From the course: Database Design Fundamentals

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The importance of foreign keys

The importance of foreign keys

From the course: Database Design Fundamentals

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The importance of foreign keys

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- [Instructor] A foreign key in a relational database is like a link or a bridge between two tables. Here you have two tables in a database, one table called "Customer", and the other called "Order". The Customer table could have a column for customer ID, which uniquely identifies each customer. The Order table might have its own columns like order ID and date, and it also has a column called customer ID. The customer ID in the orders table is a foreign key. It points to the customer ID in the customers table. This connection allows you to link an order to the customer who made it. In simple terms, a foreign key is a way to connect related data across different tables, ensuring that the relationships between the data are accurate. In a relational database, this is an entity that establishes a link between data and two tables. It is used to maintain referential integrity within the database by ensuring that the value in the…

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