Table of Contents

Overview)
-- (Comment)
Slash Star Comment
CREATE DIAGNOSTICS SESSION
NULL and UNKNOWN
USE
Backslash
GO
Control-of-Flow
BEGIN...END
BREAK
CONTINUE
ELSE (IF...ELSE)
END (BEGIN...END)
GOTO
IF...ELSE
RETURN
THROW
TRY...CATCH
WAITFOR
WHILE
Cursors
CLOSE
DEALLOCATE
DECLARE CURSOR
FETCH
OPEN
Expressions
CASE
 COALESCE
NULLIF
Operators
Unary - Positive
Unary - Negative
Set - EXCEPT and INTERSECT
Set - UNION
Arithmetic
+ (Add)
+= (Add EQUALS)
- (Subtract)
-= (Subtract EQUALS)
* (Multiply)
*= (Multiply EQUALS)
(Divide)
/= (Divide EQUALS)
Modulo
Modulo EQUALS
Assignment
Bitwise
& (Bitwise AND)
&= (Bitwise AND EQUALS)
| (Bitwise OR)
|= (Bitwise OR EQUALS)
^ (Bitwise Exclusive OR)
^= (Bitwise Exclusive OR EQUALS)
~ (Bitwise NOT)
Comparison
= (Equals)
> (Greater Than)
< (Less Than)
>= (Greater Than or Equal To)
 <= (Less Than or Equal To)
<> (Not Equal To)
!< (Not Less Than)
!= (Not Equal To)
!> (Not Greater Than)
Compound
Logical
ALL
AND
ANY
BETWEEN
EXISTS
IN
LIKE
NOT
OR
SOME | ANY
Scope Resolution
String
+ (String concatenation)
+= (String concatenation)
Percent character (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match)
(Wildcard - Character(s) to Match)
(Wildcard - Character(s) Not to Match)
_ (Wildcard - Match One Character)
Operator precedence
Transactions
Transactions
Transaction Isolation Levels
BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION
BEGIN TRANSACTION
COMMIT TRANSACTION
 COMMIT WORK
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
ROLLBACK WORK
SAVE TRANSACTION
Variables
SET @local_variable
SELECT @local_variable
DECLARE @local_variable
EXECUTE
PRINT-Transact-SQL
RAISERROR
CHECKPOINT
KILL
KILL QUERY NOTIFICATION SUBSCRIPTION
KILL STATS JOB
RECONFIGURE
SHUTDOWN
Reserved Keywords
Syntax Conventions
 Language Elements (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
SQL Server supports the following language elements.

In This Section
-- (Comment) (Transact-SQL)
Slash Star Comment (Transact-SQL)
CREATE DIAGNOSTICS SESSION (Transact-SQL)
NULL and UNKNOWN (Transact-SQL)
Transactions (SQL Data Warehouse)
USE (Transact-SQL)
 -- (Comment) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Indicates user-provided text. Comments can be inserted on a separate line, nested at the end of a Transact-SQL
command line, or within a Transact-SQL statement. The server does not evaluate the comment.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- text_of_comment

Arguments
text_of_comment
Is the character string that contains the text of the comment.

Remarks
Use two hyphens (--) for single-line or nested comments. Comments inserted with -- are terminated by the
newline character. There is no maximum length for comments. The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that
you can use to comment or uncomment text.

ACTION STANDARD

Make the selected text a comment CTRL+K, CTRL+C

Uncomment the selected text CTRL+K, CTRL+U

For more information about keyboard shortcuts, see SQL Server Management Studio Keyboard Shortcuts.
For multiline comments, see Slash Star Comment (Transact-SQL).

Examples
The following example uses the -- commenting characters.

-- Choose the AdventureWorks2012 database.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
-- Choose all columns and all rows from the Address table.
SELECT *
FROM Person.Address
ORDER BY PostalCode ASC; -- We do not have to specify ASC because
-- that is the default.
GO
See Also
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
 Slash Star Comment (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Indicates user-provided text. The text between the /* and */ is not evaluated by the server.
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server ( SQL Server 2008 through current version), Azure SQL Database.|
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
/*
text_of_comment
*/

Arguments
text_of_comment
Is the text of the comment. This is one or more character strings.

Remarks
Comments can be inserted on a separate line or within a Transact-SQL statement. Multiple-line comments must be
indicated by /* and */. A stylistic convention often used for multiple-line comments is to begin the first line with /*,
subsequent lines with **, and end with */.
There is no maximum length for comments.
Nested comments are supported. If the /* character pattern occurs anywhere within an existing comment, it is
treated as the start of a nested comment and, therefore, requires a closing */ comment mark. If the closing
comment mark does not exist, an error is generated.
For example, the following code generates an error.

DECLARE @comment AS varchar(20);

GO
/*
SELECT @comment = '/*';
*/
SELECT @@VERSION;
GO

To work around this error, make the following change.

 DECLARE @comment AS varchar(20);
GO
/*
SELECT @comment = '/*';
*/ */
SELECT @@VERSION;
GO

Examples
The following example uses comments to explain what the section of the code is supposed to do.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
/*
This section of the code joins the Person table with the Address table,
by using the Employee and BusinessEntityAddress tables in the middle to
get a list of all the employees in the AdventureWorks2012 database
and their contact information.
*/
SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, a.AddressLine1, a.AddressLine2, a.City, a.PostalCode
FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e ON p.BusinessEntityID = e.BusinessEntityID
JOIN Person.BusinessEntityAddress AS ea ON e.BusinessEntityID = ea.BusinessEntityID
JOIN Person.Address AS a ON ea.AddressID = a.AddressID;
GO

See Also
-- (Comment) (Transact-SQL)
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
 CREATE DIAGNOSTICS SESSION (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 3 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse Parallel Data
Warehouse
Diagnostics sessions allow you to save detailed, user-defined diagnostic information on system or query
performance.
Diagnostics sessions are typically used to debug performance for a specific query, or to monitor the behavior of a
specific appliance component during appliance operation.

NOTE
You should be familiar with XML in order to use diagnostics sessions.

Syntax
-- Syntax for Parallel Data Warehouse

Creating a new diagnostics session:

CREATE DIAGNOSTICS SESSION diagnostics_name AS N’{<session_xml>}’;

<session_xml>::
<Session>
[ <MaxItemCount>max_item_count_num</MaxItemCount> ]
<Filter>
{ \<Event Name=”event_name”/>
[ <Where>\<filter_property_name Name=”value” ComparisonType="comp_type"/></Where> ] [ ,...n ]
} [ ,...n ]
</Filter> ]
<Capture>
\<Property Name=”property_name”/> [ ,...n ]
</Capture>
<Session>

Retrieving results for a diagnostics session:

SELECT * FROM master.sysdiag.diagnostics_name ;

Removing results for a diagnostics session:

DROP DIAGNOSTICS SESSION diagnostics_name ;

Arguments
diagnostics_name
The name of the diagnostics session. Diagnostics session names can include characters a-z, A-Z, and 0-9 only. Also,
diagnostics session names must start with a character. diagnostics_name is limited to 127 characters.
max_item_count_num
The number of events to be persisted in a view. For example, if 100 is specified, the 100 most recent events
matching the filter criteria will be persisted to the diagnostics session. If fewer than 100 matching events are found,
the diagnostics session will contain less than 100 events. max_item_count_num must be at least 100 and less than
or equal to 100,000.
event_name
Defines the actual events to be collected in the diagnostics session. event_name is one of the events listed in
sys.pdw_diag_events where sys.pdw_diag_events.is_enabled='True' .
filter_property_name
The name of the property on which to restrict results. For example, if you want to limit based on session id,
filter_property_name should be SessionId. See property_name below for a list of potential values for
filter_property_name.
value
A value to evaluate against filter_property_name. The value type must match the property type. For example, if the
property type is decimal, the type of value must be decimal.
comp_type
The comparison type. Potential values are:Equals, EqualsOrGreaterThan, EqualsOrLessThan, GreaterThan, LessThan,
NotEquals, Contains, RegEx
property_name
A property related to the event. Property names can be part of the capture tag, or used as part of filtering criteria.

PROPERTY NAME DESCRIPTION

UserName A user (login) name.

SessionId A session ID.

QueryId A query ID.

CommandType A command type.

CommandText Text within a command processed.

OperationType The operation type for the event.

Duration The duration of the event.

SPID The Service Process ID.

Remarks
Each user is allowed a maximum of 10 concurrent diagnostics sessions. See sys.pdw_diag_sessions for a list of your
current sessions, and drop any unneeded sessions using DROP DIAGNOSTICS SESSION .
Diagnostics sessions will continue to collect metadata until dropped.

Permissions
Requires the ALTER SERVER STATE permission.

Locking
Takes a shared lock on the Diagnostic Sessions table.

Examples
A. Creating a diagnostics session
This example creates a diagnostics session to record metrics of the database engine performance. The example
creates a diagnostics session that listens for Engine Query running/end events and a blocking DMS event. What is
returned is the command text, machine name, request id (query id) and the session that the event was created on.

CREATE DIAGNOSTICS SESSION MYDIAGSESSION AS N'

<Session>
<MaxItemCount>100</MaxItemCount>
<Filter>
<Event Name="EngineInstrumentation:EngineQueryRunningEvent" />
<Event Name="DmsCoreInstrumentation:DmsBlockingQueueEnqueueBeginEvent" />
<Where>
<SessionId Value="381" ComparisonType="NotEquals" />
</Where>
</Filter>
<Capture>
<Property Name="Query.CommandText" />
<Property Name="MachineName" />
<Property Name="Query.QueryId" />
<Property Name="Alias" />
<Property Name="Duration" />
<Property Name="Session.SessionId" />
</Capture>
</Session>';

After creation of the diagnostics session, run a query.

SELECT COUNT(EmployeeKey) FROM AdventureWorksPDW2012..FactSalesQuota;

Then view the diagnostics session results by selecting from the sysdiag schema.

SELECT * FROM master.sysdiag.MYDIAGSESSION;

Notice that the sysdiag schema contains a view that is named your diagnostics session name.
To see only the activity for your connection, add the Session.SPID property and add
WHERE [Session.SPID] = @@spid; to the query.

When you are finished with the diagnostics session, drop it using the DROP DIAGNOSTICS command.

DROP DIAGNOSTICS SESSION MYDIAGSESSION;

B. Alternative diagnostic session

A second example with slightly different properties.
 -- Determine the session_id of your current session
SELECT TOP 1 session_id();
-- Replace \<*session_number*> in the code below with the numbers in your session_id
CREATE DIAGNOSTICS SESSION PdwOptimizationDiagnostics AS N'
<Session>
<MaxItemCount>100</MaxItemCount>
<Filter>
<Event Name="EngineInstrumentation:MemoGenerationBeginEvent" />
<Event Name="EngineInstrumentation:MemoGenerationEndEvent" />
<Event Name="DSQLInstrumentation:OptimizationBeginEvent" />
<Event Name="DSQLInstrumentation:OptimizationEndEvent" />
<Event Name="DSQLInstrumentation:BuildRelOpContextTreeBeginEvent" />
<Event Name="DSQLInstrumentation:PostPlanGenModifiersEndEvent" />
<Where>
<SessionId Value="\<*session_number*>" ComparisonType="Equals" />
</Where>
</Filter>
<Capture>
<Property Name="Session.SessionId" />
<Property Name="Query.QueryId" />
<Property Name="Query.CommandText" />
<Property Name="Name" />
<Property Name="DateTimePublished" />
<Property Name="DateTimePublished.Ticks" />
</Capture>
</Session>';

Run a query, such as:

USE ssawPDW;
GO
SELECT * FROM dbo.FactFinance;

The following query returns the authorization timing:

SELECT *
FROM master.sysdiag.PdwOptimizationDiagnostics
ORDER BY DateTimePublished;

When you are finished with the diagnostics session, drop it using the DROP DIAGNOSTICS command.

DROP DIAGNOSTICS SESSION PdwOptimizationDiagnostics;

 NULL and UNKNOWN (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
NULL indicates that the value is unknown. A null value is different from an empty or zero value. No two null values
are equal. Comparisons between two null values, or between a null value and any other value, return unknown
because the value of each NULL is unknown.
Null values generally indicate data that is unknown, not applicable, or to be added later. For example, a customer's
middle initial may not be known at the time the customer places an order.
Note the following about null values:
To test for null values in a query, use IS NULL or IS NOT NULL in the WHERE clause.
Null values can be inserted into a column by explicitly stating NULL in an INSERT or UPDATE statement or
by leaving a column out of an INSERT statement.
Null values cannot be used as information that is required to distinguish one row in a table from another
row in a table, such as primary keys, or for information used to distribute rows, such as distribution keys.
When null values are present in data, logical and comparison operators can potentially return a third result
of UNKNOWN instead of just TRUE or FALSE. This need for three-valued logic is a source of many
application errors. These tables outline the effect of introducing null comparisons.
The following table shows the results of applying an AND operator to two Boolean operands where one
operand returns NULL.

OPERAND 1 OPERAND 2 RESULT

TRUE NULL FALSE

NULL NULL FALSE

FALSE NULL FALSE

The following table shows the results of applying an OR operator to two Boolean operands where one operand
returns NULL.

OPERAND 1 OPERAND 2 RESULT

TRUE NULL TRUE

NULL NULL UNKNOWN

FALSE NULL UNKNOWN

See Also
AND (Transact-SQL)
OR (Transact-SQL)
NOT (Transact-SQL)
IS NULL (Transact-SQL)
 USE (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Changes the database context to the specified database or database snapshot in SQL Server.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

USE { database_name }
[;]

Arguments
database_name
Is the name of the database or database snapshot to which the user context is switched. Database and database
snapshot names must comply with the rules for identifiers.
In Azure SQL Database, the database parameter can only refer to the current database. If a database other than the
current database is provided, the USE statement does not switch between databases, and error code 40508 is
returned. To change databases, you must directly connect to the database. The USE statement is marked as not
applicable to SQL Database at the top of this page, because even though you can have the USE statement in a
batch, it doesn't do anything.

Remarks
When a SQL Server login connects to SQL Server, the login is automatically connected to its default database and
acquires the security context of a database user. If no database user has been created for the SQL Server login, the
login connects as guest. If the database user does not have CONNECT permission on the database, the USE
statement will fail. If no default database has been assigned to the login, its default database will be set to master.
USE is executed at both compile and execution time and takes effect immediately. Therefore, statements that
appear in a batch after the USE statement are executed in the specified database.

Permissions
Requires CONNECT permission on the target database.

Examples
The following example changes the database context to the AdventureWorks2012 database.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse
The following example changes the database context to the AccountingDB database.

USE AccountingDB;

See Also
CREATE LOGIN (Transact-SQL)
CREATE USER (Transact-SQL)
Principals (Database Engine)
CREATE DATABASE (SQL Server Transact-SQL)
DROP DATABASE (Transact-SQL)
EXECUTE (Transact-SQL)
 SQL Server Utilities Statements - Backslash
5/2/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
SQL Server provides commands that are not Transact-SQL statements, but are recognized by the sqlcmd and osql
utilities and SQL Server Management Studio Code Editor. These commands can be used to facilitate the readability
and execution of batches and scripts.
\ breaks a long string constant into two or more lines for readability.
Applies to: SQL Server ( SQL Server 2008 through current version), Azure SQL Database.|
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
<first section of string> \
<continued section of string>

Arguments
<first section of string>
Is the start of a string.
<continued section of string>
Is the continuation of a string.

Remarks
This command returns the first and continued sections of the string as one string, without the backslash.
The backslash is not a Transact-SQL statement. It is a command that is recognized by the sqlcmd and osql utilities
and SQL Server Management Studio Code Editor.

Examples
The following example uses a backslash and a carriage return to split the string into two lines.

SELECT 'abc\
def' AS ColumnResult;

Here is the result set.

ColumnResult
------------
abcdef

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
(Divide) (Transact-SQL)
(Divide EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
 SQL Server Utilities Statements - GO
4/29/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
SQL Server provides commands that are not Transact-SQL statements, but are recognized by the sqlcmd and osql
utilities and SQL Server Management Studio Code Editor. These commands can be used to facilitate the readability
and execution of batches and scripts.
GO signals the end of a batch of Transact-SQL statements to the SQL Server utilities.
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server ( SQL Server 2008 through current version), Azure SQL Database.|
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
GO [count]

Arguments
count
Is a positive integer. The batch preceding GO will execute the specified number of times.

Remarks
GO is not a Transact-SQL statement; it is a command recognized by the sqlcmd and osql utilities and SQL Server
Management Studio Code editor.
SQL Server utilities interpret GO as a signal that they should send the current batch of Transact-SQL statements to
an instance of SQL Server. The current batch of statements is composed of all statements entered since the last GO,
or since the start of the ad hoc session or script if this is the first GO.
A Transact-SQL statement cannot occupy the same line as a GO command. However, the line can contain
comments.
Users must follow the rules for batches. For example, any execution of a stored procedure after the first statement
in a batch must include the EXECUTE keyword. The scope of local (user-defined) variables is limited to a batch, and
cannot be referenced after a GO command.
 USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
DECLARE @MyMsg VARCHAR(50)
SELECT @MyMsg = 'Hello, World.'
GO -- @MyMsg is not valid after this GO ends the batch.

-- Yields an error because @MyMsg not declared in this batch.

PRINT @MyMsg
GO

SELECT @@VERSION;
-- Yields an error: Must be EXEC sp_who if not first statement in
-- batch.
sp_who
GO

SQL Server applications can send multiple Transact-SQL statements to an instance of SQL Server for execution as a
batch. The statements in the batch are then compiled into a single execution plan. Programmers executing ad hoc
statements in the SQL Server utilities, or building scripts of Transact-SQL statements to run through the SQL Server
utilities, use GO to signal the end of a batch.
Applications based on the ODBC or OLE DB APIs receive a syntax error if they try to execute a GO command. The
SQL Server utilities never send a GO command to the server.
Do not use a semicolon as a statement terminator after GO.

Permissions
GO is a utility command that requires no permissions. It can be executed by any user.

-- Yields an error because ; is not permitted after GO

SELECT @@VERSION;
GO;

Examples
The following example creates two batches. The first batch contains only a USE``AdventureWorks2012 statement to
set the database context. The remaining statements use a local variable. Therefore, all local variable declarations
must be grouped in a single batch. This is done by not having a GO command until after the last statement that
references the variable.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
DECLARE @NmbrPeople int
SELECT @NmbrPeople = COUNT(*)
FROM Person.Person;
PRINT 'The number of people as of ' +
CAST(GETDATE() AS char(20)) + ' is ' +
CAST(@NmbrPeople AS char (10));
GO

The following example executes the statements in the batch twice.

SELECT DB_NAME();
SELECT USER_NAME();
GO 2
 Control-of-Flow
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2012) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
The Transact-SQL control-of-flow language keywords are:

BEGIN...END RETURN

BREAK THROW

CONTINUE TRY...CATCH

GOTO label WAITFOR

IF...ELSE WHILE

See Also
CASE (Transact-SQL)
Slash Star Comment (Transact-SQL)
-- (Comment) (Transact-SQL)
DECLARE @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
EXECUTE (Transact-SQL)
PRINT (Transact-SQL)
RAISERROR (Transact-SQL)
 BEGIN...END (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Encloses a series of Transact-SQL statements so that a group of Transact-SQL statements can be executed. BEGIN
and END are control-of-flow language keywords.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

BEGIN
{ sql_statement | statement_block }
END

Arguments
{ sql_statement | statement_block }
Is any valid Transact-SQL statement or statement grouping as defined by using a statement block.

Remarks
BEGIN...END blocks can be nested.
Although all Transact-SQL statements are valid within a BEGIN...END block, certain Transact-SQL statements
should not be grouped together within the same batch, or statement block.

Examples
In the following example, BEGIN and END define a series of Transact-SQL statements that execute together. If the
BEGIN...END block were not included, both ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statements would execute and both PRINT
messages would be returned.
 USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
GO
IF @@TRANCOUNT = 0
BEGIN
SELECT FirstName, MiddleName
FROM Person.Person WHERE LastName = 'Adams';
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
PRINT N'Rolling back the transaction two times would cause an error.';
END;
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
PRINT N'Rolled back the transaction.';
GO
/*
Rolled back the transaction.
*/

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

In the following example, BEGIN and END define a series of SQL statements that run together. If the BEGIN...END
block are not included, the following example will be in a continuous loop.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @Iteration Integer = 0

WHILE @Iteration <10
BEGIN
SELECT FirstName, MiddleName
FROM dbo.DimCustomer WHERE LastName = 'Adams';
SET @Iteration += 1
END;

See Also
ALTER TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
CREATE TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)
END (BEGIN...END) (Transact-SQL)
 BREAK (Transact-SQL)
4/6/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Exits the innermost loop in a WHILE statement or an IF…ELSE statement inside a WHILE loop. Any statements
appearing after the END keyword, marking the end of the loop, are executed. BREAK is frequently, but not always,
started by an IF test.

Examples
-- Uses AdventureWorks

WHILE ((SELECT AVG(ListPrice) FROM dbo.DimProduct) < $300)

BEGIN
UPDATE DimProduct
SET ListPrice = ListPrice * 2;
IF ((SELECT MAX(ListPrice) FROM dbo.DimProduct) > $500)
BREAK;
END

See Also
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
WHILE (Transact-SQL)
IF...ELSE (Transact-SQL)
 CONTINUE (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Restarts a WHILE loop. Any statements after the CONTINUE keyword are ignored. CONTINUE is frequently, but not
always, opened by an IF test. For more information, see WHILE (Transact-SQL) and Control-of-Flow Language
(Transact-SQL).
 ELSE (IF...ELSE) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 3 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Imposes conditions on the execution of a Transact-SQL statement. The Transact-SQL statement (sql_statement)
following the Boolean_expressionis executed if the Boolean_expression evaluates to TRUE. The optional ELSE
keyword is an alternate Transact-SQL statement that is executed when Boolean_expression evaluates to FALSE or
NULL.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

IF Boolean_expression
{ sql_statement | statement_block }
[ ELSE
{ sql_statement | statement_block } ]

Arguments
Boolean_expression
Is an expression that returns TRUE or FALSE. If the Boolean_expression contains a SELECT statement, the SELECT
statement must be enclosed in parentheses.
{ sql_statement | statement_block }
Is any valid Transact-SQL statement or statement grouping as defined with a statement block. To define a
statement block (batch), use the control-of-flow language keywords BEGIN and END. Although all Transact-SQL
statements are valid within a BEGIN...END block, certain Transact-SQL statements should not be grouped together
within the same batch (statement block).

Result Types
Boolean

Examples
A. Using a simple Boolean expression
The following example has a simple Boolean expression ( 1=1 ) that is true and, therefore, prints the first statement.

IF 1 = 1 PRINT 'Boolean_expression is true.'

ELSE PRINT 'Boolean_expression is false.' ;

The following example has a simple Boolean expression ( 1=2 ) that is false, and therefore prints the second
statement.
 IF 1 = 2 PRINT 'Boolean_expression is true.'
ELSE PRINT 'Boolean_expression is false.' ;
GO

B. Using a query as part of a Boolean expression

The following example executes a query as part of the Boolean expression. Because there are 10 bikes in the
Product table that meet the WHERE clause, the first print statement will execute. Change > 5 to > 15 to see how
the second part of the statement could execute.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
IF
(SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Production.Product WHERE Name LIKE 'Touring-3000%' ) > 5
PRINT 'There are more than 5 Touring-3000 bicycles.'
ELSE PRINT 'There are 5 or less Touring-3000 bicycles.' ;
GO

C. Using a statement block

The following example executes a query as part of the Boolean expression and then executes slightly different
statement blocks based on the result of the Boolean expression. Each statement block starts with BEGIN and
completes with END .

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
DECLARE @AvgWeight decimal(8,2), @BikeCount int
IF
(SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Production.Product WHERE Name LIKE 'Touring-3000%' ) > 5
BEGIN
SET @BikeCount =
(SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM Production.Product
WHERE Name LIKE 'Touring-3000%');
SET @AvgWeight =
(SELECT AVG(Weight)
FROM Production.Product
WHERE Name LIKE 'Touring-3000%');
PRINT 'There are ' + CAST(@BikeCount AS varchar(3)) + ' Touring-3000 bikes.'
PRINT 'The average weight of the top 5 Touring-3000 bikes is ' + CAST(@AvgWeight AS varchar(8)) + '.';
END
ELSE
BEGIN
SET @AvgWeight =
(SELECT AVG(Weight)
FROM Production.Product
WHERE Name LIKE 'Touring-3000%' );
PRINT 'Average weight of the Touring-3000 bikes is ' + CAST(@AvgWeight AS varchar(8)) + '.' ;
END ;
GO

D. Using nested IF...ELSE statements

The following example shows how an IF … ELSE statement can be nested inside another. Set the @Number variable
to 5 , 50 , and 500 to test each statement.
 DECLARE @Number int;
SET @Number = 50;
IF @Number > 100
PRINT 'The number is large.';
ELSE
BEGIN
IF @Number < 10
PRINT 'The number is small.';
ELSE
PRINT 'The number is medium.';
END ;
GO

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

E: Using a query as part of a Boolean expression
The following example uses IF…ELSE to determine which of two responses to show the user, based on the weight
of an item in the DimProduct table.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @maxWeight float, @productKey integer

SET @maxWeight = 100.00
SET @productKey = 424
IF @maxWeight <= (SELECT Weight from DimProduct WHERE ProductKey=@productKey)
(SELECT @productKey, EnglishDescription, Weight, 'This product is too heavy to ship and is only available
for pickup.' FROM DimProduct WHERE ProductKey=@productKey)
ELSE
(SELECT @productKey, EnglishDescription, Weight, 'This product is available for shipping or pickup.' FROM
DimProduct WHERE ProductKey=@productKey)

See Also
ALTER TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
CREATE TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)
IF...ELSE (Transact-SQL)
 END (BEGIN...END) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Encloses a series of Transact-SQL statements that will execute as a group. BEGIN...END blocks can be nested.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

BEGIN
{ sql_statement | statement_block }
END

Arguments
{ sql_statement| statement_block}
Is any valid Transact-SQL statement or statement grouping as defined with a statement block. To define a
statement block (batch), use the control-of-flow language keywords BEGIN and END. Although all Transact-SQL
statements are valid within a BEGIN...END block, certain Transact-SQL statements should not be grouped together
within the same batch (statement block).

