Let's create a new table teachers
, and insert a few rows of records in it.
Notice that we are able to enter a record with age
as -28
. That is something that's probably not possible 😊. How do we make sure that negative values are not allowed in new inserts? Or better, how do we make sure teachers are at least of age 21?
SQL provides a CHECK
constraint to solve this. Take a look at the statement below.
To specify the CHECK
constraint for a column, just mention the keyword CHECK
in the list of constraints for the column it is supposed to work for, followed by a boolean expression that involves the column being checked for. Take a look at the result for the set of statements below.
Note that on attempting an insert with age
less than 21, we get an error that expresses failing CHECK
constraint.
Let's try and attempt another check on the contact
column, which is of TEXT
data type. Let's make sure that contact
is always of 11
characters in length. Have a look at the results/errors of the set of statements below: