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SQLite table constraint - unique on multiple columns

People also ask

How many columns can hold unique constraints?

Defining Composite Unique Keys Oracle creates an index on the columns of a unique key, so a composite unique key can contain a maximum of 16 columns.

Can unique constraints be multiple?

Both the UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints provide a guarantee for uniqueness for a column or set of columns. A PRIMARY KEY constraint automatically has a UNIQUE constraint. However, you can have many UNIQUE constraints per table, but only one PRIMARY KEY constraint per table.

How do I select multiple columns in SQLite?

To select multiple columns from a table, simply separate the column names with commas! For example, this query selects two columns, name and birthdate , from the people table: SELECT name, birthdate FROM people; Sometimes, you may want to select all columns from a table.

Can we have multiple unique constraints in SQL?

The UNIQUE constraint ensures no duplicate values in a specific column, which is not a primary key. A table can have only one PRIMARY KEY constraint, however, it can have multiple UNIQUE constraints. Unlike the PRIMARY KEY constraint, you can enter a NULL value for a column that has a UNIQUE constraint.


Put the UNIQUE declaration within the column definition section; working example:

CREATE TABLE a (
    i INT,
    j INT,
    UNIQUE(i, j) ON CONFLICT REPLACE
);

Well, your syntax doesn't match the link you included, which specifies:

 CREATE TABLE name (column defs) 
    CONSTRAINT constraint_name    -- This is new
    UNIQUE (col_name1, col_name2) ON CONFLICT REPLACE

If you already have a table and can't/don't want to recreate it for whatever reason, use indexes:

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX my_index ON my_table(col_1, col_2);

Be careful how you define the table for you will get different results on insert. Consider the following



CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS t1 (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, a TEXT UNIQUE, b TEXT);
INSERT INTO t1 (a, b) VALUES
    ('Alice', 'Some title'),
    ('Bob', 'Palindromic guy'),
    ('Charles', 'chucky cheese'),
    ('Alice', 'Some other title') 
    ON CONFLICT(a) DO UPDATE SET b=excluded.b;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS t2 (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, a TEXT UNIQUE, b TEXT, UNIQUE(a) ON CONFLICT REPLACE);
INSERT INTO t2 (a, b) VALUES
    ('Alice', 'Some title'),
    ('Bob', 'Palindromic guy'),
    ('Charles', 'chucky cheese'),
    ('Alice', 'Some other title');

$ sqlite3 test.sqlite
SQLite version 3.28.0 2019-04-16 19:49:53
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
sqlite> CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS t1 (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, a TEXT UNIQUE, b TEXT);
sqlite> INSERT INTO t1 (a, b) VALUES
   ...>     ('Alice', 'Some title'),
   ...>     ('Bob', 'Palindromic guy'),
   ...>     ('Charles', 'chucky cheese'),
   ...>     ('Alice', 'Some other title') 
   ...>     ON CONFLICT(a) DO UPDATE SET b=excluded.b;
sqlite> CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS t2 (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, a TEXT UNIQUE, b TEXT, UNIQUE(a) ON CONFLICT REPLACE);
sqlite> INSERT INTO t2 (a, b) VALUES
   ...>     ('Alice', 'Some title'),
   ...>     ('Bob', 'Palindromic guy'),
   ...>     ('Charles', 'chucky cheese'),
   ...>     ('Alice', 'Some other title');
sqlite> .mode col
sqlite> .headers on
sqlite> select * from t1;
id          a           b               
----------  ----------  ----------------
1           Alice       Some other title
2           Bob         Palindromic guy 
3           Charles     chucky cheese   
sqlite> select * from t2;
id          a           b              
----------  ----------  ---------------
2           Bob         Palindromic guy
3           Charles     chucky cheese  
4           Alice       Some other titl
sqlite> 

While the insert/update effect is the same, the id changes based on the table definition type (see the second table where 'Alice' now has id = 4; the first table is doing more of what I expect it to do, keep the PRIMARY KEY the same). Be aware of this effect.