addForeignKeyConstraint

Adds a foreign key constraint to an existing column.

Run addForeignKeyConstraint

To run this Change Type, follow these steps:

  1. Add the Change Type to your changeset, as shown in the examples on this page.
  2. Specify any required attributes. Use the table on this page to see which ones your database requires.
  3. Deploy your changeset by running the update command:
    4. liquibase update

Available attributes

Name Description Required for Supports
baseColumnNames Name of the column(s) to place the foreign key constraint on. To specify multiple columns, separate names with commas. all all
baseTableCatalogName Name of the catalog of the base table all
baseTableName Name of the table containing the column to constraint all all
baseTableSchemaName Name of the schema of the base table all
constraintName

Name of the constraint

 all all
deferrable

Defines whether constraints are deferrable

 oracle, postgresql
initiallyDeferred

Defines whether constraints are initially deferred

 oracle, postgresql
onDelete

ON DELETE functionality. Possible values: CASCADE, SET NULL, SET DEFAULT, RESTRICT, NO ACTION. Note that db2z only supports CASCADE, SET NULL, and RESTRICT

 asany, db2, db2z, derby, firebird, h2, hsqldb, informix, ingres, mariadb, mssql, mysql, oracle, postgresql
onUpdate

ON UPDATE functionality. Possible values: CASCADE, SET NULL, SET DEFAULT, RESTRICT, NO ACTION

 all except db2z
referencedColumnNames Name of the column(s) the foreign key points to. To specify multiple columns, separate names with commas. all all
referencedTableCatalogName Name of the catalog of the referenced table all
referencedTableName Name of the table the foreign key points to all all
referencedTableSchemaName Name of the schema of the referenced table all
validate

Set to true if the constraint has ENABLE VALIDATE set, or false if the constraint has ENABLE NOVALIDATE set.

 all
referencesUniqueColumn

[Deprecated] Boolean.

 all

Examples

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-docs:addForeignKeyConstraint-example
ALTER  TABLE  cat.address  ADD  CONSTRAINT  fk_address_person  FOREIGN  KEY  (person_id)  REFERENCES  cat.person  (id)  ON  UPDATE  RESTRICT  ON  DELETE  CASCADE  DEFERRABLE  INITIALLY  DEFERRED;
databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
    id:  addForeignKeyConstraint-example
    author:  liquibase-docs
    changes:
    -  addForeignKeyConstraint:
        baseColumnNames:  person_id
        baseTableCatalogName:  cat
        baseTableName:  address
        baseTableSchemaName:  public
        constraintName:  fk_address_person
        deferrable:  true
        initiallyDeferred:  true
        onDelete:  CASCADE
        onUpdate:  RESTRICT
        referencedColumnNames:  id
        referencedTableCatalogName:  cat
        referencedTableName:  person
        referencedTableSchemaName:  public
        validate:  true
{
    "databaseChangeLog": [
        {
            "changeSet": {
                "id": "addForeignKeyConstraint-example",
                "author": "liquibase-docs",
                "changes": [
                    {
                        "addForeignKeyConstraint": {
                            "baseColumnNames": "person_id",
                            "baseTableCatalogName": "cat",
                            "baseTableName": "address",
                            "baseTableSchemaName": "public",
                            "constraintName": "fk_address_person",
                            "deferrable": true,
                            "initiallyDeferred": true,
                            "onDelete": "CASCADE",
                            "onUpdate": "RESTRICT",
                            "referencedColumnNames": "id",
                            "referencedTableCatalogName": "cat",
                            "referencedTableName": "person",
                            "referencedTableSchemaName": "public",
                            "validate": true
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}
<databaseChangeLog
    xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:ext="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext"
    xmlns:pro="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-ext.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro/liquibase-pro-latest.xsd">

    <changeSet  author="liquibase-docs"  id="addForeignKeyConstraint-example">
        <addForeignKeyConstraint  baseColumnNames="person_id"
            baseTableCatalogName="cat"
            baseTableName="address"
            baseTableSchemaName="public"
            constraintName="fk_address_person"
            deferrable="true"
            initiallyDeferred="true"
            onDelete="CASCADE"
            onUpdate="RESTRICT"
            referencedColumnNames="id"
            referencedTableCatalogName="cat"
            referencedTableName="person"
            referencedTableSchemaName="public"
            validate="true"/>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

Database support

Database Notes Auto Rollback
DB2/LUW Supported Yes
DB2/z Supported Yes
Derby Supported Yes
Firebird Supported Yes
Google BigQuery Supported Yes
H2 Supported Yes
HyperSQL Supported Yes
INGRES Supported Yes
Informix Supported Yes
MariaDB Supported Yes
MySQL Supported Yes
Oracle Supported Yes
PostgreSQL Supported Yes
Snowflake Supported Yes
SQL Server Supported Yes
SQLite Not Supported No
Sybase Supported Yes
Sybase Anywhere Supported Yes