Result Types
Boolean

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

In the following example, BEGIN and END define a series of SQL statements that run together. If the BEGIN...END
block are not included, the following example will be in a continuous loop.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @Iteration Integer = 0

WHILE @Iteration <10
BEGIN
SELECT FirstName, MiddleName
FROM dbo.DimCustomer WHERE LastName = 'Adams';
SET @Iteration += 1
END;

See Also
ALTER TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN...END (Transact-SQL)
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
CREATE TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)
ELSE (IF...ELSE) (Transact-SQL)
IF...ELSE (Transact-SQL)
WHILE (Transact-SQL)
 GOTO (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Alters the flow of execution to a label. The Transact-SQL statement or statements that follow GOTO are skipped
and processing continues at the label. GOTO statements and labels can be used anywhere within a procedure,
batch, or statement block. GOTO statements can be nested.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
Define the label:
label:
Alter the execution:
GOTO label

Arguments
label
Is the point after which processing starts if a GOTO is targeted to that label. Labels must follow the rules for
identifiers. A label can be used as a commenting method whether GOTO is used.

Remarks
GOTO can exist within conditional control-of-flow statements, statement blocks, or procedures, but it cannot go to
a label outside the batch. GOTO branching can go to a label defined before or after GOTO.

Permissions
GOTO permissions default to any valid user.

Examples
The following example shows how to use GOTO as a branch mechanism.
 DECLARE @Counter int;
SET @Counter = 1;
WHILE @Counter < 10
BEGIN
SELECT @Counter
SET @Counter = @Counter + 1
IF @Counter = 4 GOTO Branch_One --Jumps to the first branch.
IF @Counter = 5 GOTO Branch_Two --This will never execute.
END
Branch_One:
SELECT 'Jumping To Branch One.'
GOTO Branch_Three; --This will prevent Branch_Two from executing.
Branch_Two:
SELECT 'Jumping To Branch Two.'
Branch_Three:
SELECT 'Jumping To Branch Three.';

See Also
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN...END (Transact-SQL)
BREAK (Transact-SQL)
CONTINUE (Transact-SQL)
IF...ELSE (Transact-SQL)
WAITFOR (Transact-SQL)
WHILE (Transact-SQL)
 IF...ELSE (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Imposes conditions on the execution of a Transact-SQL statement. The Transact-SQL statement that follows an IF
keyword and its condition is executed if the condition is satisfied: the Boolean expression returns TRUE. The
optional ELSE keyword introduces another Transact-SQL statement that is executed when the IF condition is not
satisfied: the Boolean expression returns FALSE.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

IF Boolean_expression
{ sql_statement | statement_block }
[ ELSE
{ sql_statement | statement_block } ]

Arguments
Boolean_expression
Is an expression that returns TRUE or FALSE. If the Boolean expression contains a SELECT statement, the SELECT
statement must be enclosed in parentheses.
{ sql_statement| statement_block }
Is any Transact-SQL statement or statement grouping as defined by using a statement block. Unless a statement
block is used, the IF or ELSE condition can affect the performance of only one Transact-SQL statement.
To define a statement block, use the control-of-flow keywords BEGIN and END.

Remarks
An IF...ELSE construct can be used in batches, in stored procedures, and in ad hoc queries. When this construct is
used in a stored procedure, it is frequently used to test for the existence of some parameter.
IF tests can be nested after another IF or following an ELSE. The limit to the number of nested levels depends on
available memory.

Example
IF DATENAME(weekday, GETDATE()) IN (N'Saturday', N'Sunday')
SELECT 'Weekend';
ELSE
SELECT 'Weekday';

For more examples, see ELSE (IF...ELSE) (Transact-SQL).

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse
The following example uses IF…ELSE to determine which of two responses to show the user, based on the weight
of an item in the DimProduct table.

-- Uses AdventureWorksDW

DECLARE @maxWeight float, @productKey integer

SET @maxWeight = 100.00
SET @productKey = 424
IF @maxWeight <= (SELECT Weight from DimProduct
WHERE ProductKey = @productKey)
(SELECT @productKey AS ProductKey, EnglishDescription, Weight,
'This product is too heavy to ship and is only available for pickup.'
AS ShippingStatus
FROM DimProduct WHERE ProductKey = @productKey);
ELSE
(SELECT @productKey AS ProductKey, EnglishDescription, Weight,
'This product is available for shipping or pickup.'
AS ShippingStatus
FROM DimProduct WHERE ProductKey = @productKey);

See Also
BEGIN...END (Transact-SQL)
END (BEGIN...END) (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHILE (Transact-SQL)
CASE (Transact-SQL)
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL) ELSE (IF...ELSE) (Transact-SQL)
 RETURN (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Exits unconditionally from a query or procedure. RETURN is immediate and complete and can be used at any point
to exit from a procedure, batch, or statement block. Statements that follow RETURN are not executed.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
RETURN [ integer_expression ]

Arguments
integer_expression
Is the integer value that is returned. Stored procedures can return an integer value to a calling procedure or an
application.

Return Types
Optionally returns int.

NOTE
Unless documented otherwise, all system stored procedures return a value of 0. This indicates success and a nonzero value
indicates failure.

Remarks
When used with a stored procedure, RETURN cannot return a null value. If a procedure tries to return a null value
(for example, using RETURN @status when @status is NULL), a warning message is generated and a value of 0 is
returned.
The return status value can be included in subsequent Transact-SQL statements in the batch or procedure that
executed the current procedure, but it must be entered in the following form:
EXECUTE @return_status = <procedure_name> .

Examples
A. Returning from a procedure
The following example shows if no user name is specified as a parameter when findjobs is executed, RETURN
causes the procedure to exit after a message has been sent to the user's screen. If a user name is specified, the
names of all objects created by this user in the current database are retrieved from the appropriate system tables.
 CREATE PROCEDURE findjobs @nm sysname = NULL
AS
IF @nm IS NULL
BEGIN
PRINT 'You must give a user name'
RETURN
END
ELSE
BEGIN
SELECT o.name, o.id, o.uid
FROM sysobjects o INNER JOIN master..syslogins l
ON o.uid = l.sid
WHERE l.name = @nm
END;

B. Returning status codes

The following example checks the state for the ID of a specified contact. If the state is Washington ( WA ), a status of
1 is returned. Otherwise, 2 is returned for any other condition (a value other than WA for StateProvince or
ContactID that did not match a row).

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE checkstate @param varchar(11)
AS
IF (SELECT StateProvince FROM Person.vAdditionalContactInfo WHERE ContactID = @param) = 'WA'
RETURN 1
ELSE
RETURN 2;
GO

The following examples show the return status from executing checkstate . The first shows a contact in
Washington; the second, contact not in Washington; and the third, a contact that is not valid. The @return_status
local variable must be declared before it can be used.

DECLARE @return_status int;

EXEC @return_status = checkstate '2';
SELECT 'Return Status' = @return_status;
GO

Here is the result set.

Return Status

-------------

Execute the query again, specifying a different contact number.

DECLARE @return_status int;

EXEC @return_status = checkstate '6';
SELECT 'Return Status' = @return_status;
GO

Here is the result set.

Return Status
-------------

Execute the query again, specifying another contact number.

DECLARE @return_status int

EXEC @return_status = checkstate '12345678901';
SELECT 'Return Status' = @return_status;
GO

Here is the result set.

Return Status

-------------

See Also
ALTER PROCEDURE (Transact-SQL)
CREATE PROCEDURE (Transact-SQL)
DECLARE @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
EXECUTE (Transact-SQL)
SET @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
THROW (Transact-SQL)
 THROW (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 3 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2012) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Raises an exception and transfers execution to a CATCH block of a TRY…CATCH construct in SQL Server 2016.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

THROW [ { error_number | @local_variable },

{ message | @local_variable },
{ state | @local_variable } ]
[ ; ]

Arguments
error_number
Is a constant or variable that represents the exception. error_number is int and must be greater than or equal to
50000 and less than or equal to 2147483647.
message
Is an string or variable that describes the exception. message is nvarchar(2048).
state
Is a constant or variable between 0 and 255 that indicates the state to associate with the message. state is tinyint.

Remarks
The statement before the THROW statement must be followed by the semicolon (;) statement terminator.
If a TRY…CATCH construct is not available, the session is ended. The line number and procedure where the
exception is raised are set. The severity is set to 16.
If the THROW statement is specified without parameters, it must appear inside a CATCH block. This causes the
caught exception to be raised. Any error that occurs in a THROW statement causes the statement batch to be
ended.
% is a reserved character in the message text of a THROW statement and must be escaped. Double the % character
to return % as part of the message text, for example 'The increase exceeded 15%% of the original value.'

Differences Between RAISERROR and THROW

The following table lists differences between the RAISERROR and THROW statements.
 RAISERROR STATEMENT THROW STATEMENT

If a msg_id is passed to RAISERROR, the ID must be defined in The error_number parameter does not have to be defined in
sys.messages. sys.messages.

The msg_str parameter can contain printf formatting styles. The message parameter does not accept printf style
formatting.

The severity parameter specifies the severity of the exception. There is no severity parameter. The exception severity is
always set to 16.

Examples
A. Using THROW to raise an exception
The following example shows how to use the THROW statement to raise an exception.

THROW 51000, 'The record does not exist.', 1;

Here is the result set.

Msg 51000, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

The record does not exist.

B. Using THROW to raise an exception again

The following example shows how use the THROW statement to raise the last thrown exception again.

USE tempdb;
GO
CREATE TABLE dbo.TestRethrow
( ID INT PRIMARY KEY
);
BEGIN TRY
INSERT dbo.TestRethrow(ID) VALUES(1);
-- Force error 2627, Violation of PRIMARY KEY constraint to be raised.
INSERT dbo.TestRethrow(ID) VALUES(1);
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH

PRINT 'In catch block.';

THROW;
END CATCH;

Here is the result set.

PRINT 'In catch block.';

Msg 2627, Level 14, State 1, Line 1

Violation of PRIMARY KEY constraint 'PK__TestReth__3214EC272E3BD7D3'. Cannot insert duplicate key in object
'dbo.TestRethrow'.

The statement has been terminated.

C. Using FORMATMESSAGE with THROW

The following example shows how to use the FORMATMESSAGE function with THROW to throw a customized error
message. The example first creates a user-defined error message by using sp_addmessage . Because the THROW
statement does not allow for substitution parameters in the message parameter in the way that RAISERROR does,
the FORMATMESSAGE function is used to pass the three parameter values expected by error message 60000.

EXEC sys.sp_addmessage
@msgnum = 60000
,@severity = 16
,@msgtext = N'This is a test message with one numeric parameter (%d), one string parameter (%s), and another
string parameter (%s).'
,@lang = 'us_english';
GO

DECLARE @msg NVARCHAR(2048) = FORMATMESSAGE(60000, 500, N'First string', N'second string');

THROW 60000, @msg, 1;

Here is the result set.

Msg 60000, Level 16, State 1, Line 2

This is a test message with one numeric parameter (500), one string parameter (First string), and another
string parameter (second string).

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

D. Using THROW to raise an exception
The following example shows how to use the THROW statement to raise an exception.

THROW 51000, 'The record does not exist.', 1;

Here is the result set.

Msg 51000, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

The record does not exist.

See Also
FORMATMESSAGE (Transact-SQL)
Database Engine Error Severities
ERROR_LINE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_MESSAGE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_NUMBER (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_PROCEDURE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_SEVERITY (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_STATE (Transact-SQL)
RAISERROR (Transact-SQL)
@@ERROR (Transact-SQL)
GOTO (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN...END (Transact-SQL)
XACT_STATE (Transact-SQL)
SET XACT_ABORT (Transact-SQL)
 TRY...CATCH (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 9 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Implements error handling for Transact-SQL that is similar to the exception handling in the Microsoft Visual C#
and Microsoft Visual C++ languages. A group of Transact-SQL statements can be enclosed in a TRY block. If an
error occurs in the TRY block, control is passed to another group of statements that is enclosed in a CATCH block.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

BEGIN TRY
{ sql_statement | statement_block }
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
[ { sql_statement | statement_block } ]
END CATCH
[ ; ]

Arguments
sql_statement
Is any Transact-SQL statement.
statement_block
Any group of Transact-SQL statements in a batch or enclosed in a BEGIN…END block.

Remarks
A TRY…CATCH construct catches all execution errors that have a severity higher than 10 that do not close the
database connection.
A TRY block must be immediately followed by an associated CATCH block. Including any other statements between
the END TRY and BEGIN CATCH statements generates a syntax error.
A TRY…CATCH construct cannot span multiple batches. A TRY…CATCH construct cannot span multiple blocks of
Transact-SQL statements. For example, a TRY…CATCH construct cannot span two BEGIN…END blocks of Transact-
SQL statements and cannot span an IF…ELSE construct.
If there are no errors in the code that is enclosed in a TRY block, when the last statement in the TRY block has
finished running, control passes to the statement immediately after the associated END CATCH statement. If there
is an error in the code that is enclosed in a TRY block, control passes to the first statement in the associated CATCH
block. If the END CATCH statement is the last statement in a stored procedure or trigger, control is passed back to
the statement that called the stored procedure or fired the trigger.
When the code in the CATCH block finishes, control passes to the statement immediately after the END CATCH
statement. Errors trapped by a CATCH block are not returned to the calling application. If any part of the error
information must be returned to the application, the code in the CATCH block must do so by using mechanisms
such as SELECT result sets or the RAISERROR and PRINT statements.
TRY…CATCH constructs can be nested. Either a TRY block or a CATCH block can contain nested TRY…CATCH
constructs. For example, a CATCH block can contain an embedded TRY…CATCH construct to handle errors
encountered by the CATCH code.
Errors encountered in a CATCH block are treated like errors generated anywhere else. If the CATCH block contains
a nested TRY…CATCH construct, any error in the nested TRY block will pass control to the nested CATCH block. If
there is no nested TRY…CATCH construct, the error is passed back to the caller.
TRY…CATCH constructs catch unhandled errors from stored procedures or triggers executed by the code in the
TRY block. Alternatively, the stored procedures or triggers can contain their own TRY…CATCH constructs to handle
errors generated by their code. For example, when a TRY block executes a stored procedure and an error occurs in
the stored procedure, the error can be handled in the following ways:
If the stored procedure does not contain its own TRY…CATCH construct, the error returns control to the
CATCH block associated with the TRY block that contains the EXECUTE statement.
If the stored procedure contains a TRY…CATCH construct, the error transfers control to the CATCH block in
the stored procedure. When the CATCH block code finishes, control is passed back to the statement
immediately after the EXECUTE statement that called the stored procedure.
GOTO statements cannot be used to enter a TRY or CATCH block. GOTO statements can be used to jump to
a label inside the same TRY or CATCH block or to leave a TRY or CATCH block.
The TRY…CATCH construct cannot be used in a user-defined function.

Retrieving Error Information

In the scope of a CATCH block, the following system functions can be used to obtain information about the error
that caused the CATCH block to be executed:
ERROR_NUMBER() returns the number of the error.
ERROR_SEVERITY() returns the severity.
ERROR_STATE() returns the error state number.
ERROR_PROCEDURE() returns the name of the stored procedure or trigger where the error occurred.
ERROR_LINE() returns the line number inside the routine that caused the error.
ERROR_MESSAGE() returns the complete text of the error message. The text includes the values supplied for
any substitutable parameters, such as lengths, object names, or times.
These functions return NULL if they are called outside the scope of the CATCH block. Error information can
be retrieved by using these functions from anywhere within the scope of the CATCH block. For example, the
following script shows a stored procedure that contains error-handling functions. In the CATCH block of a
TRY…CATCH construct, the stored procedure is called and information about the error is returned.
 -- Verify that the stored procedure does not already exist.
IF OBJECT_ID ( 'usp_GetErrorInfo', 'P' ) IS NOT NULL
DROP PROCEDURE usp_GetErrorInfo;
GO

-- Create procedure to retrieve error information.

CREATE PROCEDURE usp_GetErrorInfo
AS
SELECT
ERROR_NUMBER() AS ErrorNumber
,ERROR_SEVERITY() AS ErrorSeverity
,ERROR_STATE() AS ErrorState
,ERROR_PROCEDURE() AS ErrorProcedure
,ERROR_LINE() AS ErrorLine
,ERROR_MESSAGE() AS ErrorMessage;
GO

BEGIN TRY
-- Generate divide-by-zero error.
SELECT 1/0;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
-- Execute error retrieval routine.
EXECUTE usp_GetErrorInfo;
END CATCH;

The ERROR_* functions also work in a CATCH block inside a natively compiled stored procedure.

Errors Unaffected by a TRY…CATCH Construct

TRY…CATCH constructs do not trap the following conditions:
Warnings or informational messages that have a severity of 10 or lower.
Errors that have a severity of 20 or higher that stop the SQL Server Database Engine task processing for the
session. If an error occurs that has severity of 20 or higher and the database connection is not disrupted,
TRY…CATCH will handle the error.
Attentions, such as client-interrupt requests or broken client connections.
When the session is ended by a system administrator by using the KILL statement.
The following types of errors are not handled by a CATCH block when they occur at the same level of
execution as the TRY…CATCH construct:
Compile errors, such as syntax errors, that prevent a batch from running.
Errors that occur during statement-level recompilation, such as object name resolution errors that occur
after compilation because of deferred name resolution.
These errors are returned to the level that ran the batch, stored procedure, or trigger.
If an error occurs during compilation or statement-level recompilation at a lower execution level (for
example, when executing sp_executesql or a user-defined stored procedure) inside the TRY block, the error
occurs at a lower level than the TRY…CATCH construct and will be handled by the associated CATCH block.
The following example shows how an object name resolution error generated by a SELECT statement is not
caught by the TRY…CATCH construct, but is caught by the CATCH block when the same SELECT statement is
executed inside a stored procedure.
 BEGIN TRY
-- Table does not exist; object name resolution
-- error not caught.
SELECT * FROM NonexistentTable;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
SELECT
ERROR_NUMBER() AS ErrorNumber
,ERROR_MESSAGE() AS ErrorMessage;
END CATCH

The error is not caught and control passes out of the TRY…CATCH construct to the next higher level.
Running the SELECT statement inside a stored procedure will cause the error to occur at a level lower than the
TRY block. The error will be handled by the TRY…CATCH construct.

-- Verify that the stored procedure does not exist.

IF OBJECT_ID ( N'usp_ExampleProc', N'P' ) IS NOT NULL
DROP PROCEDURE usp_ExampleProc;
GO

-- Create a stored procedure that will cause an

-- object resolution error.
CREATE PROCEDURE usp_ExampleProc
AS
SELECT * FROM NonexistentTable;
GO

BEGIN TRY
EXECUTE usp_ExampleProc;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
SELECT
ERROR_NUMBER() AS ErrorNumber
,ERROR_MESSAGE() AS ErrorMessage;
END CATCH;

Uncommittable Transactions and XACT_STATE

If an error generated in a TRY block causes the state of the current transaction to be invalidated, the transaction is
classified as an uncommittable transaction. An error that ordinarily ends a transaction outside a TRY block causes a
transaction to enter an uncommittable state when the error occurs inside a TRY block. An uncommittable
transaction can only perform read operations or a ROLLBACK TRANSACTION. The transaction cannot execute any
Transact-SQL statements that would generate a write operation or a COMMIT TRANSACTION. The XACT_STATE
function returns a value of -1 if a transaction has been classified as an uncommittable transaction. When a batch
finishes, the Database Engine rolls back any active uncommittable transactions. If no error message was sent when
the transaction entered an uncommittable state, when the batch finishes, an error message will be sent to the client
application. This indicates that an uncommittable transaction was detected and rolled back.
For more information about uncommittable transactions and the XACT_STATE function, see XACT_STATE (Transact-
SQL).

Examples
A. Using TRY…CATCH
The following example shows a SELECT statement that will generate a divide-by-zero error. The error causes
execution to jump to the associated CATCH block.
 BEGIN TRY
-- Generate a divide-by-zero error.
SELECT 1/0;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
SELECT
ERROR_NUMBER() AS ErrorNumber
,ERROR_SEVERITY() AS ErrorSeverity
,ERROR_STATE() AS ErrorState
,ERROR_PROCEDURE() AS ErrorProcedure
,ERROR_LINE() AS ErrorLine
,ERROR_MESSAGE() AS ErrorMessage;
END CATCH;
GO

B. Using TRY…CATCH in a transaction

The following example shows how a TRY…CATCH block works inside a transaction. The statement inside the TRY
block generates a constraint violation error.

BEGIN TRANSACTION;

BEGIN TRY
-- Generate a constraint violation error.
DELETE FROM Production.Product
WHERE ProductID = 980;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
SELECT
ERROR_NUMBER() AS ErrorNumber
,ERROR_SEVERITY() AS ErrorSeverity
,ERROR_STATE() AS ErrorState
,ERROR_PROCEDURE() AS ErrorProcedure
,ERROR_LINE() AS ErrorLine
,ERROR_MESSAGE() AS ErrorMessage;

IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
END CATCH;

IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0
COMMIT TRANSACTION;
GO

C. Using TRY…CATCH with XACT_STATE

The following example shows how to use the TRY…CATCH construct to handle errors that occur inside a transaction.
The XACT_STATE function determines whether the transaction should be committed or rolled back. In this example,
SET XACT_ABORT is ON . This makes the transaction uncommittable when the constraint violation error occurs.
 -- Check to see whether this stored procedure exists.
IF OBJECT_ID (N'usp_GetErrorInfo', N'P') IS NOT NULL
DROP PROCEDURE usp_GetErrorInfo;
GO

-- Create procedure to retrieve error information.

CREATE PROCEDURE usp_GetErrorInfo
AS
SELECT
ERROR_NUMBER() AS ErrorNumber
,ERROR_SEVERITY() AS ErrorSeverity
,ERROR_STATE() AS ErrorState
,ERROR_LINE () AS ErrorLine
,ERROR_PROCEDURE() AS ErrorProcedure
,ERROR_MESSAGE() AS ErrorMessage;
GO

-- SET XACT_ABORT ON will cause the transaction to be uncommittable

-- when the constraint violation occurs.
SET XACT_ABORT ON;

BEGIN TRY
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
-- A FOREIGN KEY constraint exists on this table. This
-- statement will generate a constraint violation error.
DELETE FROM Production.Product
WHERE ProductID = 980;

-- If the DELETE statement succeeds, commit the transaction.

COMMIT TRANSACTION;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
-- Execute error retrieval routine.
EXECUTE usp_GetErrorInfo;

-- Test XACT_STATE:
-- If 1, the transaction is committable.
-- If -1, the transaction is uncommittable and should
-- be rolled back.
-- XACT_STATE = 0 means that there is no transaction and
-- a commit or rollback operation would generate an error.

-- Test whether the transaction is uncommittable.

IF (XACT_STATE()) = -1
BEGIN
PRINT
N'The transaction is in an uncommittable state.' +
'Rolling back transaction.'
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
END;

-- Test whether the transaction is committable.

IF (XACT_STATE()) = 1
BEGIN
PRINT
N'The transaction is committable.' +
'Committing transaction.'
COMMIT TRANSACTION;
END;
END CATCH;
GO

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

D. Using TRY…CATCH
The following example shows a SELECT statement that will generate a divide-by-zero error. The error causes
execution to jump to the associated CATCH block.

BEGIN TRY
-- Generate a divide-by-zero error.
SELECT 1/0;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
SELECT
ERROR_NUMBER() AS ErrorNumber
,ERROR_SEVERITY() AS ErrorSeverity
,ERROR_STATE() AS ErrorState
,ERROR_PROCEDURE() AS ErrorProcedure
,ERROR_MESSAGE() AS ErrorMessage;
END CATCH;
GO

See Also
THROW (Transact-SQL)
Database Engine Error Severities
ERROR_LINE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_MESSAGE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_NUMBER (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_PROCEDURE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_SEVERITY (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_STATE (Transact-SQL)
RAISERROR (Transact-SQL)
@@ERROR (Transact-SQL)
GOTO (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN...END (Transact-SQL)
XACT_STATE (Transact-SQL)
SET XACT_ABORT (Transact-SQL)
 WAITFOR (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 4 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Blocks the execution of a batch, stored procedure, or transaction until a specified time or time interval is reached,
or a specified statement modifies or returns at least one row.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
WAITFOR
{
DELAY 'time_to_pass'
| TIME 'time_to_execute'
| [ ( receive_statement ) | ( get_conversation_group_statement ) ]
[ , TIMEOUT timeout ]
}

Arguments
DELAY
Is the specified period of time that must pass, up to a maximum of 24 hours, before execution of a batch, stored
procedure, or transaction proceeds.
'time_to_pass'
Is the period of time to wait. time_to_pass can be specified in one of the acceptable formats for datetime data, or it
can be specified as a local variable. Dates cannot be specified; therefore, the date part of the datetime value is not
allowed.
TIME
Is the specified time when the batch, stored procedure, or transaction runs.
'time_to_execute'
Is the time at which the WAITFOR statement finishes. time_to_execute can be specified in one of the acceptable
formats for datetime data, or it can be specified as a local variable. Dates cannot be specified; therefore, the date
part of the datetime value is not allowed.
receive_statement
Is a valid RECEIVE statement.

