Constraint

Differences between a column NOT NULL constraint and a CHECK CONSTRAINT not null

a check constraint is like a column constraint, except that it's on a table.

Although the end result may be the same, there are some differences:

  • check constraints have to be named and belong to the table, while a NOT NULL column is just an option of the latter
  • from a performance point of view, creating an explicit not-null constraint is more efficient.
    • only 0.5% performance penalty, so hardly noticeable.
  • you have to remove check constraints before removing the associated columns
  • a NOT NULL is written beside the column name when issuing \d your_table on psql, while check constraints are described below a specific session

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