Identify the Foreign Key

Problem

A new developer is struggling to understand how the employee database is structured. They ask you to show them a small sample of the employee data and explain how it links to the departments table. Retrieve all columns from the employees table but only for the first 5 records. Identify which column acts as a foreign key pointing to the departments table in the comments.

Database Schema

Table: employees

• employee_id (INT): Unique identifier for the employee.
• first_name (VARCHAR): First name of the employee.
• last_name (VARCHAR): Last name of the employee.
• salary (INT): Employee's salary.
• department_id (INT): Foreign key referencing the department.
• manager_id (INT): Foreign key referencing the manager (another employee).
• hire_date (DATE): Date the employee was hired.

Table: departments

• department_id (INT): Unique identifier for the department.
• department_name (VARCHAR): Name of the department.

Try It

Hint

Solution