IMPORTANT
WAITFOR with a receive_statement is applicable only to Service Broker messages. For more information, see RECEIVE
(Transact-SQL).

get_conversation_group_statement
Is a valid GET CONVERSATION GROUP statement.
 IMPORTANT
WAITFOR with a get_conversation_group_statement is applicable only to Service Broker messages. For more information,
see GET CONVERSATION GROUP (Transact-SQL).

TIMEOUT timeout
Specifies the period of time, in milliseconds, to wait for a message to arrive on the queue.

IMPORTANT
Specifying WAITFOR with TIMEOUT is applicable only to Service Broker messages. For more information, see RECEIVE
(Transact-SQL) and GET CONVERSATION GROUP (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
While executing the WAITFOR statement, the transaction is running and no other requests can run under the same
transaction.
The actual time delay may vary from the time specified in time_to_pass, time_to_execute, or timeout and depends
on the activity level of the server. The time counter starts when the thread associated with the WAITFOR statement
is scheduled. If the server is busy, the thread may not be immediately scheduled; therefore, the time delay may be
longer than the specified time.
WAITFOR does not change the semantics of a query. If a query cannot return any rows, WAITFOR will wait forever
or until TIMEOUT is reached, if specified.
Cursors cannot be opened on WAITFOR statements.
Views cannot be defined on WAITFOR statements.
When the query exceeds the query wait option, the WAITFOR statement argument can complete without running.
For more information about the configuration option, see Configure the query wait Server Configuration Option.
To see the active and waiting processes, use sp_who.
Each WAITFOR statement has a thread associated with it. If many WAITFOR statements are specified on the same
server, many threads can be tied up waiting for these statements to run. SQL Server monitors the number of
threads associated with WAITFOR statements, and randomly selects some of these threads to exit if the server
starts to experience thread starvation.
You can create a deadlock by running a query with WAITFOR within a transaction that also holds locks preventing
changes to the rowset that the WAITFOR statement is trying to access. SQL Server identifies these scenarios and
returns an empty result set if the chance of such a deadlock exists.
Cau t i on

Including WAITFOR will slow the completion of the SQL Server process and can result in a timeout message in the
application. If necessary, adjust the timeout setting for the connection at the application level.

Examples
A. Using WAITFOR TIME
The following example executes the stored procedure sp_update_job in the msdb database at 10:20 P.M. ( 22:20 ).
 EXECUTE sp_add_job @job_name = 'TestJob';
BEGIN
WAITFOR TIME '22:20';
EXECUTE sp_update_job @job_name = 'TestJob',
@new_name = 'UpdatedJob';
END;
GO

B. Using WAITFOR DELAY

The following example executes the stored procedure after a two-hour delay.

BEGIN
WAITFOR DELAY '02:00';
EXECUTE sp_helpdb;
END;
GO

C. Using WAITFOR DELAY with a local variable

The following example shows how a local variable can be used with the WAITFOR DELAY option. A stored procedure
is created to wait for a variable period of time and then returns information to the user as to the number of hours,
minutes, and seconds that have elapsed.

IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.TimeDelay_hh_mm_ss','P') IS NOT NULL

DROP PROCEDURE dbo.TimeDelay_hh_mm_ss;
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TimeDelay_hh_mm_ss
(
@DelayLength char(8)= '00:00:00'
)
AS
DECLARE @ReturnInfo varchar(255)
IF ISDATE('2000-01-01 ' + @DelayLength + '.000') = 0
BEGIN
SELECT @ReturnInfo = 'Invalid time ' + @DelayLength
+ ',hh:mm:ss, submitted.';
-- This PRINT statement is for testing, not use in production.
PRINT @ReturnInfo
RETURN(1)
END
BEGIN
WAITFOR DELAY @DelayLength
SELECT @ReturnInfo = 'A total time of ' + @DelayLength + ',
hh:mm:ss, has elapsed! Your time is up.'
-- This PRINT statement is for testing, not use in production.
PRINT @ReturnInfo;
END;
GO
/* This statement executes the dbo.TimeDelay_hh_mm_ss procedure. */
EXEC TimeDelay_hh_mm_ss '00:00:10';
GO

Here is the result set.

A total time of 00:00:10, in hh:mm:ss, has elapsed. Your time is up.

See Also
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
datetime (Transact-SQL)
sp_who (Transact-SQL)
 WHILE (Transact-SQL)
4/6/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Sets a condition for the repeated execution of an SQL statement or statement block. The statements are executed
repeatedly as long as the specified condition is true. The execution of statements in the WHILE loop can be
controlled from inside the loop with the BREAK and CONTINUE keywords.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

WHILE Boolean_expression
{ sql_statement | statement_block | BREAK | CONTINUE }

-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

WHILE Boolean_expression
{ sql_statement | statement_block | BREAK }

Arguments
Boolean_expression
Is an expression that returns TRUE or FALSE. If the Boolean expression contains a SELECT statement, the SELECT
statement must be enclosed in parentheses.
{sql_statement | statement_block}
Is any Transact-SQL statement or statement grouping as defined with a statement block. To define a statement
block, use the control-of-flow keywords BEGIN and END.
BREAK
Causes an exit from the innermost WHILE loop. Any statements that appear after the END keyword, marking the
end of the loop, are executed.
CONTINUE
Causes the WHILE loop to restart, ignoring any statements after the CONTINUE keyword.

Remarks
If two or more WHILE loops are nested, the inner BREAK exits to the next outermost loop. All the statements after
the end of the inner loop run first, and then the next outermost loop restarts.

Examples
A. Using BREAK and CONTINUE with nested IF...ELSE and WHILE
In the following example, if the average list price of a product is less than $300 , the WHILE loop doubles the
prices and then selects the maximum price. If the maximum price is less than or equal to $500 , the WHILE loop
restarts and doubles the prices again. This loop continues doubling the prices until the maximum price is greater
than $500 , and then exits the WHILE loop and prints a message.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
WHILE (SELECT AVG(ListPrice) FROM Production.Product) < $300
BEGIN
UPDATE Production.Product
SET ListPrice = ListPrice * 2
SELECT MAX(ListPrice) FROM Production.Product
IF (SELECT MAX(ListPrice) FROM Production.Product) > $500
BREAK
ELSE
CONTINUE
END
PRINT 'Too much for the market to bear';

B. Using WHILE in a cursor

The following example uses @@FETCH_STATUS to control cursor activities in a WHILE loop.

DECLARE Employee_Cursor CURSOR FOR

SELECT EmployeeID, Title
FROM AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.Employee
WHERE JobTitle = 'Marketing Specialist';
OPEN Employee_Cursor;
FETCH NEXT FROM Employee_Cursor;
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
FETCH NEXT FROM Employee_Cursor;
END;
CLOSE Employee_Cursor;
DEALLOCATE Employee_Cursor;
GO

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

C: Simple While Loop
In the following example, if the average list price of a product is less than $300 , the WHILE loop doubles the
prices and then selects the maximum price. If the maximum price is less than or equal to $500 , the WHILE loop
restarts and doubles the prices again. This loop continues doubling the prices until the maximum price is greater
than $500 , and then exits the WHILE loop.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

WHILE ( SELECT AVG(ListPrice) FROM dbo.DimProduct) < $300

BEGIN
UPDATE dbo.DimProduct
SET ListPrice = ListPrice * 2;
SELECT MAX ( ListPrice) FROM dbo.DimProduct
IF ( SELECT MAX (ListPrice) FROM dbo.DimProduct) > $500
BREAK;
END

See Also
ALTER TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)
Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
CREATE TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)
Cursors (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
 Cursors (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Microsoft SQL Server statements produce a complete result set, but there are times when the results are best
processed one row at a time. Opening a cursor on a result set allows processing the result set one row at a time.
You can assign a cursor to a variable or parameter with a cursor data type.
Cursor operations are supported on these statements:
CLOSE
CREATE PROCEDURE
DEALLOCATE
DECLARE CURSOR
DECLARE @local_variable
DELETE
FETCH
OPEN
UPDATE
SET
These system functions and system stored procedures also support cursors:
@@CURSOR_ROWS
CURSOR_STATUS
@@FETCH_STATUS
sp_cursor_list
sp_describe_cursor
sp_describe_cursor_columns
sp_describe_cursor_tables

See Also
Cursors
 CLOSE (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Closes an open cursor by releasing the current result set and freeing any cursor locks held on the rows on which
the cursor is positioned. CLOSE leaves the data structures available for reopening, but fetches and positioned
updates are not allowed until the cursor is reopened. CLOSE must be issued on an open cursor; CLOSE is not
allowed on cursors that have only been declared or are already closed.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
CLOSE { { [ GLOBAL ] cursor_name } | cursor_variable_name }

Arguments
GLOBAL
Specifies that cursor_name refers to a global cursor.
cursor_name
Is the name of an open cursor. If both a global and a local cursor exist with cursor_name as their name,
cursor_name refers to the global cursor when GLOBAL is specified; otherwise, cursor_name refers to the local
cursor.
cursor_variable_name
Is the name of a cursor variable associated with an open cursor.

Examples
The following example shows the correct placement of the CLOSE statement in a cursor-based process.

DECLARE Employee_Cursor CURSOR FOR

SELECT EmployeeID, Title FROM AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.Employee;
OPEN Employee_Cursor;
FETCH NEXT FROM Employee_Cursor;
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
FETCH NEXT FROM Employee_Cursor;
END;
CLOSE Employee_Cursor;
DEALLOCATE Employee_Cursor;
GO

See Also
Cursors
Cursors (Transact-SQL)
DEALLOCATE (Transact-SQL)
FETCH (Transact-SQL)
OPEN (Transact-SQL)
 DEALLOCATE (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 3 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Removes a cursor reference. When the last cursor reference is deallocated, the data structures comprising the
cursor are released by Microsoft SQL Server.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
DEALLOCATE { { [ GLOBAL ] cursor_name } | @cursor_variable_name }

Arguments
cursor_name
Is the name of an already declared cursor. If both a global and a local cursor exist with cursor_name as their name,
cursor_name refers to the global cursor if GLOBAL is specified and to the local cursor if GLOBAL is not specified.
@cursor_variable_name
Is the name of a cursor variable. @cursor_variable_name must be of type cursor.

Remarks
Statements that operate on cursors use either a cursor name or a cursor variable to refer to the cursor.
DEALLOCATE removes the association between a cursor and the cursor name or cursor variable. If a name or
variable is the last one referencing the cursor, the cursor is deallocated and any resources used by the cursor are
freed. Scroll locks used to protect the isolation of fetches are freed at DEALLOCATE. Transaction locks used to
protect updates, including positioned updates made through the cursor, are held until the end of the transaction.
The DECLARE CURSOR statement allocates and associates a cursor with a cursor name.

DECLARE abc SCROLL CURSOR FOR

SELECT * FROM Person.Person;

After a cursor name is associated with a cursor, the name cannot be used for another cursor of the same scope
(GLOBAL or LOCAL) until this cursor has been deallocated.
A cursor variable is associated with a cursor using one of two methods:
By name using a SET statement that sets a cursor to a cursor variable.

DECLARE @MyCrsrRef CURSOR;

SET @MyCrsrRef = abc;

A cursor can also be created and associated with a variable without having a cursor name defined.
 DECLARE @MyCursor CURSOR;
SET @MyCursor = CURSOR LOCAL SCROLL FOR
SELECT * FROM Person.Person;

A DEALLOCATE @cursor_variable_name statement removes only the reference of the named variable to
the cursor. The variable is not deallocated until it goes out of scope at the end of the batch, stored
procedure, or trigger. After a DEALLOCATE @cursor_variable_name statement, the variable can be
associated with another cursor using the SET statement.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO

DECLARE @MyCursor CURSOR;

SET @MyCursor = CURSOR LOCAL SCROLL FOR
SELECT * FROM Sales.SalesPerson;

DEALLOCATE @MyCursor;

SET @MyCursor = CURSOR LOCAL SCROLL FOR

SELECT * FROM Sales.SalesTerritory;
GO

A cursor variable does not have to be explicitly deallocated. The variable is implicitly deallocated when it goes out
of scope.

Permissions
DEALLOCATE permissions default to any valid user.

Examples
The following script shows how cursors persist until the last name or until the variable referencing them has been
deallocated.
 USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
-- Create and open a global named cursor that
-- is visible outside the batch.
DECLARE abc CURSOR GLOBAL SCROLL FOR
SELECT * FROM Sales.SalesPerson;
OPEN abc;
GO
-- Reference the named cursor with a cursor variable.
DECLARE @MyCrsrRef1 CURSOR;
SET @MyCrsrRef1 = abc;
-- Now deallocate the cursor reference.
DEALLOCATE @MyCrsrRef1;
-- Cursor abc still exists.
FETCH NEXT FROM abc;
GO
-- Reference the named cursor again.
DECLARE @MyCrsrRef2 CURSOR;
SET @MyCrsrRef2 = abc;
-- Now deallocate cursor name abc.
DEALLOCATE abc;
-- Cursor still exists, referenced by @MyCrsrRef2.
FETCH NEXT FROM @MyCrsrRef2;
-- Cursor finally is deallocated when last referencing
-- variable goes out of scope at the end of the batch.
GO
-- Create an unnamed cursor.
DECLARE @MyCursor CURSOR;
SET @MyCursor = CURSOR LOCAL SCROLL FOR
SELECT * FROM Sales.SalesTerritory;
-- The following statement deallocates the cursor
-- because no other variables reference it.
DEALLOCATE @MyCursor;
GO

See Also
CLOSE (Transact-SQL)
Cursors
DECLARE @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
FETCH (Transact-SQL)
OPEN (Transact-SQL)
 DECLARE CURSOR (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 10 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Defines the attributes of a Transact-SQL server cursor, such as its scrolling behavior and the query used to build
the result set on which the cursor operates. DECLARE CURSOR accepts both a syntax based on the ISO standard
and a syntax using a set of Transact-SQL extensions.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
ISO Syntax
DECLARE cursor_name [ INSENSITIVE ] [ SCROLL ] CURSOR
FOR select_statement
[ FOR { READ ONLY | UPDATE [ OF column_name [ ,...n ] ] } ]
[;]
Transact-SQL Extended Syntax
DECLARE cursor_name CURSOR [ LOCAL | GLOBAL ]
[ FORWARD_ONLY | SCROLL ]
[ STATIC | KEYSET | DYNAMIC | FAST_FORWARD ]
[ READ_ONLY | SCROLL_LOCKS | OPTIMISTIC ]
[ TYPE_WARNING ]
FOR select_statement
[ FOR UPDATE [ OF column_name [ ,...n ] ] ]
[;]

Arguments
cursor_name
Is the name of the Transact-SQL server cursor defined. cursor_name must conform to the rules for identifiers.
INSENSITIVE
Defines a cursor that makes a temporary copy of the data to be used by the cursor. All requests to the cursor are
answered from this temporary table in tempdb; therefore, modifications made to base tables are not reflected in
the data returned by fetches made to this cursor, and this cursor does not allow modifications. When ISO syntax is
used, if INSENSITIVE is omitted, committed deletes and updates made to the underlying tables (by any user) are
reflected in subsequent fetches.
SCROLL
Specifies that all fetch options (FIRST, LAST, PRIOR, NEXT, RELATIVE, ABSOLUTE) are available. If SCROLL is not
specified in an ISO DECLARE CURSOR, NEXT is the only fetch option supported. SCROLL cannot be specified if
FAST_FORWARD is also specified.
select_statement
Is a standard SELECT statement that defines the result set of the cursor. The keywords FOR BROWSE, and INTO are
not allowed within select_statement of a cursor declaration.
SQL Server implicitly converts the cursor to another type if clauses in select_statement conflict with the
functionality of the requested cursor type.
READ ONLY
Prevents updates made through this cursor. The cursor cannot be referenced in a WHERE CURRENT OF clause in
an UPDATE or DELETE statement. This option overrides the default capability of a cursor to be updated.
UPDATE [OF column_name [,...n]]
Defines updatable columns within the cursor. If OF column_name [,...n] is specified, only the columns listed allow
modifications. If UPDATE is specified without a column list, all columns can be updated.
cursor_name
Is the name of the Transact-SQL server cursor defined. cursor_name must conform to the rules for identifiers.
LOCAL
Specifies that the scope of the cursor is local to the batch, stored procedure, or trigger in which the cursor was
created. The cursor name is only valid within this scope. The cursor can be referenced by local cursor variables in
the batch, stored procedure, or trigger, or a stored procedure OUTPUT parameter. An OUTPUT parameter is used
to pass the local cursor back to the calling batch, stored procedure, or trigger, which can assign the parameter to a
cursor variable to reference the cursor after the stored procedure terminates. The cursor is implicitly deallocated
when the batch, stored procedure, or trigger terminates, unless the cursor was passed back in an OUTPUT
parameter. If it is passed back in an OUTPUT parameter, the cursor is deallocated when the last variable
referencing it is deallocated or goes out of scope.
GLOBAL
Specifies that the scope of the cursor is global to the connection. The cursor name can be referenced in any stored
procedure or batch executed by the connection. The cursor is only implicitly deallocated at disconnect.

NOTE
If neither GLOBAL or LOCAL is specified, the default is controlled by the setting of the default to local cursor database
option.

FORWARD_ONLY
Specifies that the cursor can only be scrolled from the first to the last row. FETCH NEXT is the only supported fetch
option. If FORWARD_ONLY is specified without the STATIC, KEYSET, or DYNAMIC keywords, the cursor operates as
a DYNAMIC cursor. When neither FORWARD_ONLY nor SCROLL is specified, FORWARD_ONLY is the default,
unless the keywords STATIC, KEYSET, or DYNAMIC are specified. STATIC, KEYSET, and DYNAMIC cursors default to
SCROLL. Unlike database APIs such as ODBC and ADO, FORWARD_ONLY is supported with STATIC, KEYSET, and
DYNAMIC Transact-SQL cursors.
STATIC
Defines a cursor that makes a temporary copy of the data to be used by the cursor. All requests to the cursor are
answered from this temporary table in tempdb; therefore, modifications made to base tables are not reflected in
the data returned by fetches made to this cursor, and this cursor does not allow modifications.
KEYSET
Specifies that the membership and order of rows in the cursor are fixed when the cursor is opened. The set of keys
that uniquely identify the rows is built into a table in tempdb known as the keyset.

NOTE
If the query references at least one table without a unique index, the keyset cursor is converted to a static cursor.

Changes to nonkey values in the base tables, either made by the cursor owner or committed by other users, are
visible as the owner scrolls around the cursor. Inserts made by other users are not visible (inserts cannot be made
through a Transact-SQL server cursor). If a row is deleted, an attempt to fetch the row returns an
@@FETCH_STATUS of -2. Updates of key values from outside the cursor resemble a delete of the old row followed
by an insert of the new row. The row with the new values is not visible, and attempts to fetch the row with the old
values return an @@FETCH_STATUS of -2. The new values are visible if the update is done through the cursor by
specifying the WHERE CURRENT OF clause.
DYNAMIC
Defines a cursor that reflects all data changes made to the rows in its result set as you scroll around the cursor. The
data values, order, and membership of the rows can change on each fetch. The ABSOLUTE fetch option is not
supported with dynamic cursors.
FAST_FORWARD
Specifies a FORWARD_ONLY, READ_ONLY cursor with performance optimizations enabled. FAST_FORWARD
cannot be specified if SCROLL or FOR_UPDATE is also specified.

NOTE
Both FAST_FORWARD and FORWARD_ONLY can be used in the same DECLARE CURSOR statement.

READ_ONLY
Prevents updates made through this cursor. The cursor cannot be referenced in a WHERE CURRENT OF clause in
an UPDATE or DELETE statement. This option overrides the default capability of a cursor to be updated.
SCROLL_LOCKS
Specifies that positioned updates or deletes made through the cursor are guaranteed to succeed. SQL Server locks
the rows as they are read into the cursor to ensure their availability for later modifications. SCROLL_LOCKS cannot
be specified if FAST_FORWARD or STATIC is also specified.
OPTIMISTIC
Specifies that positioned updates or deletes made through the cursor do not succeed if the row has been updated
since it was read into the cursor. SQL Server does not lock rows as they are read into the cursor. It instead uses
comparisons of timestamp column values, or a checksum value if the table has no timestamp column, to
determine whether the row was modified after it was read into the cursor. If the row was modified, the attempted
positioned update or delete fails. OPTIMISTIC cannot be specified if FAST_FORWARD is also specified.
TYPE_WARNING
Specifies that a warning message is sent to the client when the cursor is implicitly converted from the requested
type to another.
select_statement
Is a standard SELECT statement that defines the result set of the cursor. The keywords COMPUTE, COMPUTE BY,
FOR BROWSE, and INTO are not allowed within select_statement of a cursor declaration.

NOTE
You can use a query hint within a cursor declaration; however, if you also use the FOR UPDATE OF clause, specify OPTION
(query_hint) after FOR UPDATE OF.

SQL Server implicitly converts the cursor to another type if clauses in select_statement conflict with the
functionality of the requested cursor type. For more information, see Implicit Cursor Conversions.
FOR UPDATE [OF column_name [,...n]]
Defines updatable columns within the cursor. If OF column_name [,...n] is supplied, only the columns listed allow
modifications. If UPDATE is specified without a column list, all columns can be updated, unless the READ_ONLY
concurrency option was specified.
Remarks
DECLARE CURSOR defines the attributes of a Transact-SQL server cursor, such as its scrolling behavior and the
query used to build the result set on which the cursor operates. The OPEN statement populates the result set, and
FETCH returns a row from the result set. The CLOSE statement releases the current result set associated with the
cursor. The DEALLOCATE statement releases the resources used by the cursor.
The first form of the DECLARE CURSOR statement uses the ISO syntax for declaring cursor behaviors. The second
form of DECLARE CURSOR uses Transact-SQL extensions that allow you to define cursors using the same cursor
types used in the database API cursor functions of ODBC or ADO.
You cannot mix the two forms. If you specify the SCROLL or INSENSITIVE keywords before the CURSOR keyword,
you cannot use any keywords between the CURSOR and FOR select_statement keywords. If you specify any
keywords between the CURSOR and FOR select_statement keywords, you cannot specify SCROLL or INSENSITIVE
before the CURSOR keyword.
If a DECLARE CURSOR using Transact-SQL syntax does not specify READ_ONLY, OPTIMISTIC, or SCROLL_LOCKS,
the default is as follows:
If the SELECT statement does not support updates (insufficient permissions, accessing remote tables that do
not support updates, and so on), the cursor is READ_ONLY.
STATIC and FAST_FORWARD cursors default to READ_ONLY.
DYNAMIC and KEYSET cursors default to OPTIMISTIC.
Cursor names can be referenced only by other Transact-SQL statements. They cannot be referenced by
database API functions. For example, after declaring a cursor, the cursor name cannot be referenced from
OLE DB, ODBC or ADO functions or methods. The cursor rows cannot be fetched using the fetch functions
or methods of the APIs; the rows can be fetched only by Transact-SQL FETCH statements.
After a cursor has been declared, these system stored procedures can be used to determine the
characteristics of the cursor.

SYSTEM STORED PROCEDURES DESCRIPTION

sp_cursor_list Returns a list of cursors currently visible on the connection

and their attributes.

sp_describe_cursor Describes the attributes of a cursor, such as whether it is a

forward-only or scrolling cursor.

sp_describe_cursor_columns Describes the attributes of the columns in the cursor result

set.

sp_describe_cursor_tables Describes the base tables accessed by the cursor.

Variables may be used as part of the select_statement that declares a cursor. Cursor variable values do not change
after a cursor is declared.

Permissions
DECLARE CURSOR permissions default to any user that has SELECT permissions on the views, tables, and columns
used in the cursor.

Limitations and Restrictions

You cannot use cursors or triggers on a table with a clustered columnstore index. This restriction does not apply to
nonclustered columnstore indexes; you can use cursors and triggers on a table with a nonclustered columnstore
index.

Examples
A. Using simple cursor and syntax
The result set generated at the opening of this cursor includes all rows and all columns in the table. This cursor can
be updated, and all updates and deletes are represented in fetches made against this cursor. FETCH``NEXT is the
only fetch available because the SCROLL option has not been specified.

DECLARE vend_cursor CURSOR

FOR SELECT * FROM Purchasing.Vendor
OPEN vend_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM vend_cursor;

B. Using nested cursors to produce report output

The following example shows how cursors can be nested to produce complex reports. The inner cursor is declared
for each vendor.
 SET NOCOUNT ON;

DECLARE @vendor_id int, @vendor_name nvarchar(50),

@message varchar(80), @product nvarchar(50);

PRINT '-------- Vendor Products Report --------';

DECLARE vendor_cursor CURSOR FOR

SELECT VendorID, Name
FROM Purchasing.Vendor
WHERE PreferredVendorStatus = 1
ORDER BY VendorID;

OPEN vendor_cursor

FETCH NEXT FROM vendor_cursor

INTO @vendor_id, @vendor_name

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
PRINT ' '
SELECT @message = '----- Products From Vendor: ' +
@vendor_name

PRINT @message

-- Declare an inner cursor based

-- on vendor_id from the outer cursor.

