How do Keys Contribute to Referential Integrity?

Answer: Keys ensure referential integrity by linking tables through primary and foreign keys, preventing orphan records, and maintaining consistent data relationships.

Keys ensure that the data held in two tables is related through primary and foreign keys, preventing orphan records and maintaining the consistency of data relationships.

Referential integrity assures that each foreign key in a child table either accurately points to a corresponding primary key in a parent table or is null if the relation is optional.

Keys play a significant role in defining referential integrity in relational databases by establishing explicit relationships between tables. This concept includes relations among several tables to keep them consistent, using primary and foreign keys.

A primary key uniquely identifies a record within its table, while a foreign key points to a primary key in another table. This linkage prevents the creation of orphan records—those without a corresponding reference in the related table.

Keys are responsible for maintaining and enforcing these constraints to preserve the accuracy and consistency of data across tables in a database.

They ensure that data manipulation operations, such as insertions, updates, and deletions, do not violate database integrity, thereby maintaining the logical relationships among data entities.