View foreign key properties

Applies to: SQL Server 2016 (13.x) and later Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW) SQL database in Microsoft Fabric

You can view the foreign key attributes of a relationship in SQL Server by using SQL Server Management Studio or Transact-SQL.

Permissions

The visibility of the metadata in catalog views is limited to securables that a user either owns, or on which the user was granted some permission. For more information, see Metadata Visibility Configuration.

Use SQL Server Management Studio

1. Open the Table Designer for the table containing the foreign key you want to view, right-click in the Table Designer, and choose Relationships from the shortcut menu.

2. In the Foreign Key Relationships dialog box, select the relationship with properties you want to view.

If the foreign key columns are related to a primary key, the primary key columns are identified in Table Designer by a primary key symbol in the row selector.

Use Transact-SQL

1. In Object Explorer, connect to an instance of Database Engine.

2. On the Standard bar, select New Query.

3. Copy and paste the following example into the query window and select Execute. The example returns all foreign keys and their properties for the table HumanResources.Employee in the sample database.

   SQL

   USE AdventureWorks2022;
   GO
   
   SELECT f.name AS foreign_key_name,
       OBJECT_NAME(f.parent_object_id) AS table_name,
       COL_NAME(fc.parent_object_id, fc.parent_column_id) AS constraint_column_name,
       OBJECT_NAME(f.referenced_object_id) AS referenced_object,
       COL_NAME(fc.referenced_object_id, fc.referenced_column_id) AS referenced_column_name,
       f.is_disabled,
       f.is_not_trusted,
       f.delete_referential_action_desc,
       f.update_referential_action_desc
   FROM sys.foreign_keys AS f
   INNER JOIN sys.foreign_key_columns AS fc
       ON f.object_id = fc.constraint_object_id
   WHERE f.parent_object_id = OBJECT_ID('HumanResources.Employee');
   

For more information, see sys.foreign_keys and sys.foreign_key_columns.

Related content

• ALTER TABLE Statement
• Disable foreign key constraints for replication
• Disable foreign key constraints with INSERT and UPDATE statements