DECLARE product_cursor CURSOR FOR

SELECT v.Name
FROM Purchasing.ProductVendor pv, Production.Product v
WHERE pv.ProductID = v.ProductID AND
pv.VendorID = @vendor_id -- Variable value from the outer cursor

OPEN product_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM product_cursor INTO @product

IF @@FETCH_STATUS <> 0
PRINT ' <<None>>'

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN

SELECT @message = ' ' + @product

PRINT @message
FETCH NEXT FROM product_cursor INTO @product
END

CLOSE product_cursor
DEALLOCATE product_cursor
-- Get the next vendor.
FETCH NEXT FROM vendor_cursor
INTO @vendor_id, @vendor_name
END
CLOSE vendor_cursor;
DEALLOCATE vendor_cursor;

See Also
@@FETCH_STATUS (Transact-SQL)
CLOSE (Transact-SQL)
Cursors (Transact-SQL)
DEALLOCATE (Transact-SQL)
FETCH (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
sp_configure (Transact-SQL)
 FETCH (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 5 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Retrieves a specific row from a Transact-SQL server cursor.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
FETCH
[ [ NEXT | PRIOR | FIRST | LAST
| ABSOLUTE { n | @nvar }
| RELATIVE { n | @nvar }
]
FROM
]
{ { [ GLOBAL ] cursor_name } | @cursor_variable_name }
[ INTO @variable_name [ ,...n ] ]

Arguments
NEXT
Returns the result row immediately following the current row and increments the current row to the row returned.
If FETCH NEXT is the first fetch against a cursor, it returns the first row in the result set. NEXT is the default cursor
fetch option.
PRIOR
Returns the result row immediately preceding the current row, and decrements the current row to the row
returned. If FETCH PRIOR is the first fetch against a cursor, no row is returned and the cursor is left positioned
before the first row.
FIRST
Returns the first row in the cursor and makes it the current row.
LAST
Returns the last row in the cursor and makes it the current row.
ABSOLUTE { n| @nvar}
If n or @nvar is positive, returns the row n rows from the front of the cursor and makes the returned row the new
current row. If n or @nvar is negative, returns the row n rows before the end of the cursor and makes the returned
row the new current row. If n or @nvar is 0, no rows are returned. n must be an integer constant and @nvar must
be smallint, tinyint, or int.
RELATIVE { n| @nvar}
If n or @nvar is positive, returns the row n rows beyond the current row and makes the returned row the new
current row. If n or @nvar is negative, returns the row n rows prior to the current row and makes the returned
row the new current row. If n or @nvar is 0, returns the current row. If FETCH RELATIVE is specified with n or
@nvar set to negative numbers or 0 on the first fetch done against a cursor, no rows are returned. n must be an
integer constant and @nvar must be smallint, tinyint, or int.
GLOBAL
Specifies that cursor_name refers to a global cursor.
cursor_name
Is the name of the open cursor from which the fetch should be made. If both a global and a local cursor exist with
cursor_name as their name, cursor_name to the global cursor if GLOBAL is specified and to the local cursor if
GLOBAL is not specified.
@cursor_variable_name
Is the name of a cursor variable referencing the open cursor from which the fetch should be made.
INTO @variable_name[ ,...n]
Allows data from the columns of a fetch to be placed into local variables. Each variable in the list, from left to right,
is associated with the corresponding column in the cursor result set. The data type of each variable must either
match or be a supported implicit conversion of the data type of the corresponding result set column. The number
of variables must match the number of columns in the cursor select list.

Remarks
If the SCROLL option is not specified in an ISO style DECLARE CURSOR statement, NEXT is the only FETCH option
supported. If SCROLL is specified in an ISO style DECLARE CURSOR, all FETCH options are supported.
When the Transact-SQL DECLARE cursor extensions are used, these rules apply:
If either FORWARD_ONLY or FAST_FORWARD is specified, NEXT is the only FETCH option supported.
If DYNAMIC, FORWARD_ONLY or FAST_FORWARD are not specified, and one of KEYSET, STATIC, or
SCROLL are specified, all FETCH options are supported.
DYNAMIC SCROLL cursors support all the FETCH options except ABSOLUTE.
The @@FETCH_STATUS function reports the status of the last FETCH statement. The same information is
recorded in the fetch_status column in the cursor returned by sp_describe_cursor. This status information
should be used to determine the validity of the data returned by a FETCH statement prior to attempting any
operation against that data. For more information, see @@FETCH_STATUS (Transact-SQL).

Permissions
FETCH permissions default to any valid user.

Examples
A. Using FETCH in a simple cursor
The following example declares a simple cursor for the rows in the Person.Person table with a last name that
starts with B , and uses FETCH NEXT to step through the rows. The FETCH statements return the value for the
column specified in DECLARE CURSOR as a single-row result set.
 USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
DECLARE contact_cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT LastName FROM Person.Person
WHERE LastName LIKE 'B%'
ORDER BY LastName;

OPEN contact_cursor;

-- Perform the first fetch.

FETCH NEXT FROM contact_cursor;

-- Check @@FETCH_STATUS to see if there are any more rows to fetch.

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
-- This is executed as long as the previous fetch succeeds.
FETCH NEXT FROM contact_cursor;
END

CLOSE contact_cursor;
DEALLOCATE contact_cursor;
GO

B. Using FETCH to store values in variables

The following example is similar to example A, except the output of the FETCH statements is stored in local
variables instead of being returned directly to the client. The PRINT statement combines the variables into a single
string and returns them to the client.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
-- Declare the variables to store the values returned by FETCH.
DECLARE @LastName varchar(50), @FirstName varchar(50);

DECLARE contact_cursor CURSOR FOR

SELECT LastName, FirstName FROM Person.Person
WHERE LastName LIKE 'B%'
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName;

OPEN contact_cursor;

-- Perform the first fetch and store the values in variables.

-- Note: The variables are in the same order as the columns
-- in the SELECT statement.

FETCH NEXT FROM contact_cursor

INTO @LastName, @FirstName;

-- Check @@FETCH_STATUS to see if there are any more rows to fetch.

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN

-- Concatenate and display the current values in the variables.

PRINT 'Contact Name: ' + @FirstName + ' ' + @LastName

-- This is executed as long as the previous fetch succeeds.

FETCH NEXT FROM contact_cursor
INTO @LastName, @FirstName;
END

CLOSE contact_cursor;
DEALLOCATE contact_cursor;
GO
C. Declaring a SCROLL cursor and using the other FETCH options
The following example creates a SCROLL cursor to allow full scrolling capabilities through the LAST , PRIOR ,
RELATIVE , and ABSOLUTE options.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
-- Execute the SELECT statement alone to show the
-- full result set that is used by the cursor.
SELECT LastName, FirstName FROM Person.Person
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName;

-- Declare the cursor.

DECLARE contact_cursor SCROLL CURSOR FOR
SELECT LastName, FirstName FROM Person.Person
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName;

OPEN contact_cursor;

-- Fetch the last row in the cursor.

FETCH LAST FROM contact_cursor;

-- Fetch the row immediately prior to the current row in the cursor.
FETCH PRIOR FROM contact_cursor;

-- Fetch the second row in the cursor.

FETCH ABSOLUTE 2 FROM contact_cursor;

-- Fetch the row that is three rows after the current row.
FETCH RELATIVE 3 FROM contact_cursor;

-- Fetch the row that is two rows prior to the current row.
FETCH RELATIVE -2 FROM contact_cursor;

CLOSE contact_cursor;
DEALLOCATE contact_cursor;
GO

See Also
CLOSE (Transact-SQL)
DEALLOCATE (Transact-SQL)
DECLARE CURSOR (Transact-SQL)
OPEN (Transact-SQL)
 OPEN (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Opens a Transact-SQL server cursor and populates the cursor by executing the Transact-SQL statement specified
on the DECLARE CURSOR or SET cursor_variable statement.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
OPEN { { [ GLOBAL ] cursor_name } | cursor_variable_name }

Arguments
GLOBAL
Specifies that cursor_name refers to a global cursor.
cursor_name
Is the name of a declared cursor. If both a global and a local cursor exist with cursor_name as their name,
cursor_name refers to the global cursor if GLOBAL is specified; otherwise, cursor_name refers to the local cursor.
cursor_variable_name
Is the name of a cursor variable that references a cursor.

Remarks
If the cursor is declared with the INSENSITIVE or STATIC option, OPEN creates a temporary table to hold the result
set. OPEN fails when the size of any row in the result set exceeds the maximum row size for SQL Server tables. If
the cursor is declared with the KEYSET option, OPEN creates a temporary table to hold the keyset. The temporary
tables are stored in tempdb.
After a cursor has been opened, use the @@CURSOR_ROWS function to receive the number of qualifying rows in
the last opened cursor.

NOTE
SQL Server does not support generating keyset-driven or static Transact-SQL cursors asynchronously. Transact-SQL cursor
operations such as OPEN or FETCH are batched, so there is no need for the asynchronous generation of Transact-SQL
cursors. SQL Server continues to support asynchronous keyset-driven or static application programming interface (API)
server cursors where low latency OPEN is a concern, due to client round trips for each cursor operation.

Examples
The following example opens a cursor and fetches all the rows.
 DECLARE Employee_Cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT LastName, FirstName
FROM AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.vEmployee
WHERE LastName like 'B%';

OPEN Employee_Cursor;

FETCH NEXT FROM Employee_Cursor;

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
FETCH NEXT FROM Employee_Cursor
END;

CLOSE Employee_Cursor;
DEALLOCATE Employee_Cursor;

See Also
CLOSE (Transact-SQL)
@@CURSOR_ROWS (Transact-SQL)
DEALLOCATE (Transact-SQL)
DECLARE CURSOR (Transact-SQL)
FETCH (Transact-SQL)
 Expressions (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 4 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Is a combination of symbols and operators that the SQL Server Database Engine evaluates to obtain a
single data value. Simple expressions can be a single constant, variable, column, or scalar function.
Operators can be used to join two or more simple expressions into a complex expression.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

{ constant | scalar_function | [ table_name. ] column | variable

| ( expression ) | ( scalar_subquery )
| { unary_operator } expression
| expression { binary_operator } expression
| ranking_windowed_function | aggregate_windowed_function
}

-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

-- Expression in a SELECT statement

<expression> ::=
{
constant
| scalar_function
| column
| variable
| ( expression )
| { unary_operator } expression
| expression { binary_operator } expression
}
[ COLLATE Windows_collation_name ]

-- Scalar Expression in a DECLARE, SET, IF…ELSE, or WHILE statement

<scalar_expression> ::=
{
constant
| scalar_function
| variable
| ( expression )
| (scalar_subquery )
| { unary_operator } expression
| expression { binary_operator } expression
}
[ COLLATE { Windows_collation_name ]

Arguments
 TERM DEFINITION

constant Is a symbol that represents a single, specific data value.

For more information, see Constants (Transact-SQL).

scalar_function Is a unit of Transact-SQL syntax that provides a specific

service and returns a single value. scalar_function can
be built-in scalar functions, such as the SUM, GETDATE,
or CAST functions, or scalar user-defined functions.

[ table_name. ] Is the name or alias of a table.

column Is the name of a column. Only the name of the column

is allowed in an expression.

variable Is the name of a variable, or parameter. For more

information, see DECLARE @local_variable (Transact-
SQL).

( expression ) Is any valid expression as defined in this topic. The

parentheses are grouping operators that make sure that
all the operators in the expression within the
parentheses are evaluated before the resulting
expression is combined with another.

( scalar_subquery ) Is a subquery that returns one value. For example:

SELECT MAX(UnitPrice)

FROM Products

{ unary_operator } Unary operators can be applied only to expressions that

evaluate to any one of the data types of the numeric
data type category. Is an operator that has only one
numeric operand:

+ indicates a positive number.

- indicates a negative number.

~ indicates the one's complement operator.

{ binary_operator } Is an operator that defines the way two expressions are

combined to yield a single result. binary_operator can
be an arithmetic operator, the assignment operator (=),
a bitwise operator, a comparison operator, a logical
operator, the string concatenation operator (+), or a
unary operator. For more information about operators,
see Operators (Transact-SQL).

ranking_windowed_function Is any Transact-SQL ranking function. For more

information, see Ranking Functions (Transact-SQL).

aggregate_windowed_function Is any Transact-SQL aggregate function with the OVER

clause. For more information, see OVER Clause
(Transact-SQL).

Expression Results
For a simple expression made up of a single constant, variable, scalar function, or column name: the data
type, collation, precision, scale, and value of the expression is the data type, collation, precision, scale, and
value of the referenced element.
When two expressions are combined by using comparison or logical operators, the resulting data type is
Boolean and the value is one of the following: TRUE, FALSE, or UNKNOWN. For more information about
Boolean data types, see Comparison Operators (Transact-SQL).
When two expressions are combined by using arithmetic, bitwise, or string operators, the operator
determines the resulting data type.
Complex expressions made up of many symbols and operators evaluate to a single-valued result. The
data type, collation, precision, and value of the resulting expression is determined by combining the
component expressions, two at a time, until a final result is reached. The sequence in which the
expressions are combined is defined by the precedence of the operators in the expression.

Remarks
Two expressions can be combined by an operator if they both have data types supported by the operator
and at least one of these conditions is true:
The expressions have the same data type.
The data type with the lower precedence can be implicitly converted to the data type with the
higher data type precedence.
If the expressions do not meet these conditions, the CAST or CONVERT functions can be used to
explicitly convert the data type with the lower precedence to either the data type with the higher
precedence or to an intermediate data type that can be implicitly converted to the data type with
the higher precedence.
If there is no supported implicit or explicit conversion, the two expressions cannot be combined.
The collation of any expression that evaluates to a character string is set by following the rules of
collation precedence. For more information, see Collation Precedence (Transact-SQL).
In a programming language such as C or Microsoft Visual Basic, an expression always evaluates
to a single result. Expressions in a Transact-SQL select list follow a variation on this rule: The
expression is evaluated individually for each row in the result set. A single expression may have a
different value in each row of the result set, but each row has only one value for the expression.
For example, in the following SELECT statement both the reference to ProductID and the term
1+2 in the select list are expressions:

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
SELECT ProductID, 1+2
FROM Production.Product;
GO

The expression 1+2 evaluates to 3 in each row in the result set. Although the expression ProductID
generates a unique value in each result set row, each row only has one value for ProductID .

See Also
AT TIME ZONE (Transact-SQL)
CASE (Transact-SQL)
CAST and CONVERT (Transact-SQL)
COALESCE (Transact-SQL)
Data Type Conversion (Database Engine)
Data Type Precedence (Transact-SQL)
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
LIKE (Transact-SQL)
NULLIF (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
 CASE (Transact-SQL)
4/6/2017 • 8 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Evaluates a list of conditions and returns one of multiple possible result expressions.
The CASE expression has two formats:
The simple CASE expression compares an expression to a set of simple expressions to determine the result.
The searched CASE expression evaluates a set of Boolean expressions to determine the result.
Both formats support an optional ELSE argument.
CASE can be used in any statement or clause that allows a valid expression. For example, you can use CASE
in statements such as SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE and SET, and in clauses such as select_list, IN, WHERE,
ORDER BY, and HAVING.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

Simple CASE expression:

CASE input_expression
WHEN when_expression THEN result_expression [ ...n ]
[ ELSE else_result_expression ]
END
Searched CASE expression:
CASE
WHEN Boolean_expression THEN result_expression [ ...n ]
[ ELSE else_result_expression ]
END

-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

CASE
WHEN when_expression THEN result_expression [ ...n ]
[ ELSE else_result_expression ]
END

Arguments
input_expression
Is the expression evaluated when the simple CASE format is used. input_expression is any valid expression.
WHEN when_expression
Is a simple expression to which input_expression is compared when the simple CASE format is used.
when_expression is any valid expression. The data types of input_expression and each when_expression must be
the same or must be an implicit conversion.
THEN result_expression
Is the expression returned when input_expression equals when_expression evaluates to TRUE, or
Boolean_expression evaluates to TRUE. result expression is any valid expression.
ELSE else_result_expression
Is the expression returned if no comparison operation evaluates to TRUE. If this argument is omitted and no
comparison operation evaluates to TRUE, CASE returns NULL. else_result_expression is any valid expression. The
data types of else_result_expression and any result_expression must be the same or must be an implicit
conversion.
WHEN Boolean_expression
Is the Boolean expression evaluated when using the searched CASE format. Boolean_expression is any valid
Boolean expression.

Return Types
Returns the highest precedence type from the set of types in result_expressions and the optional
else_result_expression. For more information, see Data Type Precedence (Transact-SQL).
Return Values
Simple CASE expression:
The simple CASE expression operates by comparing the first expression to the expression in each WHEN clause
for equivalency. If these expressions are equivalent, the expression in the THEN clause will be returned.
Allows only an equality check.
In the order specified, evaluates input_expression = when_expression for each WHEN clause.
Returns the result_expression of the first input_expression = when_expression that evaluates to TRUE.
If no input_expression = when_expression evaluates to TRUE, the SQL Server Database Engine returns the
else_result_expression if an ELSE clause is specified, or a NULL value if no ELSE clause is specified.
Searched CASE expression:
Evaluates, in the order specified, Boolean_expression for each WHEN clause.
Returns result_expression of the first Boolean_expression that evaluates to TRUE.
If no Boolean_expression evaluates to TRUE, the Database Engine returns the else_result_expression if an
ELSE clause is specified, or a NULL value if no ELSE clause is specified.

Remarks
SQL Server allows for only 10 levels of nesting in CASE expressions.
The CASE expression cannot be used to control the flow of execution of Transact-SQL statements, statement
blocks, user-defined functions, and stored procedures. For a list of control-of-flow methods, see Control-of-Flow
Language (Transact-SQL).
The CASE statement evaluates its conditions sequentially and stops with the first condition whose condition is
satisfied. In some situations, an expression is evaluated before a CASE statement receives the results of the
expression as its input. Errors in evaluating these expressions are possible. Aggregate expressions that appear in
WHEN arguments to a CASE statement are evaluated first, then provided to the CASE statement. For example, the
following query produces a divide by zero error when producing the value of the MAX aggregate. This occurs
prior to evaluating the CASE expression.
 WITH Data (value) AS
(
SELECT 0
UNION ALL
SELECT 1
)
SELECT
CASE
WHEN MIN(value) \<= 0 THEN 0
WHEN MAX(1/value) >= 100 THEN 1
END
FROM Data ;

You should only depend on order of evaluation of the WHEN conditions for scalar expressions (including non-
correlated sub-queries that return scalars), not for aggregate expressions.

Examples
A. Using a SELECT statement with a simple CASE expression
Within a SELECT statement, a simple CASE expression allows for only an equality check; no other comparisons
are made. The following example uses the CASE expression to change the display of product line categories to
make them more understandable.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
SELECT ProductNumber, Category =
CASE ProductLine
WHEN 'R' THEN 'Road'
WHEN 'M' THEN 'Mountain'
WHEN 'T' THEN 'Touring'
WHEN 'S' THEN 'Other sale items'
ELSE 'Not for sale'
END,
Name
FROM Production.Product
ORDER BY ProductNumber;
GO

B. Using a SELECT statement with a searched CASE expression

Within a SELECT statement, the searched CASE expression allows for values to be replaced in the result set based
on comparison values. The following example displays the list price as a text comment based on the price range
for a product.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
SELECT ProductNumber, Name, "Price Range" =
CASE
WHEN ListPrice = 0 THEN 'Mfg item - not for resale'
WHEN ListPrice < 50 THEN 'Under $50'
WHEN ListPrice >= 50 and ListPrice < 250 THEN 'Under $250'
WHEN ListPrice >= 250 and ListPrice < 1000 THEN 'Under $1000'
ELSE 'Over $1000'
END
FROM Production.Product
ORDER BY ProductNumber ;
GO

C. Using CASE in an ORDER BY clause

The following examples uses the CASE expression in an ORDER BY clause to determine the sort order of the rows
based on a given column value. In the first example, the value in the SalariedFlag column of the
HumanResources.Employee table is evaluated. Employees that have the SalariedFlag set to 1 are returned in order
by the BusinessEntityID in descending order. Employees that have the SalariedFlag set to 0 are returned in
order by the BusinessEntityID in ascending order. In the second example, the result set is ordered by the column
TerritoryName when the column CountryRegionName is equal to 'United States' and by CountryRegionName for all
other rows.

SELECT BusinessEntityID, SalariedFlag

FROM HumanResources.Employee
ORDER BY CASE SalariedFlag WHEN 1 THEN BusinessEntityID END DESC
,CASE WHEN SalariedFlag = 0 THEN BusinessEntityID END;
GO

SELECT BusinessEntityID, LastName, TerritoryName, CountryRegionName

FROM Sales.vSalesPerson
WHERE TerritoryName IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY CASE CountryRegionName WHEN 'United States' THEN TerritoryName
ELSE CountryRegionName END;

D. Using CASE in an UPDATE statement

The following example uses the CASE expression in an UPDATE statement to determine the value that is set for
the column VacationHours for employees with SalariedFlag set to 0. When subtracting 10 hours from
VacationHours results in a negative value, VacationHours is increased by 40 hours; otherwise, VacationHours is
increased by 20 hours. The OUTPUT clause is used to display the before and after vacation values.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
UPDATE HumanResources.Employee
SET VacationHours =
( CASE
WHEN ((VacationHours - 10.00) < 0) THEN VacationHours + 40
ELSE (VacationHours + 20.00)
END
)
OUTPUT Deleted.BusinessEntityID, Deleted.VacationHours AS BeforeValue,
Inserted.VacationHours AS AfterValue
WHERE SalariedFlag = 0;

E. Using CASE in a SET statement

The following example uses the CASE expression in a SET statement in the table-valued function
dbo.GetContactInfo . In the AdventureWorks2012 database, all data related to people is stored in the
Person.Person table. For example, the person may be an employee, vendor representative, or a customer. The
function returns the first and last name of a given BusinessEntityID and the contact type for that person.The
CASE expression in the SET statement determines the value to display for the column ContactType based on the
existence of the BusinessEntityID column in the Employee , Vendor , or Customer tables.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.GetContactInformation(@BusinessEntityID int)
RETURNS @retContactInformation TABLE
(
BusinessEntityID int NOT NULL,
FirstName nvarchar(50) NULL,
LastName nvarchar(50) NULL,
 ContactType nvarchar(50) NULL,
PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED (BusinessEntityID ASC)
)
AS
-- Returns the first name, last name and contact type for the specified contact.
BEGIN
DECLARE
@FirstName nvarchar(50),
@LastName nvarchar(50),
@ContactType nvarchar(50);

-- Get common contact information

SELECT
@BusinessEntityID = BusinessEntityID,
@FirstName = FirstName,
@LastName = LastName
FROM Person.Person
WHERE BusinessEntityID = @BusinessEntityID;

SET @ContactType =
CASE
-- Check for employee
WHEN EXISTS(SELECT * FROM HumanResources.Employee AS e
WHERE e.BusinessEntityID = @BusinessEntityID)
THEN 'Employee'

-- Check for vendor

WHEN EXISTS(SELECT * FROM Person.BusinessEntityContact AS bec
WHERE bec.BusinessEntityID = @BusinessEntityID)
THEN 'Vendor'

-- Check for store

WHEN EXISTS(SELECT * FROM Purchasing.Vendor AS v
WHERE v.BusinessEntityID = @BusinessEntityID)
THEN 'Store Contact'

-- Check for individual consumer

WHEN EXISTS(SELECT * FROM Sales.Customer AS c
WHERE c.PersonID = @BusinessEntityID)
THEN 'Consumer'
END;

-- Return the information to the caller

IF @BusinessEntityID IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
INSERT @retContactInformation
SELECT @BusinessEntityID, @FirstName, @LastName, @ContactType;
END;

RETURN;
END;
GO

SELECT BusinessEntityID, FirstName, LastName, ContactType

FROM dbo.GetContactInformation(2200);
GO
SELECT BusinessEntityID, FirstName, LastName, ContactType
FROM dbo.GetContactInformation(5);

F. Using CASE in a HAVING clause

The following example uses the CASE expression in a HAVING clause to restrict the rows returned by the SELECT
statement. The statement returns the maximum hourly rate for each job title in the HumanResources.Employee table.
The HAVING clause restricts the titles to those that are held by men with a maximum pay rate greater than 40
dollars or women with a maximum pay rate greater than 42 dollars.
 USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
SELECT JobTitle, MAX(ph1.Rate)AS MaximumRate
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS e
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeePayHistory AS ph1 ON e.BusinessEntityID = ph1.BusinessEntityID
GROUP BY JobTitle
HAVING (MAX(CASE WHEN Gender = 'M'
THEN ph1.Rate
ELSE NULL END) > 40.00
OR MAX(CASE WHEN Gender = 'F'
THEN ph1.Rate
ELSE NULL END) > 42.00)
ORDER BY MaximumRate DESC;

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

G. Using a SELECT statement with a CASE expression
Within a SELECT statement, the CASE expression allows for values to be replaced in the result set based on
comparison values. The following example uses the CASE expression to change the display of product line
categories to make them more understandable. When a value does not exist, the text “Not for sale’ is displayed.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductAlternateKey, Category =

CASE ProductLine
WHEN 'R' THEN 'Road'
WHEN 'M' THEN 'Mountain'
WHEN 'T' THEN 'Touring'
WHEN 'S' THEN 'Other sale items'
ELSE 'Not for sale'
END,
EnglishProductName
FROM dbo.DimProduct
ORDER BY ProductKey;

H. Using CASE in an UPDATE statement

The following example uses the CASE expression in an UPDATE statement to determine the value that is set for
the column VacationHours for employees with SalariedFlag set to 0. When subtracting 10 hours from
VacationHours results in a negative value, VacationHours is increased by 40 hours; otherwise, VacationHours is
increased by 20 hours.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

UPDATE dbo.DimEmployee
SET VacationHours =
( CASE
WHEN ((VacationHours - 10.00) < 0) THEN VacationHours + 40
ELSE (VacationHours + 20.00)
END
)
WHERE SalariedFlag = 0;

See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
COALESCE (Transact-SQL)
IIF (Transact-SQL)
CHOOSE (Transact-SQL)
 COALESCE (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 6 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Evaluates the arguments in order and returns the current value of the first expression that initially does not
evaluate to NULL.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

COALESCE ( expression [ ,...n ] )

Arguments
expression
Is an expression of any type.

