UNIQUE Constraints

You can use UNIQUE constraints to make sure that no duplicate values are entered in specific columns that do not participate in a primary key. Although both a UNIQUE constraint and a PRIMARY KEY constraint enforce uniqueness, use a UNIQUE constraint instead of a PRIMARY KEY constraint when you want to enforce the uniqueness of a column, or combination of columns, that is not the primary key.

Multiple UNIQUE constraints can be defined on a table, whereas only one PRIMARY KEY constraint can be defined on a table.

Also, unlike PRIMARY KEY constraints, UNIQUE constraints allow for the value NULL. However, as with any value participating in a UNIQUE constraint, only one null value is allowed per column.

A UNIQUE constraint can be referenced by a FOREIGN KEY constraint.

See Also

Concepts

Creating and Modifying UNIQUE Constraints

Other Resources

CREATE TABLE (Transact-SQL)
ALTER TABLE (Transact-SQL)
DROP TABLE (Transact-SQL)

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance