How can I create a unique index in Oracle but ignore nulls?
I don't know how many people still get directed to this answer, but at least in the latest version of oracle, you're allowed to have multiple rows with null on a unique index and the accepted answer isn't necessary
We can do this with a function-based index. The following makes use of NVL2()
which, as you know, returns one value if the expression is not null and a different value if it is null. You could use CASE()
instead.
SQL> create table blah (name varchar2(10), email varchar2(20))
2 /
Table created.
SQL> create unique index blah_uidx on blah
2 (nvl2(email, name, null), nvl2(name, email, null))
3 /
Index created.
SQL> insert into blah values ('APC', null)
2 /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into blah values ('APC', null)
2 /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into blah values (null, '[email protected]')
2 /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into blah values (null, '[email protected]')
2 /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into blah values ('APC', '[email protected]')
2 /
1 row created.
SQL> insert into blah values ('APC', '[email protected]')
2 /
insert into blah values ('APC', '[email protected]')
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00001: unique constraint (APC.BLAH_UIDX) violated
SQL>
Edit
Because in your scenario name will always be populated you will only need an index like this:
SQL> create unique index blah_uidx on blah
2 (nvl2(email, name, null), email)
3 /
Index created.
SQL>