Return Types
Returns the data type of expression with the highest data type precedence. If all expressions are nonnullable, the
result is typed as nonnullable.

Remarks
If all arguments are NULL, COALESCE returns NULL. At least one of the null values must be a typed NULL.

Comparing COALESCE and CASE

The COALESCE expression is a syntactic shortcut for the CASE expression. That is, the code COALESCE
(expression1,...n) is rewritten by the query optimizer as the following CASE expression:
CASE

WHEN (expression1 IS NOT NULL) THEN expression1

WHEN (expression2 IS NOT NULL) THEN expression2

...

ELSE expressionN

END

This means that the input values (expression1, expression2, expressionN, etc.) will be evaluated multiple times. Also,
in compliance with the SQL standard, a value expression that contains a subquery is considered non-deterministic
and the subquery is evaluated twice. In either case, different results can be returned between the first evaluation
and subsequent evaluations.
For example, when the code COALESCE((subquery), 1) is executed, the subquery is evaluated twice. As a result, you
can get different results depending on the isolation level of the query. For example, the code can return NULL
under the READ COMMITTED isolation level in a multi-user environment. To ensure stable results are returned, use
the SNAPSHOT ISOLATION isolation level, or replace COALESE with the ISNULL function. Alternatively, you can
rewrite the query to push the subquery into a subselect as shown in the following example.

SELECT CASE WHEN x IS NOT NULL THEN x ELSE 1 END

from
(
SELECT (SELECT Nullable FROM Demo WHERE SomeCol = 1) AS x
) AS T;

Comparing COALESCE and ISNULL

The ISNULL function and the COALESCE expression have a similar purpose but can behave differently.
1. Because ISNULL is a function, it is evaluated only once. As described above, the input values for the
COALESCE expression can be evaluated multiple times.
2. Data type determination of the resulting expression is different. ISNULL uses the data type of the first
parameter, COALESCE follows the CASE expression rules and returns the data type of value with the highest
precedence.
3. The NULLability of the result expression is different for ISNULL and COALESCE. The ISNULL return value is
always considered NOT NULLable (assuming the return value is a non-nullable one) whereas COALESCE
with non-null parameters is considered to be NULL. So the expressions ISNULL(NULL, 1) and
COALESCE(NULL, 1) although equivalent have different nullability values. This makes a difference if you are
using these expressions in computed columns, creating key constraints or making the return value of a
scalar UDF deterministic so that it can be indexed as shown in the following example.

USE tempdb;
GO
-- This statement fails because the PRIMARY KEY cannot accept NULL values
-- and the nullability of the COALESCE expression for col2
-- evaluates to NULL.
CREATE TABLE #Demo
(
col1 integer NULL,
col2 AS COALESCE(col1, 0) PRIMARY KEY,
col3 AS ISNULL(col1, 0)
);

-- This statement succeeds because the nullability of the

-- ISNULL function evaluates AS NOT NULL.

CREATE TABLE #Demo

(
col1 integer NULL,
col2 AS COALESCE(col1, 0),
col3 AS ISNULL(col1, 0) PRIMARY KEY
);

4. Validations for ISNULL and COALESCE are also different. For example, a NULL value for ISNULL is converted
to int whereas for COALESCE, you must provide a data type.
5. ISNULL takes only 2 parameters whereas COALESCE takes a variable number of parameters.

Examples
A. Running a simple example
The following example shows how COALESCE selects the data from the first column that has a nonnull value. This
example uses the AdventureWorks2012 database.

SELECT Name, Class, Color, ProductNumber,

COALESCE(Class, Color, ProductNumber) AS FirstNotNull
FROM Production.Product;

B. Running a complex example

In the following example, the wages table includes three columns that contain information about the yearly wages
of the employees: the hourly wage, salary, and commission. However, an employee receives only one type of pay.
To determine the total amount paid to all employees, use COALESCE to receive only the nonnull value found in
hourly_wage , salary , and commission .

SET NOCOUNT ON;

GO
USE tempdb;
IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.wages') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE wages;
GO
CREATE TABLE dbo.wages
(
emp_id tinyint identity,
hourly_wage decimal NULL,
salary decimal NULL,
commission decimal NULL,
num_sales tinyint NULL
);
GO
INSERT dbo.wages (hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)
VALUES
(10.00, NULL, NULL, NULL),
(20.00, NULL, NULL, NULL),
(30.00, NULL, NULL, NULL),
(40.00, NULL, NULL, NULL),
(NULL, 10000.00, NULL, NULL),
(NULL, 20000.00, NULL, NULL),
(NULL, 30000.00, NULL, NULL),
(NULL, 40000.00, NULL, NULL),
(NULL, NULL, 15000, 3),
(NULL, NULL, 25000, 2),
(NULL, NULL, 20000, 6),
(NULL, NULL, 14000, 4);
GO
SET NOCOUNT OFF;
GO
SELECT CAST(COALESCE(hourly_wage * 40 * 52,
salary,
commission * num_sales) AS money) AS 'Total Salary'
FROM dbo.wages
ORDER BY 'Total Salary';
GO

Here is the result set.

Total Salary

------------

10000.00
20000.00

20800.00

30000.00

40000.00

41600.00

45000.00

50000.00

56000.00

62400.00

83200.00

120000.00

(12 row(s) affected)

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

C: Simple Example
The following example demonstrates how COALESCE selects the data from the first column that has a non-null
value. Assume for this example that the Products table contains this data:
Name Color ProductNumber

------------ ---------- -------------

Socks, Mens NULL PN1278

Socks, Mens Blue PN1965

NULL White PN9876

We then run the following COALESCE query:

SELECT Name, Color, ProductNumber, COALESCE(Color, ProductNumber) AS FirstNotNull

FROM Products ;

Here is the result set.

Name Color ProductNumber FirstNotNull

------------ ---------- ------------- ------------

Socks, Mens NULL PN1278 PN1278

Socks, Mens Blue PN1965 Blue

NULL White PN9876 White

Notice that in the first row, the FirstNotNull value is “PN1278”, not “Socks, Mens”. This is because the Name
column was not specified as a parameter for COALESCE in the example.
D: Complex Example
The following example uses COALESCE to compare the values in three columns and return only the non-null value
found in the columns.

CREATE TABLE dbo.wages

(
emp_id tinyint NULL,
hourly_wage decimal NULL,
salary decimal NULL,
commission decimal NULL,
num_sales tinyint NULL
);
INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)
VALUES (1, 10.00, NULL, NULL, NULL);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (2, 20.00, NULL, NULL, NULL);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (3, 30.00, NULL, NULL, NULL);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (4, 40.00, NULL, NULL, NULL);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (5, NULL, 10000.00, NULL, NULL);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (6, NULL, 20000.00, NULL, NULL);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (7, NULL, 30000.00, NULL, NULL);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (8, NULL, 40000.00, NULL, NULL);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (9, NULL, NULL, 15000, 3);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (10,NULL, NULL, 25000, 2);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (11, NULL, NULL, 20000, 6);

INSERT INTO dbo.wages (emp_id, hourly_wage, salary, commission, num_sales)

VALUES (12, NULL, NULL, 14000, 4);

SELECT CAST(COALESCE(hourly_wage * 40 * 52,

salary,
commission * num_sales) AS decimal(10,2)) AS TotalSalary
FROM dbo.wages
ORDER BY TotalSalary;

Here is the result set.

Total Salary

------------

10000.00

20000.00

20800.00
30000.00

40000.00

41600.00

45000.00

50000.00

56000.00

62400.00

83200.00

120000.00

See Also
ISNULL (Transact-SQL)
CASE (Transact-SQL)
 NULLIF (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Returns a null value if the two specified expressions are equal.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

NULLIF ( expression , expression )

Arguments
expression
Is any valid scalar expression.

Return Types
Returns the same type as the first expression.
NULLIF returns the first expression if the two expressions are not equal. If the expressions are equal, NULLIF returns
a null value of the type of the first expression.

Remarks
NULLIF is equivalent to a searched CASE expression in which the two expressions are equal and the resulting
expression is NULL.
We recommend that you not use time-dependent functions, such as RAND(), within a NULLIF function. This could
cause the function to be evaluted twice and to return different results from the two invocations.

Examples
A. Returning budget amounts that have not changed
The following example creates a budgets table to show a department ( dept ) its current budget ( current_year )
and its previous budget ( previous_year ). For the current year, NULL is used for departments with budgets that
have not changed from the previous year, and 0 is used for budgets that have not yet been determined. To find
out the average of only those departments that receive a budget and to include the budget value from the previous
year (use the previous_year value, where the current_year is NULL ), combine the NULLIF and COALESCE
functions.
 USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
IF OBJECT_ID ('dbo.budgets','U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE budgets;
GO
SET NOCOUNT ON;
CREATE TABLE dbo.budgets
(
dept tinyint IDENTITY,
current_year decimal NULL,
previous_year decimal NULL
);
INSERT budgets VALUES(100000, 150000);
INSERT budgets VALUES(NULL, 300000);
INSERT budgets VALUES(0, 100000);
INSERT budgets VALUES(NULL, 150000);
INSERT budgets VALUES(300000, 250000);
GO
SET NOCOUNT OFF;
SELECT AVG(NULLIF(COALESCE(current_year,
previous_year), 0.00)) AS 'Average Budget'
FROM budgets;
GO

Here is the result set.

Average Budget

--------------

212500.000000

(1 row(s) affected)

B. Comparing NULLIF and CASE

To show the similarity between NULLIF and CASE , the following queries evaluate whether the values in the
MakeFlag and FinishedGoodsFlag columns are the same. The first query uses NULLIF . The second query uses the
CASE expression.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
SELECT ProductID, MakeFlag, FinishedGoodsFlag,
NULLIF(MakeFlag,FinishedGoodsFlag)AS 'Null if Equal'
FROM Production.Product
WHERE ProductID < 10;
GO

SELECT ProductID, MakeFlag, FinishedGoodsFlag,'Null if Equal' =

CASE
WHEN MakeFlag = FinishedGoodsFlag THEN NULL
ELSE MakeFlag
END
FROM Production.Product
WHERE ProductID < 10;
GO

Examples: ssSDWfull and ssPDW

C: Returning budget amounts that contain no data
The following example creates a budgets table, loads data, and uses NULLIF to return a null if neither
current_year nor previous_year contains data.
 CREATE TABLE budgets (
dept tinyint,
current_year decimal(10,2),
previous_year decimal(10,2)
);

INSERT INTO budgets VALUES(1, 100000, 150000);

INSERT INTO budgets VALUES(2, NULL, 300000);
INSERT INTO budgets VALUES(3, 0, 100000);
INSERT INTO budgets VALUES(4, NULL, 150000);
INSERT INTO budgets VALUES(5, 300000, 300000);

SELECT dept, NULLIF(current_year,

previous_year) AS LastBudget
FROM budgets;

Here is the result set.

dept LastBudget

---- -----------

1 100000.00

2 null

3 0.00

4 null

5 null

See Also
CASE (Transact-SQL)
decimal and numeric (Transact-SQL)
System Functions (Transact-SQL)
 Operators (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
An operator is a symbol specifying an action that is performed on one or more expressions. The following
tables lists the operator categories that SQL Server uses.

Arithmetic Operators Logical Operators

Assignment Operator Scope Resolution Operator

Bitwise Operators Set Operators

Comparison Operators String Concatenation Operator

Compound Operators Unary Operators

See Also
Operator Precedence (Transact-SQL)
 Unary Operators - Positive
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Returns the value of a numeric expression (a unary operator). Unary operators perform an operation on only one
expression of any one of the data types of the numeric data type category.

OPERATOR MEANING

+ (Positive) Numeric value is positive.

- (Negative) Numeric value is negative.

~ (Bitwise NOT) Returns the ones complement of the number.

The + (Positive) and - (Negative) operators can be used on any expression of any one of the data types of the
numeric data type category. The ~ (Bitwise NOT) operator can be used only on expressions of any one of the data
types of the integer data type category.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
+ numeric_expression

Arguments
numeric_expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the numeric data type category, except the datetime and
smalldatetime data types.

Result Types
Returns the data type of numeric_expression.

Remarks
Although a unary plus can appear before any numeric expression, it performs no operation on the value returned
from the expression. Specifically, it will not return the positive value of a negative expression. To return positive
value of a negative expression, use the ABS function.

Examples
A. Setting a variable to a positive value
The following example sets a variable to a positive value.
 DECLARE @MyNumber decimal(10,2);
SET @MyNumber = +123.45;
SELECT @MyNumber;
GO

Here is the result set:

-----------
123.45

(1 row(s) affected)

B. Using the unary plus operator with a negative value

The following example shows using the unary plus with a negative expression and the ABS() function on the same
negative expression. The unary plus does not affect the expression, but the ABS function returns the positive value
of the expression.

USE tempdb;
GO
DECLARE @Num1 int;
SET @Num1 = -5;
SELECT +@Num1, ABS(@Num1);
GO

Here is the result set:

----------- -----------
-5 5

(1 row(s) affected)

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
ABS (Transact-SQL)
 Unary Operators - Negative
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Returns the negative of the value of a numeric expression (a unary operator). Unary operators perform an
operation on only one expression of any one of the data types of the numeric data type category.

OPERATOR MEANING

+ (Positive) Numeric value is positive.

- (Negative) Numeric value is negative.

~ (Bitwise NOT) Returns the ones complement of the number.

The + (Positive) and - (Negative) operators can be used on any expression of any one of the data types of the
numeric data type category. The ~ (Bitwise NOT) operator can be used only on expressions of any one of the data
types of the integer data type category.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

- numeric_expression

Arguments
numeric_expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types of the numeric data type category, except the date and time
category.

Result Types
Returns the data type of numeric_expression, except that an unsigned tinyint expression is promoted to a signed
smallint result.

Examples
A. Setting a variable to a negative value
The following example sets a variable to a negative value.
 USE tempdb;
GO
DECLARE @MyNumber decimal(10,2);
SET @MyNumber = -123.45;
SELECT @MyNumber AS NegativeValue;
GO

Here is the result set.

NegativeValue
---------------------------------------
-123.45

(1 row(s) affected)

B. Changing a variable to a negative value

The following example changes a variable to a negative value.

USE tempdb;
GO
DECLARE @Num1 int;
SET @Num1 = 5;
SELECT @Num1 AS VariableValue, -@Num1 AS NegativeValue;
GO

Here is the result set.

VariableValue NegativeValue
------------- -------------
5 -5

(1 row(s) affected)

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

C. Returning the negative of a positive constant
The following example returns the negative of a positive constant.

USE ssawPDW;

SELECT TOP (1) - 17 FROM DimEmployee;

Returns

-17

D. Returning the positive of a negative constant

The following example returns the positive of a negative constant.

USE ssawPDW;

SELECT TOP (1) – ( - 17) FROM DimEmployee;

Returns

17

E. Returning the negative of a column

The following example returns the negative of the BaseRate value for each employee in the dimEmployee table.

USE ssawPDW;

SELECT - BaseRate FROM DimEmployee;

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 Set Operators - EXCEPT and INTERSECT (Transact-
SQL)
3/24/2017 • 5 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Returns distinct rows by comparing the results of two queries.
EXCEPT returns distinct rows from the left input query that aren’t output by the right input query.
INTERSECT returns distinct rows that are output by both the left and right input queries operator.
The basic rules for combining the result sets of two queries that use EXCEPT or INTERSECT are the following:
The number and the order of the columns must be the same in all queries.
The data types must be compatible.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

{ <query_specification> | ( <query_expression> ) }
{ EXCEPT | INTERSECT }
{ <query_specification> | ( <query_expression> ) }

Arguments
<query_specification> | ( <query_expression> )
Is a query specification or query expression that returns data to be compared with the data from another query
specification or query expression. The definitions of the columns that are part of an EXCEPT or INTERSECT
operation do not have to be the same, but they must be comparable through implicit conversion. When data types
differ, the type that is used to perform the comparison and return results is determined based on the rules for data
type precedence.
When the types are the same but differ in precision, scale, or length, the result is determined based on the same
rules for combining expressions. For more information, see Precision, Scale, and Length (Transact-SQL).
The query specification or expression cannot return xml, text, ntext, image, or nonbinary CLR user-defined type
columns because these data types are not comparable.
EXCEPT
Returns any distinct values from the query to the left of the EXCEPT operator that are not also returned from the
right query.
INTERSECT
Returns any distinct values that are returned by both the query on the left and right sides of the INTERSECT
operator.
Remarks
When the data types of comparable columns that are returned by the queries to the left and right of the EXCEPT or
INTERSECT operators are character data types with different collations, the required comparison is performed
according to the rules of collation precedence. If this conversion cannot be performed, the SQL Server Database
Engine returns an error.
When comparing column values for determining DISTINCT rows, two NULL values are considered equal.
The column names of the result set that are returned by EXCEPT or INTERSECT are the same names as those
returned by the query on the left side of the operator.
Column names or aliases in ORDER BY clauses must reference column names returned by the left-side query.
The nullability of any column in the result set returned by EXCEPT or INTERSECT is the same as the nullability of the
corresponding column that is returned by the query on the left side of the operator.
If EXCEPT or INTERSECT is used together with other operators in an expression, it is evaluated in the context of the
following precedence:
1. Expressions in parentheses
2. The INTERSECT operator
3. EXCEPT and UNION evaluated from left to right based on their position in the expression
If EXCEPT or INTERSECT is used to compare more than two sets of queries, data type conversion is
determined by comparing two queries at a time, and following the previously mentioned rules of expression
evaluation.
EXCEPT and INTERSECT cannot be used in distributed partitioned view definitions, query notifications.
EXCEPT and INTERSECT may be used in distributed queries, but are only executed on the local server and not
pushed to the linked server. Therefore, using EXCEPT and INTERSECT in distributed queries may affect
performance.
Fast forward-only and static cursors are fully supported in the result set when they are used with an EXCEPT
or INTERSECT operation. If a keyset-driven or dynamic cursor is used together with an EXCEPT or INTERSECT
operation, the cursor of the result set of the operation is converted to a static cursor.
When an EXCEPT operation is displayed by using the Graphical Showplan feature in SQL Server
Management Studio, the operation appears as a left anti semi join, and an INTERSECT operation appears as a
left semi join.

Examples
The following examples show using the INTERSECT and EXCEPT operators. The first query returns all values from
the Production.Product table for comparison to the results with INTERSECT and EXCEPT .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductID
FROM Production.Product ;
--Result: 504 Rows

The following query returns any distinct values that are returned by both the query on the left and right sides of the
INTERSECT operator.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductID
FROM Production.Product
INTERSECT
SELECT ProductID
FROM Production.WorkOrder ;
--Result: 238 Rows (products that have work orders)

The following query returns any distinct values from the query to the left of the EXCEPT operator that are not also
found on the right query.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductID
FROM Production.Product
EXCEPT
SELECT ProductID
FROM Production.WorkOrder ;
--Result: 266 Rows (products without work orders)

The following query returns any distinct values from the query to the left of the EXCEPT operator that are not also
found on the right query. The tables are reversed from the previous example.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductID
FROM Production.WorkOrder
EXCEPT
SELECT ProductID
FROM Production.Product ;
--Result: 0 Rows (work orders without products)

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

The following examples show how to use the INTERSECT and EXCEPT operators. The first query returns all values
from the FactInternetSales table for comparison to the results with INTERSECT and EXCEPT .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT CustomerKey
FROM FactInternetSales;
--Result: 60398 Rows

The following query returns any distinct values that are returned by both the query on the left and right sides of the
INTERSECT operator.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT CustomerKey
FROM FactInternetSales
INTERSECT
SELECT CustomerKey
FROM DimCustomer
WHERE DimCustomer.Gender = 'F'
ORDER BY CustomerKey;
--Result: 9133 Rows (Sales to customers that are female.)
The following query returns any distinct values from the query to the left of the EXCEPT operator that are not also
found on the right query.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT CustomerKey
FROM FactInternetSales
EXCEPT
SELECT CustomerKey
FROM DimCustomer
WHERE DimCustomer.Gender = 'F'
ORDER BY CustomerKey;
--Result: 9351 Rows (Sales to customers that are not female.)
 Set Operators - UNION (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 7 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Combines the results of two or more queries into a single result set that includes all the rows that belong to all
queries in the union. The UNION operation is different from using joins that combine columns from two tables.
The following are basic rules for combining the result sets of two queries by using UNION:
The number and the order of the columns must be the same in all queries.
The data types must be compatible.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

{ <query_specification> | ( <query_expression> ) }
UNION [ ALL ]
<query_specification | ( <query_expression> )
[ UNION [ ALL ] <query_specification> | ( <query_expression> )
[ ...n ] ]

Arguments
|()
Is a query specification or query expression that returns data to be combined with the data from another query
specification or query expression. The definitions of the columns that are part of a UNION operation do not have to
be the same, but they must be compatible through implicit conversion. When data types differ, the resulting data
type is determined based on the rules for data type precedence. When the types are the same but differ in
precision, scale, or length, the result is determined based on the same rules for combining expressions. For more
information, see Precision, Scale, and Length (Transact-SQL).
Columns of the xml data type must be equivalent. All columns must be either typed to an XML schema or untyped.
If typed, they must be typed to the same XML schema collection.
UNION
Specifies that multiple result sets are to be combined and returned as a single result set.
ALL
Incorporates all rows into the results. This includes duplicates. If not specified, duplicate rows are removed.

