candidate key

English

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candidate key

Wikipedia

Noun

candidate key (plural candidate keys)

1. (computing, databases) In the design of a database table, a column (or an irreducible group of them) able to identify every row of the table, having a unique value or set of values in each row. One of the candidate keys (abbreviated CKs) will be the primary key.

Related terms

• business key
• foreign key
• natural key
• primary key

See also

• first normal form