https://www.sqlserver70.com/tags/referential-integrity/Recent content in Referential Integrity on SQL Server ScriptsHugo -- gohugo.ioenSQLServer70.comThu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.sqlserver70.com/post/sql-server-list-all-foreign-keys-and-referenced-tables/Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.sqlserver70.com/post/sql-server-list-all-foreign-keys-and-referenced-tables/ <p>Every database with foreign keys eventually needs a single inventory: every constraint, its parent table and column, and the referenced table and column on the other side. This T-SQL script joins <code>sys.foreign_keys</code> to <code>sys.foreign_key_columns</code>, <code>sys.tables</code>, and <code>sys.columns</code> to produce the canonical foreign-key map of the current database — one row per column in every multi-column foreign key.</p> <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1012089347386563" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-1012089347386563" data-ad-slot="8593449130"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <h2 id="purpose-and-overview">Purpose and Overview</h2> <p>The first symptom that a referential boundary has slipped is usually subtle: a <code>DELETE</code> on a parent table that ran in seconds last quarter now takes minutes, or a join across the foreign key plans an unexplained scan on the child side. Almost every diagnosis trails back to the same short list — a constraint disabled by an unattended deployment, a NOT TRUSTED flag left behind by a <code>WITH NOCHECK</code> bulk load, or a duplicate FK shadowing the one the optimizer was relying on. The inventory query below — <code>sys.foreign_keys</code> joined to <code>sys.foreign_key_columns</code>, <code>sys.tables</code>, and <code>sys.columns</code> — produces the complete relationship map in a single pass, so the foreign key in question is one filter away.</p>