Examples
A. Using a simple UNION
In the following example, the result set includes the contents of the ProductModelID and Name columns of both the
ProductModel and Gloves tables.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

IF OBJECT_ID ('dbo.Gloves', 'U') IS NOT NULL

DROP TABLE dbo.Gloves;
GO
-- Create Gloves table.
SELECT ProductModelID, Name
INTO dbo.Gloves
FROM Production.ProductModel
WHERE ProductModelID IN (3, 4);
GO

-- Here is the simple union.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductModelID, Name

FROM Production.ProductModel
WHERE ProductModelID NOT IN (3, 4)
UNION
SELECT ProductModelID, Name
FROM dbo.Gloves
ORDER BY Name;
GO

B. Using SELECT INTO with UNION

In the following example, the INTO clause in the second SELECT statement specifies that the table named
ProductResults holds the final result set of the union of the designated columns of the ProductModel and Gloves
tables. Note that the Gloves table is created in the first SELECT statement.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

IF OBJECT_ID ('dbo.ProductResults', 'U') IS NOT NULL

DROP TABLE dbo.ProductResults;
GO
IF OBJECT_ID ('dbo.Gloves', 'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE dbo.Gloves;
GO
-- Create Gloves table.
SELECT ProductModelID, Name
INTO dbo.Gloves
FROM Production.ProductModel
WHERE ProductModelID IN (3, 4);
GO

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductModelID, Name

INTO dbo.ProductResults
FROM Production.ProductModel
WHERE ProductModelID NOT IN (3, 4)
UNION
SELECT ProductModelID, Name
FROM dbo.Gloves;
GO

SELECT ProductModelID, Name

FROM dbo.ProductResults;

C. Using UNION of two SELECT statements with ORDER BY

The order of certain parameters used with the UNION clause is important. The following example shows the
incorrect and correct use of UNION in two SELECT statements in which a column is to be renamed in the output.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

IF OBJECT_ID ('dbo.Gloves', 'U') IS NOT NULL

DROP TABLE dbo.Gloves;
GO
-- Create Gloves table.
SELECT ProductModelID, Name
INTO dbo.Gloves
FROM Production.ProductModel
WHERE ProductModelID IN (3, 4);
GO

/* INCORRECT */
-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductModelID, Name

FROM Production.ProductModel
WHERE ProductModelID NOT IN (3, 4)
ORDER BY Name
UNION
SELECT ProductModelID, Name
FROM dbo.Gloves;
GO

/* CORRECT */
-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductModelID, Name

FROM Production.ProductModel
WHERE ProductModelID NOT IN (3, 4)
UNION
SELECT ProductModelID, Name
FROM dbo.Gloves
ORDER BY Name;
GO

D. Using UNION of three SELECT statements to show the effects of ALL and parentheses
The following examples use UNION to combine the results of three tables that all have the same 5 rows of data. The
first example uses UNION ALL to show the duplicated records, and returns all 15 rows. The second example uses
UNION without ALL to eliminate the duplicate rows from the combined results of the three SELECT statements,
and returns 5 rows.
The third example uses ALL with the first UNION and parentheses enclose the second UNION that is not using ALL
. The second UNION is processed first because it is in parentheses, and returns 5 rows because the ALL option is
not used and the duplicates are removed. These 5 rows are combined with the results of the first SELECT by using
the UNION ALL keywords. This does not remove the duplicates between the two sets of 5 rows. The final result has
10 rows.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

IF OBJECT_ID ('dbo.EmployeeOne', 'U') IS NOT NULL

DROP TABLE dbo.EmployeeOne;
GO
IF OBJECT_ID ('dbo.EmployeeTwo', 'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE dbo.EmployeeTwo;
GO
IF OBJECT_ID ('dbo.EmployeeThree', 'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE dbo.EmployeeThree;
GO

SELECT pp.LastName, pp.FirstName, e.JobTitle

INTO dbo.EmployeeOne
FROM Person.Person AS pp JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON e.BusinessEntityID = pp.BusinessEntityID
WHERE LastName = 'Johnson';
GO
SELECT pp.LastName, pp.FirstName, e.JobTitle
INTO dbo.EmployeeTwo
FROM Person.Person AS pp JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON e.BusinessEntityID = pp.BusinessEntityID
WHERE LastName = 'Johnson';
GO
SELECT pp.LastName, pp.FirstName, e.JobTitle
INTO dbo.EmployeeThree
FROM Person.Person AS pp JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON e.BusinessEntityID = pp.BusinessEntityID
WHERE LastName = 'Johnson';
GO
-- Union ALL
SELECT LastName, FirstName, JobTitle
FROM dbo.EmployeeOne
UNION ALL
SELECT LastName, FirstName ,JobTitle
FROM dbo.EmployeeTwo
UNION ALL
SELECT LastName, FirstName,JobTitle
FROM dbo.EmployeeThree;
GO

SELECT LastName, FirstName,JobTitle

FROM dbo.EmployeeOne
UNION
SELECT LastName, FirstName, JobTitle
FROM dbo.EmployeeTwo
UNION
SELECT LastName, FirstName, JobTitle
FROM dbo.EmployeeThree;
GO

SELECT LastName, FirstName,JobTitle

FROM dbo.EmployeeOne
UNION ALL
(
SELECT LastName, FirstName, JobTitle
FROM dbo.EmployeeTwo
UNION
SELECT LastName, FirstName, JobTitle
FROM dbo.EmployeeThree
);
GO

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

E. Using a simple UNION
In the following example, the result set includes the contents of the CustomerKey columns of both the
FactInternetSales and DimCustomer tables. Since the ALL keyword is not used, duplicates are excluded from the
results.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT CustomerKey
FROM FactInternetSales
UNION
SELECT CustomerKey
FROM DimCustomer
ORDER BY CustomerKey;

F. Using UNION of two SELECT statements with ORDER BY

When any SELECT statement in a UNION statement includes an ORDER BY clause, that clause should be placed
after all SELECT statements. The following example shows the incorrect and correct use of UNION in two SELECT
statements in which a column is ordered with ORDER BY.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

-- INCORRECT
SELECT CustomerKey
FROM FactInternetSales
ORDER BY CustomerKey
UNION
SELECT CustomerKey
FROM DimCustomer
ORDER BY CustomerKey;

-- CORRECT
USE AdventureWorksPDW2012;

SELECT CustomerKey
FROM FactInternetSales
UNION
SELECT CustomerKey
FROM DimCustomer
ORDER BY CustomerKey;

G. Using UNION of two SELECT statements with WHERE and ORDER BY

The following example shows the incorrect and correct use of UNION in two SELECT statements where WHERE and
ORDER BY are needed.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

-- INCORRECT
SELECT CustomerKey
FROM FactInternetSales
WHERE CustomerKey >= 11000
ORDER BY CustomerKey
UNION
SELECT CustomerKey
FROM DimCustomer
ORDER BY CustomerKey;

-- CORRECT
USE AdventureWorksPDW2012;

SELECT CustomerKey
FROM FactInternetSales
WHERE CustomerKey >= 11000
UNION
SELECT CustomerKey
FROM DimCustomer
ORDER BY CustomerKey;

H. Using UNION of three SELECT statements to show effects of ALL and parentheses
The following examples use UNION to combine the results of the same table in order to demonstrate the effects of
ALL and parentheses when using UNION .
The first example uses UNION ALL to show duplicated records and returns each row in the source table three times.
The second example uses UNION without ALL to eliminate the duplicate rows from the combined results of the
three SELECT statements and returns only the unduplicated rows from the source table.
The third example uses ALL with the first UNION and parentheses enclosing the second UNION that is not using
ALL . The second UNION is processed first because it is in parentheses. It returns only the unduplicated rows from
the table because the ALL option is not used and duplicates are removed. These rows are combined with the
results of the first SELECT by using the UNION ALL keywords. This does not remove the duplicates between the two
sets.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT CustomerKey, FirstName, LastName

FROM DimCustomer
UNION ALL
SELECT CustomerKey, FirstName, LastName
FROM DimCustomer
UNION ALL
SELECT CustomerKey, FirstName, LastName
FROM DimCustomer;

SELECT CustomerKey, FirstName, LastName

FROM DimCustomer
UNION
SELECT CustomerKey, FirstName, LastName
FROM DimCustomer
UNION
SELECT CustomerKey, FirstName, LastName
FROM DimCustomer;

SELECT CustomerKey, FirstName, LastName

FROM DimCustomer
UNION ALL
(
SELECT CustomerKey, FirstName, LastName
FROM DimCustomer
UNION
SELECT CustomerKey, FirstName, LastName
FROM DimCustomer
);

See Also
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
SELECT Examples (Transact-SQL)
 Arithmetic Operators (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

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Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Arithmetic operators perform mathematical operations on two expressions of one or more of the data types of the
numeric data type category. For more information about data type categories, see Transact-SQL Syntax
Conventions.

OPERATOR MEANING

+ (Add) Addition

- (Subtract) Subtraction

* (Multiply) Multiplication

/ (Divide) Division

% (Modulo) Returns the integer remainder of a division. For example, 12 %

5 = 2 because the remainder of 12 divided by 5 is 2.

The plus (+) and minus (-) operators can also be used to perform arithmetic operations on datetime and
smalldatetime values.
For more information about the precision and scale of the result of an arithmetic operation, see Precision, Scale,
and Length (Transact-SQL).

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
 + (Add) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Adds two numbers. This addition arithmetic operator can also add a number, in days, to a date.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression + expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the numeric category except the bit data type. Cannot be
used with date, time, datetime2, or datetimeoffset data types.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Examples
A. Using the addition operator to calculate the total number of hours away from work for each employee.
This example finds the total number of hours away from work for each employee by adding the number of hours
taken for vacation and the number of hours taken as sick leave.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, VacationHours, SickLeaveHours,

VacationHours + SickLeaveHours AS 'Total Hours Away'
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS e
JOIN Person.Person AS p ON e.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
ORDER BY 'Total Hours Away' ASC;
GO

B. Using the addition operator to add days to date and time values
This example adds a number of days to a datetime date.
 SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE @startdate datetime, @adddays int;
SET @startdate = ''January 10, 1900 12:00 AM';
SET @adddays = 5;
SET NOCOUNT OFF;
SELECT @startdate + 1.25 AS 'Start Date',
@startdate + @adddays AS 'Add Date';

Here is the result set.

Start Date Add Date

--------------------------- ---------------------------

1900-01-11 06:00:00.000 1900-01-15 00:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

C. Adding character and integer data types

The following example adds an int data type value and a character value by converting the character data type to
int. If a character that is not valid exists in the char string, the Transact-SQL returns an error.

DECLARE @addvalue int;

SET @addvalue = 15;
SELECT '125127' + @addvalue;

Here is the result set.

-----------------------

125142

(1 row(s) affected)

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

D: Using the addition operator to calculate the total number of hours away from work for each employee
The following example finds the total number of hours away from work for each employee by adding the number
of hours taken for vacation and the number of hours taken as sick leave and sorts the results in ascending order.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, VacationHours, SickLeaveHours,

VacationHours + SickLeaveHours AS TotalHoursAway
FROM DimEmployee
ORDER BY TotalHoursAway ASC;

See Also
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
+= (Add EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
CAST and CONVERT (Transact-SQL)
Data Type Conversion (Database Engine)
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
 += (Add EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Adds two numbers and sets a value to the result of the operation. For example, if a variable @x equals 35, then @x
+= 2 takes the original value of @x, add 2 and sets @x to that new value (37).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression += expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any data type in the numeric category except the bit data type.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
For more information, see + (Add) (Transact-SQL).

See Also
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
+= (String Concatenation) (Transact-SQL)
 - (Subtract) (Transact-SQL)
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THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Subtracts two numbers (an arithmetic subtraction operator). Can also subtract a number, in days, from a date.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression - expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types of the numeric data type category, except the bit data type.
Cannot be used with date, time, datetime2, or datetimeoffset data types.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Examples
A. Using subtraction in a SELECT statement
The following example calculates the difference in tax rate between the state or province with the highest tax rate
and the state or province with the lowest tax rate.
Applies to: SQL Server and SQL Database.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT MAX(TaxRate) - MIN(TaxRate) AS 'Tax Rate Difference'

FROM Sales.SalesTaxRate
WHERE StateProvinceID IS NOT NULL;
GO

You can change the order of execution by using parentheses. Calculations inside parentheses are evaluated first. If
parentheses are nested, the most deeply nested calculation has precedence.
B. Using date subtraction
The following example subtracts a number of days from a datetime date.
Applies to: SQL Server and SQL Database.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @altstartdate datetime;

SET @altstartdate = CONVERT(DATETIME, ''January 10, 1900 3:00 AM', 101);
SELECT @altstartdate - 1.5 AS 'Subtract Date';

Here is the result set:

Subtract Date

-----------------------

1900-01-08 15:00:00.000

(1 row(s) affected)

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

C: Using subtraction in a SELECT statement
The following example calculates the difference in a base rate between the employee with the highest base rate
and the employee with the lowest tax rate, from the dimEmployee table.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT MAX(BaseRate) - MIN(BaseRate) AS BaseRateDifference

FROM DimEmployee;

See Also
Arithmetic Operators (Transact-SQL)
- (Negative) (Transact-SQL)
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
-= (Subtract EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
 -= (Subtract EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Subtracts two numbers and sets a value to the result of the operation. For example, if a variable @x equals 35, then
@x -= 2 takes the original value of @x, subtracts 2 and sets @x to that new value (33).

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression -= expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the numeric category except the bit data type.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
For more information, see - (Subtract) (Transact-SQL).

See Also
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 * (Multiply) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Multiplies two expressions (an arithmetic multiplication operator).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression * expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types of the numeric data type category, except the datetime and
smalldatetime data types.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Examples
The following example retrieves the product identification number, name, the list price and the new list price of all
the mountain bicycles in the Product table. The new list price is calculated by using the * arithmetic operator to
multiply ListPrice by 1.15 .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductID, Name, ListPrice, ListPrice * 1.15 AS NewPrice

FROM Production.Product
WHERE Name LIKE 'Mountain-%'
ORDER BY ProductID ASC;
GO

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

The following example retrieves the first and last name of employees in the dimEmployee table, and calculates the
pay for VacationHours for each..
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, BaseRate * VacationHours AS VacationPay

FROM DimEmployee
ORDER BY lastName ASC;

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
*= (Multiply EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
 *= (Multiply EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Multiplies two numbers and sets a value to the result of the operation. For example, if a variable @x equals 35, then
@x *= 2 takes the original value of @x, multiplies by 2 and sets @x to that new value (70).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression *= expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the numeric category except the bit data type.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
For more information, see * (Multiply) (Transact-SQL).

See Also
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 (Divide) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Divides one number by another (an arithmetic division operator).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

dividend / divisor

Arguments
dividend
Is the numeric expression to divide. dividend can be any valid expression of any one of the data types of the
numeric data type category, except the datetime and smalldatetime data types.
divisor
Is the numeric expression by which to divide the dividend. divisor can be any valid expression of any one of the
data types of the numeric data type category, except the datetime and smalldatetime data types.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).
If an integer dividend is divided by an integer divisor, the result is an integer that has any fractional part of the
result truncated.

Remarks
The actual value returned by the / operator is the quotient of the first expression divided by the second expression.

Examples
The following example uses the division arithmetic operator to calculate the sales target per month for the sales
people at Adventure Works Cycles.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT s.BusinessEntityID AS SalesPersonID, FirstName, LastName, SalesQuota, SalesQuota/12 AS 'Sales Target

Per Month'
FROM Sales.SalesPerson AS s
JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON s.BusinessEntityID = e.BusinessEntityID
JOIN Person.Person AS p
ON e.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID;
Here is a partial result set.

SalesPersonID FirstName LastName SalesQuota Sales Target Per Month

------------- ------------ ----------------- ----------- ------------------
274 Stephen Jiang NULL NULL
275 Michael Blythe 300000.00 25000.00
276 Linda Mitchell 250000.00 20833.3333
277 Jillian Carson 250000.00 20833.3333

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

The following example uses the division arithmetic operator to calculate a simple ratio of each employees’ vacation
hours to sick hours.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, VacationHours/SickLeaveHours AS PersonalTimeRatio

FROM DimEmployee;

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
(Divide EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
 (Divide EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Divides one number by another and sets a value to the result of the operation. For example, if a variable @x equals
34, then @x /= 2 takes the original value of @x, divides by 2 and sets @x to that new value (17).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression /= expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the numeric category except the bit data type.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
For more information, see (Divide) (Transact-SQL).

See Also
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 Modulo (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Returns the remainder of one number divided by another.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

dividend % divisor

Arguments
dividend
Is the numeric expression to divide. dividend must be a valid expression of any one of the data types in the integer
and monetary data type categories, or the numeric data type.
divisor
Is the numeric expression by which to divide the dividend. divisor must be any valid expression of any one of the
data types in the integer and monetary data type categories, or the numeric data type.

Result Types
Determined by data types of the two arguments.

Remarks
You can use the modulo arithmetic operator in the select list of the SELECT statement with any combination of
column names, numeric constants, or any valid expression of the integer and monetary data type categories or the
numeric data type.

Examples
A. Simple example
The following example divides the number 38 by 5. This results in 7 as the integer portion of the result and
demonstrates how modulo returns the remainder of 3.

SELECT 38 / 5 AS Integer, 38 % 5 AS Remainder ;

B. Example using columns in a table

The following example returns the product ID number, the unit price of the product, and the modulo (remainder) of
dividing the price of each product, converted to an integer value, into the number of products ordered.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT TOP(100)ProductID, UnitPrice, OrderQty,

CAST((UnitPrice) AS int) % OrderQty AS Modulo
FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail;
GO

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

C: Simple example
The following example shows results for the % operator when dividing 3 by 2.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT TOP(1) 3%2 FROM dimEmployee;

Here is the result set.

---------
1

See Also
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
LIKE (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
Modulo EQUALS (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
 Modulo EQUALS (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Divides one number by another and sets a value to the result of the operation. For example, if a variable @x equals
38, then @x %= 5 takes the original value of @x, divides by 5 and sets @x to the remainder of that division (3).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression %= expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the numeric category except the bit data type.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
For more information, see Modulo (Transact-SQL).

See Also
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 Assignment Operator (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2012) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
The equal sign (=) is the only Transact-SQL assignment operator. In the following example, the @MyCounter
variable is created, and then the assignment operator sets @MyCounter to a value returned by an expression.

DECLARE @MyCounter INT;

SET @MyCounter = 1;

The assignment operator can also be used to establish the relationship between a column heading and the
expression that defines the values for the column. The following example displays the column headings
FirstColumnHeading and SecondColumnHeading . The string xyz is displayed in the FirstColumnHeading column
heading for all rows. Then, each product ID from the Product table is listed in the SecondColumnHeading column
heading.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstColumnHeading = 'xyz',

SecondColumnHeading = ProductID
FROM Production.Product;
GO

See Also
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
 Bitwise Operators (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Bitwise operators perform bit manipulations between two expressions of any of the data types of the integer data
type category.
Bitwise operators convert two integer values to binary bits, perform the AND, OR, or NOT operation on each bit,
producing a result. Then converts the result to an integer.
For example, the integer 170 converts to binary 1010 1010. The integer 75 converts to binary 0100 1011.

OPERATOR BITWISE MATH

AND 1010 1010 = 170

If bits at any location are both 1, the result is 1. 0100 1011 = 75
----------------
0000 1010 = 10

OR 1010 1010 = 170

If either bit at any location is 1, the result is 1. 0100 1011 = 75
----------------
1110 1011 = 2795

NOT 1010 1010 = 170

Reverses the bit value at every bit location. ----------------
0101 0101 = 85

See the following topics:

& (Bitwise AND)
&= (Bitwise AND EQUALS)
| (Bitwise OR)
|= (Bitwise OR EQUALS)
^ (Bitwise Exclusive OR)
^= (Bitwise Exclusive OR EQUALS)
~ (Bitwise NOT)
The operands for bitwise operators can be any one of the data types of the integer or binary string data
type categories (except for the image data type), except that both operands cannot be any one of the data
types of the binary string data type category. The following table shows the supported operand data types.

LEFT OPERAND RIGHT OPERAND

binary int, smallint, or tinyint

bit int, smallint, tinyint, or bit

int int, smallint, tinyint, binary, or varbinary

 LEFT OPERAND RIGHT OPERAND

smallint int, smallint, tinyint, binary, or varbinary

tinyint int, smallint, tinyint, binary, or varbinary

varbinary int, smallint, or tinyint

See Also
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
 & (Bitwise AND) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Performs a bitwise logical AND operation between two integer values.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
expression & expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any of the data types of the integer data type category, or the bit, or the binary or
varbinary data types. expression is treated as a binary number for the bitwise operation.

NOTE
In a bitwise operation, only one expression can be of either binary or varbinary data type.

Result Types
int if the input values are int.
smallint if the input values are smallint.
tinyint if the input values are tinyint or bit.

Remarks
The & bitwise operator performs a bitwise logical AND between the two expressions, taking each corresponding
bit for both expressions. The bits in the result are set to 1 if and only if both bits (for the current bit being resolved)
in the input expressions have a value of 1; otherwise, the bit in the result is set to 0.
If the left and right expressions have different integer data types (for example, the left expression is smallint and
the right expression is int), the argument of the smaller data type is converted to the larger data type. In this case,
the smallintexpression is converted to an int.

Examples
The following example creates a table using the int data type to store the values and inserts two values into one
row.
 CREATE TABLE bitwise
(
a_int_value int NOT NULL,
b_int_value int NOT NULL
);
GO
INSERT bitwise VALUES (170, 75);
GO

This query performs the bitwise AND between the a_int_value and b_int_value columns.

SELECT a_int_value & b_int_value

FROM bitwise;
GO

Here is the result set:

-----------
10

(1 row(s) affected)

The binary representation of 170 ( a_int_value or A ) is 0000 0000 1010 1010 . The binary representation of 75 (
b_int_value or B ) is 0000 0000 0100 1011 . Performing the bitwise AND operation on these two values produces
the binary result 0000 0000 0000 1010 , which is decimal 10.

(A & B)
0000 0000 1010 1010
0000 0000 0100 1011
-------------------
0000 0000 0000 1010

See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Bitwise Operators (Transact-SQL)
&= (Bitwise AND EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
 &= (Bitwise AND EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Performs a bitwise logical AND operation between two integer values, and sets a value to the result of the
operation.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
expression &= expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the numeric category except the bit data type.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
For more information, see & (Bitwise AND) (Transact-SQL).

See Also
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Bitwise Operators (Transact-SQL)
 | (Bitwise OR) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Performs a bitwise logical OR operation between two specified integer values as translated to binary expressions
within Transact-SQL statements.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
expression | expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of the integer data type category, or the bit, binary, or varbinary data types. expression is
treated as a binary number for the bitwise operation.

NOTE
Only one expression can be of either binary or varbinary data type in a bitwise operation.

Result Types
Returns an int if the input values are int, a smallint if the input values are smallint, or a tinyint if the input values
are tinyint.

Remarks
The bitwise | operator performs a bitwise logical OR between the two expressions, taking each corresponding bit
for both expressions. The bits in the result are set to 1 if either or both bits (for the current bit being resolved) in
the input expressions have a value of 1; if neither bit in the input expressions is 1, the bit in the result is set to 0.
If the left and right expressions have different integer data types (for example, the left expression is smallint and
the right expression is int), the argument of the smaller data type is converted to the larger data type. In this
example, the smallintexpression is converted to an int.

Examples
The following example creates a table with int data types to show the original values and puts the table into one
row.
 CREATE TABLE bitwise
(
a_int_value int NOT NULL,
b_int_value int NOT NULL
);
GO
INSERT bitwise VALUES (170, 75);
GO

The following query performs the bitwise OR on the a_int_value and b_int_value columns.

SELECT a_int_value | b_int_value

FROM bitwise;
GO

Here is the result set.

-----------
235

(1 row(s) affected)

The binary representation of 170 (a_int_value or A , below) is 0000 0000 1010 1010 . The binary representation of
75 (b_int_value or B , below) is 0000 0000 0100 1011 . Performing the bitwise OR operation on these two values
produces the binary result 0000 0000 1110 1011 , which is decimal 235.

(A | B)
0000 0000 1010 1010
0000 0000 0100 1011
-------------------
0000 0000 1110 1011

See Also
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Bitwise Operators (Transact-SQL)
|= (Bitwise OR EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
 |= (Bitwise OR EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Performs a bitwise logical OR operation between two specified integer values as translated to binary expressions
within Transact-SQL statements, and sets a value to the result of the operation.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
expression |= expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the numeric category except the bit data type.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
For more information, see | (Bitwise OR) (Transact-SQL).

See Also
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Bitwise Operators (Transact-SQL)
 ^ (Bitwise Exclusive OR) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Performs a bitwise exclusive OR operation between two integer values.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
expression ^ expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types of the integer data type category, or the bit, or the binary or
varbinary data types. expression is treated as a binary number for the bitwise operation.

NOTE
Only one expression can be of either binary or varbinary data type in a bitwise operation.

Result Types
int if the input values are int.
smallint if the input values are smallint.
tinyint if the input values are tinyint.

Remarks
The ^ bitwise operator performs a bitwise logical exclusive OR between the two expressions, taking each
corresponding bit for both expressions. The bits in the result are set to 1 if either (but not both) bits (for the current
bit being resolved) in the input expressions have a value of 1. If both bits are 0 or both bits are 1, the bit in the
result is cleared to a value of 0.
If the left and right expressions have different integer data types (for example, the left expression is smallint and
the right expression is int), the argument of the smaller data type is converted to the larger data type. In this case,
the smallintexpression is converted to an int.

Examples
The following example creates a table using the int data type to store the original values and inserts two values
into one row.
 CREATE TABLE bitwise
(
a_int_value int NOT NULL,
b_int_value int NOT NULL
);
GO
INSERT bitwise VALUES (170, 75);
GO

The following query performs the bitwise exclusive OR on the a_int_value and b_int_value columns.

SELECT a_int_value ^ b_int_value

FROM bitwise;
GO

Here is the result set:

-----------
225

(1 row(s) affected)

The binary representation of 170 ( a_int_value or A ) is 0000 0000 1010 1010 . The binary representation of 75 (
b_int_value or B ) is 0000 0000 0100 1011 . Performing the bitwise exclusive OR operation on these two values
produces the binary result 0000 0000 1110 0001 , which is decimal 225.

(A ^ B)
0000 0000 1010 1010
0000 0000 0100 1011
-------------------
0000 0000 1110 0001

See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Bitwise Operators (Transact-SQL)
^= (Bitwise Exclusive OR EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
 ^= (Bitwise Exclusive OR EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Performs a bitwise exclusive OR operation between two integer values, and sets a value to the result of the
operation.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
expression ^= expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the numeric category except the bit data type.

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
For more information, see ^ (Bitwise Exclusive OR) (Transact-SQL).

See Also
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Bitwise Operators (Transact-SQL)
 ~ (Bitwise NOT) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Performs a bitwise logical NOT operation on an integer value.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
~ expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types of the integer data type category, the bit, or the binary or
varbinary data types. expression is treated as a binary number for the bitwise operation.

NOTE
Only one expression can be of either binary or varbinary data type in a bitwise operation.

Result Types
int if the input values are int.
smallint if the input values are smallint.
tinyint if the input values are tinyint.
bit if the input values are bit.

Remarks
The ~ bitwise operator performs a bitwise logical NOT for the expression, taking each bit in turn. If expression has a
value of 0, the bits in the result set are set to 1; otherwise, the bit in the result is cleared to a value of 0. In other
words, ones are changed to zeros and zeros are changed to ones.
 IMPORTANT
When you perform any kind of bitwise operation, the storage length of the expression used in the bitwise operation is
important. We recommend that you use this same number of bytes when storing values. For example, storing the decimal
value of 5 as a tinyint, smallint, or int produces a value stored with different numbers of bytes: tinyint stores data using 1
byte; smallint stores data using 2 bytes, and int stores data using 4 bytes. Therefore, performing a bitwise operation on an
int decimal value can produce different results from those using a direct binary or hexadecimal translation, especially when
the ~ (bitwise NOT) operator is used. The bitwise NOT operation may occur on a variable of a shorter length. In this case,
when the shorter length is converted to a longer data type variable, the bits in the upper 8 bits may not be set to the
expected value. We recommend that you convert the smaller data type variable to the larger data type, and then perform
the NOT operation on the result.

Examples
The following example creates a table using the int data type to store the values and inserts the two values into
one row.

CREATE TABLE bitwise

(
a_int_value int NOT NULL,
b_int_value int NOT NULL
);
GO
INSERT bitwise VALUES (170, 75);
GO

The following query performs the bitwise NOT on the a_int_value and b_int_value columns.

