What role do foreign keys play in relational databases?

Foreign keys play a crucial role in establishing relationships between different tables in a relational database. When a foreign key is defined, it links a column in one table to the primary key of another table, thereby creating a relationship that helps maintain the integrity of the data.

This relationship allows for data in different tables to be associated with one another, enabling complex queries and fostering structured and organized data management. For example, consider a database that has a "Customers" table and an "Orders" table. The "Orders" table might include a foreign key reference to the "Customers" table, linking each order to the specific customer who made it. This ensures that orders are correctly attributed to customers and allows for queries that might require data from both tables, such as retrieving all orders made by a particular customer.

Understanding the function of foreign keys is essential for comprehending how relational databases operate, as they are fundamental in enforcing referential integrity and supporting relational data structures.