Attributes in DBMS

April 9, 2021

In this article, we will learn about Attributes in DBMS.

Attributes define what type of data is stored in a database table
For example student table stores the details of Student name, roll no, marks, attendance, etc all these details corresponding to the properties or attributes of the student table
There are 6 types of attributes
- Simple attributes
- Composite attributes
- Single valued attributes
- Multi valued attributes
- Derived attributes
- Key attributes

Simple attributes are those attributes which can not be divided further.

All the attributes are simple attributes as they can not be divided further.

Composite attributes are those attributes which are composed of many other simple attributes.

The attributes “Name” and “Address” are composite attributes as they are composed of many other simple attributes.

Single valued attributes are those attributes which can take only one value for a given entity from an entity set.

All the attributes are single valued attributes as they can take only one specific value for each entity.

Multi valued attributes are those attributes which can take more than one value for a given entity from an entity set.

The attributes “Mob_no” and “Email_id” are multi valued attributes as they can take more than one values for a given entity.

Derived attributes are those attributes which can be derived from other attribute(s).

The attribute “Age” is a derived attribute as it can be derived from the attribute “DOB”.

Key attributes are those attributes which can identify an entity uniquely in an entity set.

The attribute “Roll_no” is a key attribute as it can identify any student uniquely.

Learn more about the types of Attributes :