of a FOREIGN KEY constraint, and for defining a FOREIGN KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
 

DROP A FOREIGN KEY Constraint

To drop a FOREIGN KEY constraint, use the following SQL: