Data Table

A data table is a data structure which is made up of one or more columns that specify the type of data which they can hold. Data tables can be populated with rows of data. Data tables are a fundamental feature of relational databases.

A data table will contain a set of one or more columns which when combined can only identify one row in the table. This is known as the tables primary key. A data table can contain multiple candidate keys which could perform the same function however only one can be assigned as being primary. It remains possible to use the alternate keys when querying the data but the database management system will not use them.

Data tables can be joined to other data tables by including the primary key of one table as a column in another. This allows for relationships between data tables to be defined which in turn provides the foundation for modelling data using relational theory.

Data tables are used in the databases of human resource management systems although other layers of software are in place between the user and the database. When looking at a screen within a system a user may see data that has been retrieved from one or more data tables.