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SQL•SQL Database

SQL UNIQUE Constraint

Overview

The UNIQUE

constraint ensures that all values in a column are unique.

Both the UNIQUE

and

Primary Key

constraints provide a guarantee for uniqueness for a column or set of columns. However, you can have many

Unique

constraints per table, but only one

Primary Key

constraint per table.

UNIQUE Constraint on CREATE TABLE

The following SQL defines a UNIQUE

constraint for the "ID" column upon creation of the "Persons" table:

Formula

SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:

CREATE TABLE Persons

( ID int NOT NULL UNIQUE, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255),

Age int

);

MySQL:

CREATE TABLE Persons

( ID int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Age int, UNIQUE (ID)

);

Naming a Unique Constraint

To name a UNIQUE

constraint, and to define a UNIQUE constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:

CREATE TABLE Persons

( ID int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Age int, CONSTRAINT UC_Person UNIQUE (ID,LastName)

);

UNIQUE Constraint on ALTER TABLE

To create a UNIQUE

constraint on the "ID" column when the table is already created, use the following SQL syntax:

ALTER TABLE Persons

ADD UNIQUE (ID);

Naming a Unique Constraint

To name a UNIQUE

constraint, and to define a UNIQUE constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:

ALTER TABLE Persons

ADD CONSTRAINT UC_Person UNIQUE (ID,LastName);

Drop a UNIQUE Constraint

To drop a UNIQUE

constraint, use the following SQL:

MySQL:

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SQL NOT NULL Constraint

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SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint