Okuzeka
Software Engineering vocabulary · Databases and Persistence

Trigger

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/ˈtrɪɡər/nounCommon term

In software engineering, trigger means: A piece of code stored in the database that runs automatically when a certain event, such as an insert, update or delete, happens on a table.

In Turkish: tetikleyici, trigger

How it is used

Triggers fire BEFORE or AFTER an event, for example to write audit rows or update a last_modified column. They are powerful but hidden: developers may not know a trigger exists, which makes bugs and slow writes hard to explain. You create, drop, enable and disable triggers.

Example sentences

  1. A trigger writes every price change to the price_history table.

  2. The insert is slow because of a trigger nobody remembered.

Common collocations

  • create a trigger
  • trigger fires
  • AFTER INSERT trigger
  • disable a trigger
  • stored procedureA named block of SQL code saved inside the database that can take parameters and be run again and again with a single call.
  • INSERT statementThe SQL statement that adds one or more new rows to a table, using INSERT INTO followed by the column names and their values.
  • UPDATE statementThe SQL statement that changes values in rows that already exist, usually limited by a WHERE clause so that only the right rows are changed.
  • tableA structure in a relational database that stores data about one kind of thing in rows and columns, for example all customers or all orders.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Databases and Persistence

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: