Mysql – How to find all tables that have foreign keys that reference particular table.column and have values for those foreign keys

foreign-keysMySQL

I have a table whose primary key is referenced in several other tables as a foreign key. For example:

  CREATE TABLE `X` (
    `X_id` int NOT NULL auto_increment,
    `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY  (`X_id`)
  )
  CREATE TABLE `Y` (
    `Y_id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
    `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
    `X_id` int DEFAULT NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY  (`Y_id`),
    CONSTRAINT `Y_X` FOREIGN KEY (`X_id`) REFERENCES `X` (`X_id`)
  )
  CREATE TABLE `Z` (
    `Z_id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
    `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
    `X_id` int DEFAULT NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY  (`Z_id`),
    CONSTRAINT `Z_X` FOREIGN KEY (`X_id`) REFERENCES `X` (`X_id`)
  )

Now, I don't know how many tables there are in the database that contain foreign keys into X like tables Y and Z. Is there a SQL query that I can use to return:

  1. A list of tables that have foreign keys into X
  2. AND which of those tables actually have values in the foreign key

Best Answer

Here you go:

USE information_schema;
SELECT *
FROM
  KEY_COLUMN_USAGE
WHERE
  REFERENCED_TABLE_NAME = 'X'
  AND REFERENCED_COLUMN_NAME = 'X_id';

If you have multiple databases with similar tables/column names you may also wish to limit your query to a particular database:

SELECT *
FROM
  KEY_COLUMN_USAGE
WHERE
  REFERENCED_TABLE_NAME = 'X'
  AND REFERENCED_COLUMN_NAME = 'X_id'
  AND TABLE_SCHEMA = 'your_database_name';