On Jan 25, 2007, at 11:46 AM, Kai Schlamp wrote:
What is the best way to find out the relationship of two columns in a
table?
I want to know if it is 1:1, 1:N, or M:N. Is there an easy way to do
this with a SQL statement?

If both tables have the same rowcount, and SELECT count(*) FROM a JOIN b USING ... has the same count then it's 1:1 (if by 1:1 you mean there must be a record for each value in both tables).

IF SELECT count(*) FROM b WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM a WHERE a.field = b.field) is 0 and SELECT count(*)=count(DISTINCT field) FROM a is true, then it's 1:N (a:b).

There might be some clever tests you can do with INTERSECT and the like, too.
--
Jim Nasby                                            [EMAIL PROTECTED]
EnterpriseDB      http://enterprisedb.com      512.569.9461 (cell)



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