How do I see all foreign keys to a table or column

Question

In MySQL, how do I get a list of all foreign key constraints pointing to a particular table? a particular column? This is the same thing as this Oracle question, but for MySQL.

Answer 1

This solution will not only display all relations but also the constraint name, which is required in some cases (e.g. drop contraint):

select
    concat(table_name, '.', column_name) as 'foreign key',
    concat(referenced_table_name, '.', referenced_column_name) as 'references',
    constraint_name as 'constraint name'
from
    information_schema.key_column_usage
where
    referenced_table_name is not null;

If you want to check tables in a specific database, at the end of the query add the table name:

select
    concat(table_name, '.', column_name) as 'foreign key',
    concat(referenced_table_name, '.', referenced_column_name) as 'references',
    constraint_name as 'constraint name'
from
    information_schema.key_column_usage
where
    referenced_table_name is not null
    and table_schema = 'database_name';

Likewise, for a specific column name, add

and table_name = 'table_name

at the end of the query.

Inspired by this post here

Answer 2

A quick way to list your FKs (Foreign Key references) using the

KEY_COLUMN_USAGE view:

SELECT CONCAT( table_name, '.',
column_name, ' -> ',
referenced_table_name, '.',
referenced_column_name ) AS list_of_fks
FROM information_schema.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE
WHERE REFERENCED_TABLE_SCHEMA = (your schema name here)
AND REFERENCED_TABLE_NAME is not null
ORDER BY TABLE_NAME, COLUMN_NAME;

This query does assume that the constraints and all referenced and referencing tables are in the same schema.

Add your own comment.

Source: the official mysql manual.

Answer 3

Posting on an old answer to add some useful information.

I had a similar problem, but I also wanted to see the CONSTRAINT_TYPE along with the REFERENCED table and column names. So,

1. To see all FKs in your table:

   USE '<yourschema>';
   
   SELECT i.TABLE_NAME, i.CONSTRAINT_TYPE, i.CONSTRAINT_NAME, k.REFERENCED_TABLE_NAME, k.REFERENCED_COLUMN_NAME 
   FROM information_schema.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS i 
   LEFT JOIN information_schema.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE k ON i.CONSTRAINT_NAME = k.CONSTRAINT_NAME 
   WHERE i.CONSTRAINT_TYPE = 'FOREIGN KEY' 
   AND i.TABLE_SCHEMA = DATABASE()
   AND i.TABLE_NAME = '<yourtable>';
   

2. To see all the tables and FKs in your schema:

   USE '<yourschema>';
   
   SELECT i.TABLE_NAME, i.CONSTRAINT_TYPE, i.CONSTRAINT_NAME, k.REFERENCED_TABLE_NAME, k.REFERENCED_COLUMN_NAME 
   FROM information_schema.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS i 
   LEFT JOIN information_schema.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE k ON i.CONSTRAINT_NAME = k.CONSTRAINT_NAME 
   WHERE i.CONSTRAINT_TYPE = 'FOREIGN KEY' 
   AND i.TABLE_SCHEMA = DATABASE();
   

3. To see all the FKs in your database:

   SELECT i.TABLE_SCHEMA, i.TABLE_NAME, i.CONSTRAINT_TYPE, i.CONSTRAINT_NAME, k.REFERENCED_TABLE_NAME, k.REFERENCED_COLUMN_NAME 
   FROM information_schema.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS i 
   LEFT JOIN information_schema.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE k ON i.CONSTRAINT_NAME = k.CONSTRAINT_NAME 
   WHERE i.CONSTRAINT_TYPE = 'FOREIGN KEY';
   

Remember!

This is using the InnoDB storage engine. If you can't seem to get any foreign keys to show up after adding them it's probably because your tables are using MyISAM.

To check:

SELECT * TABLE_NAME, ENGINE FROM information_schema.TABLES WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = '<yourschema>';

To fix, use this:

ALTER TABLE `<yourtable>` ENGINE=InnoDB;

Answer 4

To find all tables containing a particular foreign key such as employee_id

SELECT DISTINCT TABLE_NAME 
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE COLUMN_NAME IN ('employee_id')
AND TABLE_SCHEMA='table_name';

Answer 5

If you use InnoDB and defined FK's you could query the information_schema database e.g.:

SELECT * FROM information_schema.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS 
WHERE information_schema.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS.CONSTRAINT_TYPE = 'FOREIGN KEY' 
AND information_schema.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS.TABLE_SCHEMA = 'myschema'
AND information_schema.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS.TABLE_NAME = 'mytable';

Answer 6

Using REFERENCED_TABLE_NAME does not always work and can be a NULL value. The following query can work instead:

select * from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE where TABLE_NAME = '<table>';