SELECT ~ a_int_value, ~ b_int_value

FROM bitwise;

Here is the result set:

--- ---
-171 -76

(1 row(s) affected)

The binary representation of 170 ( a_int_value or A ) is 0000 0000 1010 1010 . Performing the bitwise NOT
operation on this value produces the binary result 1111 1111 0101 0101 , which is decimal -171. The binary
representation for 75 is 0000 0000 0100 1011 . Performing the bitwise NOT operation produces
1111 1111 1011 0100 , which is decimal -76.

(~A)
0000 0000 1010 1010
-------------------
1111 1111 0101 0101
(~B)
0000 0000 0100 1011
-------------------
1111 1111 1011 0100

See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Bitwise Operators (Transact-SQL)
 Comparison Operators (Transact-SQL)
4/6/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2012) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Comparison operators test whether two expressions are the same. Comparison operators can be used on all
expressions except expressions of the text, ntext, or image data types. The following table lists the Transact-SQL
comparison operators.

OPERATOR MEANING

= (Equals) Equal to

> (Greater Than) Greater than

< (Less Than) Less than

>= (Greater Than or Equal To) Greater than or equal to

<= (Less Than or Equal To) Less than or equal to

<> (Not Equal To) Not equal to

!= (Not Equal To) Not equal to (not ISO standard)

!< (Not Less Than) Not less than (not ISO standard)

!> (Not Greater Than) Not greater than (not ISO standard)

Boolean Data Type

The result of a comparison operator has the Boolean data type. This has three values: TRUE, FALSE, and
UNKNOWN. Expressions that return a Boolean data type are known as Boolean expressions.
Unlike other SQL Server data types, a Boolean data type cannot be specified as the data type of a table column or
variable, and cannot be returned in a result set.
When SET ANSI_NULLS is ON, an operator that has one or two NULL expressions returns UNKNOWN. When SET
ANSI_NULLS is OFF, the same rules apply, except an equals (=) operator returns TRUE if both expressions are
NULL. For example, NULL = NULL returns TRUE when SET ANSI_NULLS is OFF.
Expressions with Boolean data types are used in the WHERE clause to filter the rows that qualify for the search
conditions and in control-of-flow language statements such as IF and WHILE, for example:
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @MyProduct int;

SET @MyProduct = 750;
IF (@MyProduct <> 0)
SELECT ProductID, Name, ProductNumber
FROM Production.Product
WHERE ProductID = @MyProduct;

See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
 = (Equals) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares the equality of two expressions (a comparison operator) in SQL Server.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression = expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression. If the expressions are not of the same data type, the data type for one expression must be
implicitly convertible to the data type of the other. The conversion is based on the rules of data type precedence.

Result Types
Boolean

Remarks
When you compare two NULL expressions, the result depends on the ANSI_NULLS setting:
If ANSI_NULLS is set to ON, the result is NULL, following the ANSI convention that a NULL (or unknown)
value is not equal to another NULL or unknown value.
If ANSI_NULLS is set to OFF, the result of NULL compared to NULL is TRUE.
For more information, see SET ANSI_NULLS (Transact-SQL).
Any sort of comparison of a NULL value (an unknown) to a non-NULL value always results in FALSE.

Examples
A. Using = in a simple query
The following example uses the Equals operator to return all rows in the HumanResources.Department table in which
the value in the GroupName column is equal to the word 'Manufacturing'.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT DepartmentID, Name

FROM HumanResources.Department
WHERE GroupName = 'Manufacturing';

Here is the result set.

 DepartmentID Name
------------ --------------------------------------------------
7 Production
8 Production Control

(2 row(s) affected)

B. Comparing NULL and non-NULL values

The following example uses the Equals ( = ) and Not Equal To ( <> ) comparison operators to make comparisons
with NULL and nonnull values in a table. The example also shows that IS NULL is not affected by the SET ANSI _
NULLS setting.
 -- Create table t1 and insert 3 rows.
CREATE TABLE dbo.t1 (a INT NULL);
INSERT INTO dbo.t1 VALUES (NULL),(0),(1);
GO

-- Print message and perform SELECT statements.

PRINT 'Testing default setting';
DECLARE @varname int;
SET @varname = NULL;

SELECT a
FROM t1
WHERE a = @varname;

SELECT a
FROM t1
WHERE a <> @varname;

SELECT a
FROM t1
WHERE a IS NULL;
GO

-- SET ANSI_NULLS to ON and test.

PRINT 'Testing ANSI_NULLS ON';
SET ANSI_NULLS ON;
GO
DECLARE @varname int;
SET @varname = NULL

SELECT a
FROM t1
WHERE a = @varname;

SELECT a
FROM t1
WHERE a <> @varname;

SELECT a
FROM t1
WHERE a IS NULL;
GO

-- SET ANSI_NULLS to OFF and test.

PRINT 'Testing SET ANSI_NULLS OFF';
SET ANSI_NULLS OFF;
GO
DECLARE @varname int;
SET @varname = NULL;
SELECT a
FROM t1
WHERE a = @varname;

SELECT a
FROM t1
WHERE a <> @varname;

SELECT a
FROM t1
WHERE a IS NULL;
GO

-- Drop table t1.

DROP TABLE dbo.t1;

Here is the result set.

 Testing default setting
a
-----------
NULL

(1 row(s) affected)

a
-----------
0
1

(2 row(s) affected)

a
-----------
NULL

(1 row(s) affected)

Testing ANSI_NULLS ON
a
-----------

(0 row(s) affected)

a
-----------

(0 row(s) affected)

a
-----------
NULL

(1 row(s) affected)

Testing SET ANSI_NULLS OFF

a
-----------
NULL

(1 row(s) affected)

a
-----------
0
1

(2 row(s) affected)

a
-----------
NULL

(1 row(s) affected)

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 > (Greater Than) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares two expressions (a comparison operator) in SQL Server 2016. When you compare nonnull expressions,
the result is TRUE if the left operand has a value higher than the right operand; otherwise, the result is FALSE. If
either or both operands are NULL, see the topic SET ANSI_NULLS (Transact-SQL).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression > expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression. Both expressions must have implicitly convertible data types. The conversion depends on
the rules of data type precedence.

Result Types
Boolean

Examples
A. Using > in a simple query
The following example returns all rows in the HumanResources.Department table that have a value in DepartmentID
that is greater than the value 13.

--Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT DepartmentID, Name

FROM HumanResources.Department
WHERE DepartmentID > 13
ORDER BY DepartmentID;

Here is the result set.

DepartmentID Name
------------ --------------------------------------------------
14 Facilities and Maintenance
15 Shipping and Receiving
16 Executive

(3 row(s) affected)
B. Using > to compare two variables

DECLARE @a int = 45, @b int = 40;

SELECT IIF ( @a > @b, 'TRUE', 'FALSE' ) AS Result;

Here is the result set.

Result
------
TRUE

(1 row(s) affected)

See Also
IIF (Transact-SQL)
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 < (Less Than) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares two expressions (a comparison operator). When you compare nonnull expressions, the result is TRUE if
the left operand has a value lower than the right operand; otherwise, the result is FALSE. If either or both operands
are NULL, see the topic SET ANSI_NULLS (Transact-SQL).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression < expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression. Both expressions must have implicitly convertible data types. The conversion depends on
the rules of data type precedence.

Result Types
Boolean

Examples
A. Using < in a simple query
The following example returns all rows in the HumanResources.Department table that have a value in DepartmentID
that is less than the value 3.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT DepartmentID, Name

FROM HumanResources.Department
WHERE DepartmentID < 3
ORDER BY DepartmentID;

Here is the result set.

DepartmentID Name
------------ --------------------------------------------------
1 Engineering
2 Tool Design

(2 row(s) affected)

B. Using < to compare two variables

 DECLARE @a int = 45, @b int = 40;
SELECT IIF ( @a < @b, 'TRUE', 'FALSE' ) AS Result;

Here is the result set.

Result
------
FALSE

(1 row(s) affected)

See Also
IIF (Transact-SQL)
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 >= (Greater Than or Equal To) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares two expressions for greater than or equal (a comparison operator).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression >= expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression. Both expressions must have implicitly convertible data types. The conversion depends on
the rules of data type precedence.

Result Types
Boolean

Remarks
When you compare nonnull expressions, the result is TRUE if the left operand has a greater or equal value than the
right operand; otherwise, the result is FALSE.
Unlike the = (equality) comparison operator, the result of the >= comparison of two NULL values does not depend
on the ANSI_NULLS setting.

Examples
A. Using >= in a simple query
The following example returns all rows in the HumanResources.Department table that have a value in DepartmentID
that is greater than or equal to the value 13.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT DepartmentID, Name

FROM HumanResources.Department
WHERE DepartmentID >= 13
ORDER BY DepartmentID;

Here is the result set.

 DepartmentID Name
------------ --------------------------------------------------
13 Quality Assurance
14 Facilities and Maintenance
15 Shipping and Receiving
16 Executive

(4 row(s) affected)

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
= (Equals) (Transact-SQL)
> (Greater Than) (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 <= (Less Than or Equal To) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares two expressions (a comparison operator). When you compare nonnull expressions, the result is TRUE if
the left operand has a value lower than or equal to the right operand; otherwise, the result is FALSE.
Unlike the = (equality) comparison operator, the result of the >= comparison of two NULL values does not depend
on the ANSI_NULLS setting.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression <= expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression. Both expressions must have implicitly convertible data types. The conversion depends on
the rules of data type precedence.

Result Types
Boolean

Examples
A. Using <= in a simple query
The following example returns all rows in the HumanResources.Department table that have a value in DepartmentID
that is less than or equal to the value 3.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT DepartmentID, Name

FROM HumanResources.Department
WHERE DepartmentID <= 3
ORDER BY DepartmentID;

Here is the result set.

 DepartmentID Name
------------ --------------------------------------------------
1 Engineering
2 Tool Design
3 Sales

(3 row(s) affected)

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 Not Equal To (Transact SQL) - traditional
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares two expressions (a comparison operator). When you compare nonnull expressions, the result is TRUE if
the left operand is not equal to the right operand; otherwise, the result is FALSE. If either or both operands are
NULL, see the topic SET ANSI_NULLS (Transact-SQL).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression <> expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression. Both expressions must have implicitly convertible data types. The conversion depends on
the rules of data type precedence.

Result Types
Boolean

Examples
A. Using <> in a simple query
The following example returns all rows in the Production.ProductCategory table that do not have value in
ProductCategoryID that is equal to the value 3 or the value 2.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductCategoryID, Name

FROM Production.ProductCategory
WHERE ProductCategoryID <> 3 AND ProductCategoryID <> 2;

Here is the result set.

ProductCategoryID Name
----------------- --------------------------------------------------
1 Bikes
4 Accessories

(2 row(s) affected)

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Comparison Operators (Transact-SQL)
 !< (Not Less Than) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares two expressions (a comparison operator). When you compare nonnull expressions, the result is TRUE if
the left operand does not have a value lower than the right operand; otherwise, the result is FALSE. If either or both
operands are NULL, see the topic SET ANSI_NULLS (Transact-SQL).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
expression !< expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression. Both expressions must have implicitly convertible data types. The conversion depends on
the rules of data type precedence.

Result Types
Boolean

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 Not Equal To (Transact SQL) - exclamation
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Tests whether one expression is not equal to another expression (a comparison operator). If either or both
operands are NULL, NULL is returned. Functions the same as the <> (Not Equal To) comparison operator.

See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 !> (Not Greater Than) (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares two expressions (a comparison operator). When you compare nonnull expressions, the result is TRUE if
the left operand does not have a greater value than the right operand; otherwise, the result is FALSE. Unlike the =
(equality) comparison operator, the result of the !> comparison of two NULL values does not depend on the
ANSI_NULLS setting.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
expression !> expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression. Both expressions must have implicitly convertible data types. The conversion depends on
the rules of data type precedence.

Result Types
Boolean

See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Compound operators execute some operation and set an original value to the result of the operation. For
example, if a variable @x equals 35, then @x += 2 takes the original value of @x, add 2 and sets @x to that
new value (37).
Transact-SQL provides the following compound operators:

OPERATOR LINK TO MORE INFORMATION ACTION

+= += (Add EQUALS) (Transact-SQL) Adds some amount to the original

value and sets the original value to
the result.

-= -= (Subtract EQUALS) (Transact-SQL) Subtracts some amount from the

original value and sets the original
value to the result.

*= *= (Multiply EQUALS) (Transact-SQL) Multiplies by an amount and sets the

original value to the result.

/= (Divide EQUALS) (Transact-SQL) Divides by an amount and sets the

original value to the result.

%= Modulo EQUALS (Transact-SQL) Divides by an amount and sets the

original value to the modulo.

&= &= (Bitwise AND EQUALS) (Transact- Performs a bitwise AND and sets the
SQL) original value to the result.

^= ^= (Bitwise Exclusive OR EQUALS) Performs a bitwise exclusive OR and

(Transact-SQL) sets the original value to the result.

|= |= (Bitwise OR EQUALS) (Transact- Performs a bitwise OR and sets the

SQL) original value to the result.

Syntax
expression operator expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the numeric category.
Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the higher precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
For more information, see the topics related to each operator.

Examples
The following examples demonstrate compound operations.

DECLARE @x1 int = 27;

SET @x1 += 2 ;
SELECT @x1 AS Added_2;

DECLARE @x2 int = 27;

SET @x2 -= 2 ;
SELECT @x2 AS Subtracted_2;

DECLARE @x3 int = 27;

SET @x3 *= 2 ;
SELECT @x3 AS Multiplied_by_2;

DECLARE @x4 int = 27;

SET @x4 /= 2 ;
SELECT @x4 AS Divided_by_2;

DECLARE @x5 int = 27;

SET @x5 %= 2 ;
SELECT @x5 AS Modulo_of_27_divided_by_2;

DECLARE @x6 int = 9;

SET @x6 &= 13 ;
SELECT @x6 AS Bitwise_AND;

DECLARE @x7 int = 27;

SET @x7 ^= 2 ;
SELECT @x7 AS Bitwise_Exclusive_OR;

DECLARE @x8 int = 27;

SET @x8 |= 2 ;
SELECT @x8 AS Bitwise_OR;

See Also
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Bitwise Operators (Transact-SQL)
 Logical Operators (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2012) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Logical operators test for the truth of some condition. Logical operators, like comparison operators, return a
Boolean data type with a value of TRUE, FALSE, or UNKNOWN.

OPERATOR MEANING

ALL TRUE if all of a set of comparisons are TRUE.

AND TRUE if both Boolean expressions are TRUE.

ANY TRUE if any one of a set of comparisons are TRUE.

BETWEEN TRUE if the operand is within a range.

EXISTS TRUE if a subquery contains any rows.

IN TRUE if the operand is equal to one of a list of expressions.

LIKE TRUE if the operand matches a pattern.

NOT Reverses the value of any other Boolean operator.

OR TRUE if either Boolean expression is TRUE.

SOME TRUE if some of a set of comparisons are TRUE.

See Also
Operator Precedence (Transact-SQL)
 ALL (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares a scalar value with a single-column set of values.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
scalar_expression { = | <> | != | > | >= | !> | < | <= | !< } ALL ( subquery )

Arguments
scalar_expression
Is any valid expression.
{ = | <> | != | > | >= | !> | < | <= | !< }
Is a comparison operator.
subquery
Is a subquery that returns a result set of one column. The data type of the returned column must be the same data
type as the data type of scalar_expression.
Is a restricted SELECT statement, in which the ORDER BY clause and the INTO keyword are not allowed.

Result Types
Boolean

Result Value
Returns TRUE when the comparison specified is TRUE for all pairs (scalar_expression,x), when x is a value in the
single-column set; otherwise returns FALSE.

Remarks
ALL requires the scalar_expression to compare positively to every value that is returned by the subquery. For
instance, if the subquery returns values of 2 and 3, scalar_expression <= ALL (subquery) would evaluate as TRUE
for a scalar_expression of 2. If the subquery returns values of 2 and 3, scalar_expression = ALL (subquery) would
evaluate as FALSE, because some of the values of the subquery (the value of 3) would not meet the criteria of the
expression.
For statements that require the scalar_expression to compare positively to only one value that is returned by the
subquery, see SOME | ANY (Transact-SQL).
This topic refers to ALL when it is used with a subquery. ALL can also be used with UNION and SELECT.
Examples
The following example creates a stored procedure that determines whether all the components of a specified
SalesOrderID in the AdventureWorks2012 database can be manufactured in the specified number of days. The
example uses a subquery to create a list of the number of DaysToManufacture value for all of the components of
the specific SalesOrderID , and then confirms that all the DaysToManufacture are within the number of days
specified.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

CREATE PROCEDURE DaysToBuild @OrderID int, @NumberOfDays int

AS
IF
@NumberOfDays >= ALL
(
SELECT DaysToManufacture
FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail
JOIN Production.Product
ON Sales.SalesOrderDetail.ProductID = Production.Product.ProductID
WHERE SalesOrderID = @OrderID
)
PRINT 'All items for this order can be manufactured in specified number of days or less.'
ELSE
PRINT 'Some items for this order cannot be manufactured in specified number of days or less.' ;

To test the procedure, execute the procedure by using the SalesOrderID 49080 , which has one component
requiring 2 days and two components that require 0 days. The first statement below meets the criteria. The
second query does not.

EXECUTE DaysToBuild 49080, 2 ;

Here is the result set.

All items for this order can be manufactured in specified number of days or less.

EXECUTE DaysToBuild 49080, 1 ;

Here is the result set.

Some items for this order cannot be manufactured in specified number of days or less.

See Also
CASE (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
LIKE (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
IN (Transact-SQL)
 AND (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Combines two Boolean expressions and returns TRUE when both expressions are TRUE. When more than one
logical operator is used in a statement, the AND operators are evaluated first. You can change the order of
evaluation by using parentheses.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

boolean_expression AND boolean_expression

Arguments
boolean_expression
Is any valid expression that returns a Boolean value: TRUE, FALSE, or UNKNOWN.

Result Types
Boolean

Result Value
Returns TRUE when both expressions are TRUE.

Remarks
The following chart shows the outcomes when you compare TRUE and FALSE values by using the AND operator.

TRUE FALSE UNKNOWN

TRUE TRUE FALSE UNKNOWN

FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE

UNKNOWN UNKNOWN FALSE UNKNOWN

Examples
A. Using the AND operator
The following example selects information about employees who have both the title of Marketing Assistant and
more than 41 vacation hours available.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT BusinessEntityID, LoginID, JobTitle, VacationHours

FROM HumanResources.Employee
WHERE JobTitle = 'Marketing Assistant'
AND VacationHours > 41 ;

B. Using the AND operator in an IF statement

The following examples show how to use AND in an IF statement. In the first statement, both 1 = 1 and 2 = 2
are true; therefore, the result is true. In the second example, the argument 2 = 17 is false; therefore, the result is
false.

IF 1 = 1 AND 2 = 2
BEGIN
PRINT 'First Example is TRUE'
END
ELSE PRINT 'First Example is FALSE';
GO

IF 1 = 1 AND 2 = 17
BEGIN
PRINT 'Second Example is TRUE'
END
ELSE PRINT 'Second Example is FALSE' ;
GO

See Also
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
 ANY (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares a scalar value with a single-column set of values. For more information, see SOME | ANY (Transact-SQL).
 BETWEEN (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 4 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Specifies a range to test.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

test_expression [ NOT ] BETWEEN begin_expression AND end_expression

Arguments
test_expression
Is the expression to test for in the range defined by begin_expressionand end_expression. test_expression must be
the same data type as both begin_expression and end_expression.
NOT
Specifies that the result of the predicate be negated.
begin_expression
Is any valid expression. begin_expression must be the same data type as both test_expression and end_expression.
end_expression
Is any valid expression. end_expression must be the same data type as both test_expressionand begin_expression.
AND
Acts as a placeholder that indicates test_expression should be within the range indicated by begin_expression and
end_expression.

Result Types
Boolean

Result Value
BETWEEN returns TRUE if the value of test_expression is greater than or equal to the value of begin_expression and
less than or equal to the value of end_expression.
NOT BETWEEN returns TRUE if the value of test_expression is less than the value of begin_expression or greater
than the value of end_expression.

Remarks
To specify an exclusive range, use the greater than (>) and less than operators (<). If any input to the BETWEEN or
NOT BETWEEN predicate is NULL, the result is UNKNOWN.
Examples
A. Using BETWEEN
The following example returns the employees of Adventure Works Cycles that have an hourly pay rate between
27 and 30 .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT e.FirstName, e.LastName, ep.Rate

FROM HumanResources.vEmployee e
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeePayHistory ep
ON e.BusinessEntityID = ep.BusinessEntityID
WHERE ep.Rate BETWEEN 27 AND 30
ORDER BY ep.Rate;
GO

Here is the result set.

FirstName LastName Rate

----------- ------------------ ------------------

Paula Barreto de Mattos 27.1394

Karen Berg 27.4038

Ramesh Meyyappan 27.4038

Dan Bacon 27.4038

Janaina Bueno 27.4038

David Bradley 28.7500

Hazem Abolrous 28.8462

Ovidiu Cracium 28.8462

Rob Walters 29.8462

Sheela Word 30.0000

(10 row(s) affected)

B. Using > and < instead of BETWEEN

The following example uses greater than ( > ) and less than ( < ) operators and, because these operators are not
inclusive, returns nine rows instead of ten that were returned in the previous example.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT e.FirstName, e.LastName, ep.Rate

FROM HumanResources.vEmployee e
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeePayHistory ep
ON e.BusinessEntityID = ep.BusinessEntityID
WHERE ep.Rate > 27 AND ep.Rate < 30
ORDER BY ep.Rate;
GO

Here is the result set.

FirstName LastName Rate
--------- ------------------- ---------

Paula Barreto de Mattos 27.1394

Janaina Bueno 27.4038

Dan Bacon 27.4038

Ramesh Meyyappan 27.4038

Karen Berg 27.4038

David Bradley 28.7500

Hazem Abolrous 28.8462

Ovidiu Cracium 28.8462

Rob Walters 29.8462

(9 row(s) affected)

C. Using NOT BETWEEN

The following example finds all rows outside a specified range of 27 through 30 .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT e.FirstName, e.LastName, ep.Rate

FROM HumanResources.vEmployee e
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeePayHistory ep
ON e.BusinessEntityID = ep.BusinessEntityID
WHERE ep.Rate NOT BETWEEN 27 AND 30
ORDER BY ep.Rate;
GO

D. Using BETWEEN with datetime values

The following example retrieves rows in which datetime values are between '20011212' and '20020105' ,
inclusive.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT BusinessEntityID, RateChangeDate

FROM HumanResources.EmployeePayHistory
WHERE RateChangeDate BETWEEN '20011212' AND '20020105';

Here is the result set.

BusinessEntityID RateChangeDate

----------- -----------------------

3 2001-12-12 00:00:00.000

4 2002-01-05 00:00:00.000

The query retrieves the expected rows because the date values in the query and the datetime values stored in the
RateChangeDate column have been specified without the time part of the date. When the time part is unspecified, it
defaults to 12:00 A.M. Note that a row that contains a time part that is after 12:00 A.M. on 2002-01-05 would not
be returned by this query because it falls outside the range.
Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse
E. Using BETWEEN
The following example returns the employees of a company that have an hourly pay rate between 27 and 30 ,
inclusive.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, BaseRate

FROM dimEmployee
WHERE BaseRate BETWEEN 27 AND 30
ORDER BY BaseRate DESC;

F. Using >= and <= instead of BETWEEN

The following example uses the greater than or equal to ( >= ) and less than or equal to ( <= ) operators to perform
the same query as the BETWEEN query above.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, BaseRate

FROM dimEmployee
WHERE BaseRate >= 27 AND BaseRate <= 30
ORDER BY BaseRate DESC;

G. Using NOT BETWEEN

The following example finds all rows outside the range of 27 through 30 .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, BaseRate

FROM dimEmployee
WHERE BaseRate NOT BETWEEN 27 AND 30
ORDER BY BaseRate DESC;

H. Using BETWEEN with date values

The following example retrieves employees with BirthDate values are between '1950-01-01' and '1969-12-31' ,
inclusive.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, BirthDate

FROM dimEmployee
WHERE BirthDate BETWEEN '1950-01-01' AND '1969-12-31'
ORDER BY BirthDate ASC;

See Also
> (Greater Than) (Transact-SQL)
< (Less Than) (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
 EXISTS (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 5 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Specifies a subquery to test for the existence of rows.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

EXISTS ( subquery )

Arguments
subquery
Is a restricted SELECT statement. The INTO keyword is not allowed. For more information, see the information
about subqueries in SELECT (Transact-SQL).

Result Types
Boolean

Result Values
Returns TRUE if a subquery contains any rows.

Examples
A. Using NULL in a subquery to still return a result set
The following example returns a result set with NULL specified in the subquery and still evaluates to TRUE by using
EXISTS .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT DepartmentID, Name

FROM HumanResources.Department
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT NULL)
ORDER BY Name ASC ;

B. Comparing queries by using EXISTS and IN

The following example compares two queries that are semantically equivalent. The first query uses EXISTS and the
second query uses IN .
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT a.FirstName, a.LastName

FROM Person.Person AS a
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS b
WHERE a.BusinessEntityID = b.BusinessEntityID
AND a.LastName = 'Johnson');
GO

The following query uses IN .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT a.FirstName, a.LastName

FROM Person.Person AS a
WHERE a.LastName IN
(SELECT a.LastName
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS b
WHERE a.BusinessEntityID = b.BusinessEntityID
AND a.LastName = 'Johnson');
GO

Here is the result set for either query.

