The purpose of the primary key in a database is to provide a map of the data.
A primary key is a special relational database table column (or combination of columns) designated to uniquely identify all table records. A primary key's main features are: It must contain a unique value for each row of data. It cannot contain null values.
The main purpose of a primary key is to implement a relationship between two tables in a relational database; it's not called a relational database for nothing! More specifically, the primary key is the "target" which a foreign key can reference.
A primary key is used to ensure data in the specific column is unique. You can only set constraints with primary keys, by setting a foreign key to another column which creates a relationship with the column that has the primary key set. A prime use of a primary key is in the case of a users table.