--- title: "12: Linking records | SurrealDB University" description: "Follow along with interactive SurrealDB lessons featuring hands-on exercises, code examples, and step-by-step instructions." url: https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-12 --- ![Course content preview](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/town.D95IYf2V.avif) [Back to Courses](https://surrealdb.com/learn) Course chapters [Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour) [1: Connecting to a database](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-01) [2: Creating records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-02) [3: Using the ONLY keyword](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-03) [4: Non-ASCII record IDs](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-04) [5: Parentheses, indexing, and accessing fields](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-05) [6: Deleting records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-06) [7: Field order in objects](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-07) [8: Tips when selecting records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-08) [9: Casting and aliases](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-09) [10: Affixes](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-10) [11: Updating records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-11) [12: Linking records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-12) [13: Viewing the database as a whole](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-13) [14: Schemafull and schemaless](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-14) [15: Viewing the schema](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-15) [16: Literal types and assertions](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-16) [17: INSERT and using JSON](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-17) [18: FOR loops](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-18) [19: Basic graph relations](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-19) [20: Creating graph edges](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-20) [21: Querying graph relations](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-21) [22: Graph relations at greater depth](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-22) [23: Adding and improving data](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-23) [24: Defining events](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-24) [25: Defining indexes](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-25) [26: Improving the schema](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-26) [27: Visualising graph paths](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-27) [28: Recursive queries: setup](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-28) [29: Recursive queries](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-29) [30: More on recursive queries](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-30) [31: AI vector search](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-31) [Done the tour!](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-32) # 12: Linking records It's time to update the town of Riverdale again, this time with a link to the library. A [record link](https://surrealdb.com/docs/reference/query-language/language-primitives/record-links) is quick to make in SurrealDB: if a field contains the record ID of one or more other records, that's a link! For our existing `town:riverdale` record, a simple `UPDATE` statement is all that is needed. Don't forget to put the library inside an array, because the town may have more libraries to add later. ``` UPDATE town:riverdale SET libraries = [place:surreal_library]; ``` ![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query Response ```surql [ { id: town:riverdale, libraries: [ place:surreal_library ], name: 'Riverdale', population: 75000 } ] ``` If we had used a random ID instead of `place:surreal_library`, we would have first used `SELECT VALUE id` to get the record ID of the existing town and library, followed by a `WHERE` clause to filter. Let's practice this method too. ``` SELECT VALUE id FROM place WHERE "Riverdale" IN address; ``` ![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query Response ```surql [ place:surreal_library ] ``` When working with random IDs like this, using [`LET`](https://surrealdb.com/docs/reference/query-language/statements/let) to create a parameter is a great way to make the code readable. To set a parameter, use the `LET` keyword followed by `$` and the name that you want to give it. Setting a parameter also makes it available for reuse, which can be convenient. Connect library to town and use it again ``` -- Easy to read: this will be IDs of towns with the name RiverdaleLET $riverdale = SELECT VALUE id FROM town WHERE name = "Riverdale";-- IDs of libraries with the name Riverdale in the addressLET $libraries = SELECT VALUE id FROM place WHERE "Riverdale" IN address;-- Then update one with the otherUPDATE $riverdale SET libraries = $libraries;-- Parameter is still around for reuse-- If we had any cats we could link them to the libraries tooUPDATE cat SET libraries = $libraries; ``` ![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query By using either of these two ways, the library is now linked to the town! If we select from the `town` table, we can now see the library that we linked. ``` SELECT * FROM town; ``` ![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query Response ```surql [ { id: town:riverdale, libraries: [ place:surreal_library ], name: 'Riverdale', population: 75000 } ] ``` That output is a bit boring though, as the `libraries` only shows the record ID for the library. To make the output more informative, we can add `.name` to `libraries` to directly access the place's name. ``` SELECT *, libraries.name FROM town; ``` ![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query Response ```surql [ { id: town:riverdale, libraries: [ { name: [ 'Surreal Library' ] } ], name: 'Riverdale', population: 75000 } ] ``` Or we can use `.{}` to select some fields from the linked libraries, such as `name` and `floors`. ``` SELECT *, libraries.{ name, floors }FROM town; ``` ![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query Response ```surql [ { id: town:riverdale, libraries: [ { floors: 8, name: 'Surreal Library' } ], name: 'Riverdale', population: 75000 } ] ``` A quick way to display all the fields of a linked record is by adding the `FETCH` keyword to the end. ``` SELECT * FROM town FETCH libraries; ``` ![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query Response ```surql [ { id: town:riverdale, libraries: [ { address: '2025 Statement Street, Riverdale', floors: 8, id: place:surreal_library, name: 'Surreal Library', place_type: 'library' } ], name: 'Riverdale', population: 75000 } ] ``` Previous 11: Updating records [Previous](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-11) Next lesson 13: Viewing the database as a whole [Next lesson](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-13) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Course","name":"Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!","description":"Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour","inLanguage":"en","isAccessibleForFree":true,"provider":{"@type":"Organization","name":"SurrealDB","url":"https://surrealdb.com"},"hasPart":[{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!","url":"https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour"},{"@type":"LearningResource","name":"1: 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