What is a relationship in database terminology?

In database terminology, a relationship refers to a connection between two or more tables based on shared data. Relationships are fundamental to relational database design, as they enable the organization of data into structured tables while maintaining logical connections. This concept facilitates data integrity and consistency, allowing for efficient querying and reporting.

In many relational databases, these relationships are defined through foreign keys, which are fields in one table that refer to the primary key of another table. This establishes a link between the records in the two tables, enabling operations such as joins that allow users to retrieve and manipulate related data across different entities. For example, in a customer-order database, there would be a relationship between the Customers table and Orders table, allowing access to all orders placed by a specific customer through their shared customer ID.

Understanding relationships is crucial for designing and managing a database effectively, as they help maintain data integrity and ensure that the data remains consistent across multiple tables.