Which SQL referential action is NOT supported by Oracle on foreign keys?

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: ON UPDATE CASCADE

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:
Referential actions define how child rows respond when parent keys change or are deleted. Different DBMSs implement different subsets of these actions.



Given Data / Assumptions:

  • We are considering Oracle Database behavior for foreign keys.
  • Oracle supports ON DELETE CASCADE.
  • Oracle sequences are created/dropped via CREATE SEQUENCE and DROP SEQUENCE (unrelated to FK actions).


Concept / Approach:
Historically and in mainstream usage, Oracle does not support ON UPDATE CASCADE on foreign keys. If a parent key must change, applications typically update child keys manually or redesign to avoid parent key updates (or use surrogate keys that never change).



Step-by-Step Solution:

List supported actions: ON DELETE CASCADE is supported.Identify unsupported action: ON UPDATE CASCADE is not supported by Oracle foreign keys.Confirm that sequence DDL is separate from referential actions and is supported.


Verification / Alternative check:
Oracle DDL will reject ON UPDATE CASCADE in a foreign key definition, requiring manual updates or triggers as a workaround.



Why Other Options Are Wrong:
ON DELETE CASCADE is supported.
CREATE SEQUENCE / DROP SEQUENCE are valid Oracle DDL statements, but are not referential actions.



Common Pitfalls:
Assuming all ANSI actions are supported on all platforms; Oracle differs from some other RDBMSs like PostgreSQL or MySQL in this respect.



Final Answer:
ON UPDATE CASCADE

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