2

If I want to describe a column as one of the following:

  • Surrogate key
  • Natural key
  • Foreign key
  • Attribute
  • etc.

then what do I call this list? Relational roles? I don't think "column type" quite cuts it due to confusion with "data type".

jl6
  • 805
  • 7
  • 15

1 Answers1

1

I don't believe there is a word for this exact thing. This is because the RDBMS design does not force you to define your field as being of one role or another. A column can serve multiple roles simultaneously if you want it to. Although in practice it is almost universally better to seperate the keys from the data in your design, it is not actually required.

Andrew Brennan
  • 2,078
  • 12
  • 12