FirstName LastName

-------------------------------------------------- ----------

Barry Johnson

David Johnson

Willis Johnson

(3 row(s) affected)

C. Comparing queries by using EXISTS and = ANY

The following example shows two queries to find stores whose name is the same name as a vendor. The first query
uses EXISTS and the second uses =``ANY .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT DISTINCT s.Name

FROM Sales.Store AS s
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM Purchasing.Vendor AS v
WHERE s.Name = v.Name) ;
GO

The following query uses = ANY .

 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT DISTINCT s.Name

FROM Sales.Store AS s
WHERE s.Name = ANY
(SELECT v.Name
FROM Purchasing.Vendor AS v ) ;
GO

D. Comparing queries by using EXISTS and IN

The following example shows queries to find employees of departments that start with P .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, e.JobTitle

FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON e.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.Department AS d
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeeDepartmentHistory AS edh
ON d.DepartmentID = edh.DepartmentID
WHERE e.BusinessEntityID = edh.BusinessEntityID
AND d.Name LIKE 'P%');
GO

The following query uses IN .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, e.JobTitle

FROM Person.Person AS p JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON e.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeeDepartmentHistory AS edh
ON e.BusinessEntityID = edh.BusinessEntityID
WHERE edh.DepartmentID IN
(SELECT DepartmentID
FROM HumanResources.Department
WHERE Name LIKE 'P%');
GO

E. Using NOT EXISTS

NOT EXISTS works the opposite of EXISTS. The WHERE clause in NOT EXISTS is satisfied if no rows are returned by
the subquery. The following example finds employees who are not in departments which have names that start
with P .
 SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, e.JobTitle
FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON e.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
WHERE NOT EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.Department AS d
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeeDepartmentHistory AS edh
ON d.DepartmentID = edh.DepartmentID
WHERE e.BusinessEntityID = edh.BusinessEntityID
AND d.Name LIKE 'P%')
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName
GO

Here is the result set.

FirstName LastName Title

------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------

Syed Abbas Pacific Sales Manager

Hazem Abolrous Quality Assurance Manager

Humberto Acevedo Application Specialist

Pilar Ackerman Shipping & Receiving Superviso

François Ajenstat Database Administrator

Amy Alberts European Sales Manager

Sean Alexander Quality Assurance Technician

Pamela Ansman-Wolfe Sales Representative

Zainal Arifin Document Control Manager

David Barber Assistant to CFO

Paula Barreto de Mattos Human Resources Manager

Shai Bassli Facilities Manager

Wanida Benshoof Marketing Assistant

Karen Berg Application Specialist

Karen Berge Document Control Assistant

Andreas Berglund Quality Assurance Technician

Matthias Berndt Shipping & Receiving Clerk

Jo Berry Janitor

Jimmy Bischoff Stocker

Michael Blythe Sales Representative

David Bradley Marketing Manager

Kevin Brown Marketing Assistant

David Campbell Sales Representative

Jason Carlson Information Services Manager

Fernando Caro Sales Representative

Sean Chai Document Control Assistant

Sootha Charncherngkha Quality Assurance Technician

Hao Chen HR Administrative Assistant

Kevin Chrisulis Network Administrator

Pat Coleman Janitor

Stephanie Conroy Network Manager

Debra Core Application Specialist

Ovidiu Crãcium Sr. Tool Designer

Grant Culbertson HR Administrative Assistant

Mary Dempsey Marketing Assistant

Thierry D'Hers Tool Designer

Terri Duffy VP Engineering

Susan Eaton Stocker

Terry Eminhizer Marketing Specialist

Gail Erickson Design Engineer

Janice Galvin Tool Designer

Mary Gibson Marketing Specialist

Jossef Goldberg Design Engineer

Sariya Harnpadoungsataya Marketing Specialist

Mark Harrington Quality Assurance Technician

Magnus Hedlund Facilities Assistant

Shu Ito Sales Representative

Stephen Jiang North American Sales Manager

Willis Johnson Recruiter

Brannon Jones Finance Manager

Tengiz Kharatishvili Control Specialist

Christian Kleinerman Maintenance Supervisor

Vamsi Kuppa Shipping & Receiving Clerk

David Liu Accounts Manager

Vidur Luthra Recruiter

Stuart Macrae Janitor

Diane Margheim Research & Development Enginee

Mindy Martin Benefits Specialist

Gigi Matthew Research & Development Enginee

Tete Mensa-Annan Sales Representative

Ramesh Meyyappan Application Specialist

Dylan Miller Research & Development Manager

Linda Mitchell Sales Representative

Barbara Moreland Accountant

Laura Norman Chief Financial Officer

Chris Norred Control Specialist

Jae Pak Sales Representative

Wanda Parks Janitor

Deborah Poe Accounts Receivable Specialist

Kim Ralls Stocker

Tsvi Reiter Sales Representative

Sharon Salavaria Design Engineer

Ken Sanchez Chief Executive Officer

José Saraiva Sales Representative

Mike Seamans Accountant

Ashvini Sharma Network Administrator

Janet Sheperdigian Accounts Payable Specialist

Candy Spoon Accounts Receivable Specialist

Michael Sullivan Sr. Design Engineer

Dragan Tomic Accounts Payable Specialist

Lynn Tsoflias Sales Representative

Rachel Valdez Sales Representative

Garrett Vargar Sales Representative

Ranjit Varkey Chudukatil Sales Representative

Bryan Walton Accounts Receivable Specialist

Jian Shuo Wang Engineering Manager

Brian Welcker VP Sales

Jill Williams Marketing Specialist

Dan Wilson Database Administrator

John Wood Marketing Specialist

Peng Wu Quality Assurance Supervisor

(91 row(s) affected)

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

F. Using EXISTS
The following example identifies whether any rows in the ProspectiveBuyer table could be matches to rows in the
DimCustomer table. The query will return rows only when both the LastName and BirthDate values in the two
tables match.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT a.LastName, a.BirthDate

FROM DimCustomer AS a
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM dbo.ProspectiveBuyer AS b
WHERE (a.LastName = b.LastName) AND (a.BirthDate = b.BirthDate));

G. Using NOT EXISTS

NOT EXISTS works as the opposite as EXISTS. The WHERE clause in NOT EXISTS is satisfied if no rows are returned
by the subquery. The following example finds rows in the DimCustomer table where the LastName and BirthDate
do not match any entries in the ProspectiveBuyers table.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT a.LastName, a.BirthDate

FROM DimCustomer AS a
WHERE NOT EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM dbo.ProspectiveBuyer AS b
WHERE (a.LastName = b.LastName) AND (a.BirthDate = b.BirthDate));

See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
 IN (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 4 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Determines whether a specified value matches any value in a subquery or a list.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

test_expression [ NOT ] IN
( subquery | expression [ ,...n ]
)

Arguments
test_expression
Is any valid expression.
subquery
Is a subquery that has a result set of one column. This column must have the same data type as test_expression.
expression[ ,... n ]
Is a list of expressions to test for a match. All expressions must be of the same type as test_expression.

Result Types
Boolean

Result Value
If the value of test_expression is equal to any value returned by subquery or is equal to any expression from the
comma-separated list, the result value is TRUE; otherwise, the result value is FALSE.
Using NOT IN negates the subquery value or expression.
Cau t i on

Any null values returned by subquery or expression that are compared to test_expression using IN or NOT IN
return UNKNOWN. Using null values in together with IN or NOT IN can produce unexpected results.

Remarks
Explicitly including an extremely large number of values (many thousands of values separated by commas) within
the parentheses, in an IN clause can consume resources and return errors 8623 or 8632. To work around this
problem, store the items in the IN list in a table, and use a SELECT subquery within an IN clause.
Error 8623:
The query processor ran out of internal resources and could not produce a query plan. This is a rare event and
only expected for extremely complex queries or queries that reference a very large number of tables or
partitions. Please simplify the query. If you believe you have received this message in error, contact Customer
Support Services for more information.

Error 8632:
Internal error: An expression services limit has been reached. Please look for potentially complex expressions
in your query, and try to simplify them.

Examples
A. Comparing OR and IN
The following example selects a list of the names of employees who are design engineers, tool designers, or
marketing assistants.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, e.JobTitle

FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON p.BusinessEntityID = e.BusinessEntityID
WHERE e.JobTitle = 'Design Engineer'
OR e.JobTitle = 'Tool Designer'
OR e.JobTitle = 'Marketing Assistant';
GO

However, you retrieve the same results by using IN.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, e.JobTitle

FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON p.BusinessEntityID = e.BusinessEntityID
WHERE e.JobTitle IN ('Design Engineer', 'Tool Designer', 'Marketing Assistant');
GO

Here is the result set from either query.

FirstName LastName Title

--------- --------- ---------------------
Sharon Salavaria Design Engineer
Gail Erickson Design Engineer
Jossef Goldberg Design Engineer
Janice Galvin Tool Designer
Thierry D'Hers Tool Designer
Wanida Benshoof Marketing Assistant
Kevin Brown Marketing Assistant
Mary Dempsey Marketing Assistant

(8 row(s) affected)

B. Using IN with a subquery

The following example finds all IDs for the salespeople in the SalesPerson table for employees who have a sales
quota greater than $250,000 for the year, and then selects from the Employee table the names of all employees
where EmployeeID that match the results from the SELECT subquery.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName

FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN Sales.SalesPerson AS sp
ON p.BusinessEntityID = sp.BusinessEntityID
WHERE p.BusinessEntityID IN
(SELECT BusinessEntityID
FROM Sales.SalesPerson
WHERE SalesQuota > 250000);
GO

Here is the result set.

FirstName LastName
--------- --------
Tsvi Reiter
Michael Blythe
Tete Mensa-Annan

(3 row(s) affected)

C. Using NOT IN with a subquery

The following example finds the salespersons who do not have a quota greater than $250,000. NOT IN finds the
salespersons who do not match the items in the values list.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName

FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN Sales.SalesPerson AS sp
ON p.BusinessEntityID = sp.BusinessEntityID
WHERE p.BusinessEntityID NOT IN
(SELECT BusinessEntityID
FROM Sales.SalesPerson
WHERE SalesQuota > 250000);
GO

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

D. Using IN and NOT IN
The following example finds all entries in the FactInternetSales table that match SalesReasonKey values in the
DimSalesReason table.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT * FROM FactInternetSalesReason

WHERE SalesReasonKey
IN (SELECT SalesReasonKey FROM DimSalesReason);

The following example finds all entries in the FactInternetSalesReason table that do not match SalesReasonKey
values in the DimSalesReason table.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT * FROM FactInternetSalesReason

WHERE SalesReasonKey
NOT IN (SELECT SalesReasonKey FROM DimSalesReason);

E. Using IN with an expression list

The following example finds all IDs for the salespeople in the DimEmployee table for employees who have a first
name that is either Mike or Michael .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName

FROM DimEmployee
WHERE FirstName IN ('Mike', 'Michael');

See Also
CASE (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
ALL (Transact-SQL)
SOME | ANY (Transact-SQL)
 LIKE (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 10 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Determines whether a specific character string matches a specified pattern. A pattern can include regular
characters and wildcard characters. During pattern matching, regular characters must exactly match the
characters specified in the character string. However, wildcard characters can be matched with arbitrary
fragments of the character string. Using wildcard characters makes the LIKE operator more flexible than using the
= and != string comparison operators. If any one of the arguments is not of character string data type, the SQL
Server Database Engine converts it to character string data type, if it is possible.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

match_expression [ NOT ] LIKE pattern [ ESCAPE escape_character ]

-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

match_expression [ NOT ] LIKE pattern

Arguments
match_expression
Is any valid expression of character data type.
pattern
Is the specific string of characters to search for in match_expression, and can include the following valid wildcard
characters. pattern can be a maximum of 8,000 bytes.

WILDCARD CHARACTER DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

% Any string of zero or more characters. WHERE title LIKE '%computer%' finds all
book titles with the word 'computer'
anywhere in the book title.

_ (underscore) Any single character. WHERE au_fname LIKE '_ean' finds all
four-letter first names that end with
ean (Dean, Sean, and so on).
 WILDCARD CHARACTER DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE

[] Any single character within the WHERE au_lname LIKE '[C-P]arsen'

specified range ([a-f]) or set ([abcdef]). finds author last names ending with
arsen and starting with any single
character between C and P, for example
Carsen, Larsen, Karsen, and so on. In
range searches, the characters included
in the range may vary depending on
the sorting rules of the collation.

[^] Any single character not within the WHERE au_lname LIKE 'de[^l]%' all
specified range ([^a-f]) or set author last names starting with de and
([^abcdef]). where the following letter is not l.

escape_character
Is a character that is put in front of a wildcard character to indicate that the wildcard should be interpreted as a
regular character and not as a wildcard. escape_character is a character expression that has no default and must
evaluate to only one character.

Result Types
Boolean

Result Value
LIKE returns TRUE if the match_expression matches the specified pattern.

Remarks
When you perform string comparisons by using LIKE, all characters in the pattern string are significant. This
includes leading or trailing spaces. If a comparison in a query is to return all rows with a string LIKE 'abc ' (abc
followed by a single space), a row in which the value of that column is abc (abc without a space) is not returned.
However, trailing blanks, in the expression to which the pattern is matched, are ignored. If a comparison in a
query is to return all rows with the string LIKE 'abc' (abc without a space), all rows that start with abc and have
zero or more trailing blanks are returned.
A string comparison using a pattern that contains char and varchar data may not pass a LIKE comparison
because of how the data is stored. You should understand the storage for each data type and where a LIKE
comparison may fail. The following example passes a local char variable to a stored procedure and then uses
pattern matching to find all of the employees whose last names start with a specified set of characters.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

CREATE PROCEDURE FindEmployee @EmpLName char(20)

AS
SELECT @EmpLName = RTRIM(@EmpLName) + '%';
SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, a.City
FROM Person.Person p JOIN Person.Address a ON p.BusinessEntityID = a.AddressID
WHERE p.LastName LIKE @EmpLName;
GO
EXEC FindEmployee @EmpLName = 'Barb';
GO

In the FindEmployee procedure, no rows are returned because the char variable ( @EmpLName ) contains trailing
blanks whenever the name contains fewer than 20 characters. Because the LastName column is varchar, there are
no trailing blanks. This procedure fails because the trailing blanks are significant.
However, the following example succeeds because trailing blanks are not added to a varchar variable.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

CREATE PROCEDURE FindEmployee @EmpLName varchar(20)

AS
SELECT @EmpLName = RTRIM(@EmpLName) + '%';
SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, a.City
FROM Person.Person p JOIN Person.Address a ON p.BusinessEntityID = a.AddressID
WHERE p.LastName LIKE @EmpLName;
GO
EXEC FindEmployee @EmpLName = 'Barb';

Here is the result set.

FirstName LastName City

---------- -------------------- ---------------

Angela Barbariol Snohomish

David Barber Snohomish

(2 row(s) affected)

Pattern Matching by Using LIKE

LIKE supports ASCII pattern matching and Unicode pattern matching. When all arguments (match_expression,
pattern, and escape_character, if present) are ASCII character data types, ASCII pattern matching is performed. If
any one of the arguments are of Unicode data type, all arguments are converted to Unicode and Unicode pattern
matching is performed. When you use Unicode data (nchar or nvarchar data types) with LIKE, trailing blanks are
significant; however, for non-Unicode data, trailing blanks are not significant. Unicode LIKE is compatible with the
ISO standard. ASCII LIKE is compatible with earlier versions of SQL Server.
The following is a series of examples that show the differences in rows returned between ASCII and Unicode LIKE
pattern matching.

-- ASCII pattern matching with char column

CREATE TABLE t (col1 char(30));
INSERT INTO t VALUES ('Robert King');
SELECT *
FROM t
WHERE col1 LIKE '% King'; -- returns 1 row

-- Unicode pattern matching with nchar column

CREATE TABLE t (col1 nchar(30));
INSERT INTO t VALUES ('Robert King');
SELECT *
FROM t
WHERE col1 LIKE '% King'; -- no rows returned

-- Unicode pattern matching with nchar column and RTRIM

CREATE TABLE t (col1 nchar (30));
INSERT INTO t VALUES ('Robert King');
SELECT *
FROM t
WHERE RTRIM(col1) LIKE '% King'; -- returns 1 row
 NOTE
LIKE comparisons are affected by collation. For more information, see COLLATE (Transact-SQL).

Using the % Wildcard Character

If the LIKE '5%' symbol is specified, the Database Engine searches for the number 5 followed by any string of zero
or more characters.
For example, the following query shows all dynamic management views in the AdventureWorks2012 database,
because they all start with the letters dm .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT Name
FROM sys.system_views
WHERE Name LIKE 'dm%';
GO

To see all objects that are not dynamic management views, use NOT LIKE 'dm%' . If you have a total of 32 objects
and LIKE finds 13 names that match the pattern, NOT LIKE finds the 19 objects that do not match the LIKE pattern.
You may not always find the same names with a pattern such as LIKE '[^d][^m]%' . Instead of 19 names, you may
find only 14, with all the names that start with d or have m as the second letter eliminated from the results, and
the dynamic management view names. This is because match strings with negative wildcard characters are
evaluated in steps, one wildcard at a time. If the match fails at any point in the evaluation, it is eliminated.

Using Wildcard Characters As Literals

You can use the wildcard pattern matching characters as literal characters. To use a wildcard character as a literal
character, enclose the wildcard character in brackets. The following table shows several examples of using the
LIKE keyword and the [ ] wildcard characters.

SYMBOL MEANING

LIKE '5[%]' 5%

LIKE '[_]n' _n

LIKE '[a-cdf]' a, b, c, d, or f

LIKE '[-acdf]' -, a, c, d, or f

LIKE '[ [ ]' [

LIKE ']' ]

LIKE 'abc[_]d%' abc_d and abc_de

LIKE 'abc[def]' abcd, abce, and abcf

Pattern Matching with the ESCAPE Clause

You can search for character strings that include one or more of the special wildcard characters. For example, the
discounts table in a customers database may store discount values that include a percent sign (%). To search for
the percent sign as a character instead of as a wildcard character, the ESCAPE keyword and escape character must
be provided. For example, a sample database contains a column named comment that contains the text 30%. To
search for any rows that contain the string 30% anywhere in the comment column, specify a WHERE clause such
as WHERE comment LIKE '%30!%%' ESCAPE '!' . If ESCAPE and the escape character are not specified, the Database
Engine returns any rows with the string 30.
If there is no character after an escape character in the LIKE pattern, the pattern is not valid and the LIKE returns
FALSE. If the character after an escape character is not a wildcard character, the escape character is discarded and
the character following the escape is treated as a regular character in the pattern. This includes the percent sign
(%), underscore (_), and left bracket ([) wildcard characters when they are enclosed in double brackets ([ ]). Also,
within the double bracket characters ([ ]), escape characters can be used and the caret (^), hyphen (-), and right
bracket (]) can be escaped.
0x0000 (char(0)) is an undefined character in Windows collations and cannot be included in LIKE.

Examples
A. Using LIKE with the % wildcard character
The following example finds all telephone numbers that have area code 415 in the PersonPhone table.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, ph.PhoneNumber

FROM Person.PersonPhone AS ph
INNER JOIN Person.Person AS p
ON ph.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
WHERE ph.PhoneNumber LIKE '415%'
ORDER by p.LastName;
GO

Here is the result set.

FirstName LastName Phone

----------------- ------------------- ------------

Ruben Alonso 415-555-124

Shelby Cook 415-555-0121

Karen Hu 415-555-0114

John Long 415-555-0147

David Long 415-555-0123

Gilbert Ma 415-555-0138

Meredith Moreno 415-555-0131

Alexandra Nelson 415-555-0174

Taylor Patterson 415-555-0170

Gabrielle Russell 415-555-0197

Dalton Simmons 415-555-0115

(11 row(s) affected)

B. Using NOT LIKE with the % wildcard character

The following example finds all telephone numbers in the PersonPhone table that have area codes other than 415
.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, ph.PhoneNumber

FROM Person.PersonPhone AS ph
INNER JOIN Person.Person AS p
ON ph.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
WHERE ph.PhoneNumber NOT LIKE '415%' AND p.FirstName = 'Gail'
ORDER BY p.LastName;
GO

Here is the result set.

FirstName LastName Phone

---------------------- -------------------- -------------------

Gail Alexander 1 (11) 500 555-0120

Gail Butler 1 (11) 500 555-0191

Gail Erickson 834-555-0132

Gail Erickson 849-555-0139

Gail Griffin 450-555-0171

Gail Moore 155-555-0169

Gail Russell 334-555-0170

Gail Westover 305-555-0100

(8 row(s) affected)

C. Using the ESCAPE clause

The following example uses the ESCAPE clause and the escape character to find the exact character string 10-15%
in column c1 of the mytbl2 table.
 USE tempdb;
GO
IF EXISTS(SELECT TABLE_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'mytbl2')
DROP TABLE mytbl2;
GO
USE tempdb;
GO
CREATE TABLE mytbl2
(
c1 sysname
);
GO
INSERT mytbl2 VALUES ('Discount is 10-15% off'), ('Discount is .10-.15 off');
GO
SELECT c1
FROM mytbl2
WHERE c1 LIKE '%10-15!% off%' ESCAPE '!';
GO

D. Using the [ ] wildcard characters

The following example finds employees on the Person table with the first name of Cheryl or Sheryl .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT BusinessEntityID, FirstName, LastName

FROM Person.Person
WHERE FirstName LIKE '[CS]heryl';
GO

The following example finds the rows for employees in the Person table with last names of Zheng or Zhang .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT LastName, FirstName

FROM Person.Person
WHERE LastName LIKE 'Zh[ae]ng'
ORDER BY LastName ASC, FirstName ASC;
GO

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

E. Using LIKE with the % wildcard character
The following example finds all employees in the DimEmployee table with telephone numbers that start with 612 .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, Phone

FROM DimEmployee
WHERE phone LIKE '612%'
ORDER by LastName;

F. Using NOT LIKE with the % wildcard character

The following example finds all telephone numbers in the DimEmployee table that do not start with 612 ..
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, Phone

FROM DimEmployee
WHERE phone NOT LIKE '612%'
ORDER by LastName;

G. Using LIKE with the _ wildcard character

The following example finds all telephone numbers that have an area code starting with 6 and ending in 2 in
the DimEmployee table. Note that the % wildcard character is also included at the end of the search pattern since
the area code is the first part of the phone number and additional characters exist after in the column value.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, Phone

FROM DimEmployee
WHERE phone LIKE '6_2%'
ORDER by LastName;

H. Using the [ ] wildcard characters

The following example finds DimEmployee rows with the first name of Rob or Bob .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, Phone

FROM DimEmployee
WHERE FirstName LIKE '[RB]ob'
ORDER by LastName;

See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
 NOT (Transact-SQL)
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Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Negates a Boolean input.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

[ NOT ] boolean_expression

Arguments
boolean_expression
Is any valid Boolean expression.

Result Types
Boolean

Result Value
NOT reverses the value of any Boolean expression.

Remarks
Using NOT negates an expression.
The following table shows the results of comparing TRUE and FALSE values using the NOT operator.

NOT

TRUE FALSE

FALSE TRUE

UNKNOWN UNKNOWN

Examples
The following example finds all Silver colored bicycles that do not have a standard price over $400.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductID, Name, Color, StandardCost

FROM Production.Product
WHERE ProductNumber LIKE 'BK-%' AND Color = 'Silver' AND NOT StandardCost > 400;
GO

Here is the result set.

ProductID Name Color StandardCost

--------- ------------------- ------ ------------

984 Mountain-500 Silver, 40 Silver 308.2179

985 Mountain-500 Silver, 42 Silver 308.2179

986 Mountain-500 Silver, 44 Silver 308.2179

987 Mountain-500 Silver, 48 Silver 308.2179

988 Mountain-500 Silver, 52 Silver 308.2179

(6 row(s) affected)

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

The following example restricts results to SalesOrderNumber to values starting with SO6 and ProductKeys greater
than or equal to 400.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT ProductKey, CustomerKey, OrderDateKey, ShipDateKey

FROM FactInternetSales
WHERE SalesOrderNumber LIKE 'SO6%' AND NOT ProductKey < 400;

See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
 OR (Transact-SQL)
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Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Combines two conditions. When more than one logical operator is used in a statement, OR operators are
evaluated after AND operators. However, you can change the order of evaluation by using parentheses.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

boolean_expression OR boolean_expression

Arguments
boolean_expression
Is any valid expression that returns TRUE, FALSE, or UNKNOWN.

Result Types
Boolean

Result Value
OR returns TRUE when either of the conditions is TRUE.

Remarks
The following table shows the result of the OR operator.

TRUE FALSE UNKNOWN

TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE

FALSE TRUE FALSE UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN TRUE UNKNOWN UNKNOWN

Examples
The following example uses the vEmployeeDepartmentHistory view to retrieve the names of Quality Assurance
personnel who work either the evening shift or the night shift. If the parentheses are omitted, the query returns
Quality Assurance employees who work the evening shift and all employees who work the night shift.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, Shift

FROM HumanResources.vEmployeeDepartmentHistory
WHERE Department = 'Quality Assurance'
AND (Shift = 'Evening' OR Shift = 'Night');

Here is the result set.

FirstName LastName Shift

------------ ---------------- -------

Andreas Berglund Evening

Sootha Charncherngkha Night

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

The following example retrieves the names of employees who either earn a BaseRate less than 20 or have a
HireDate January 1, 2001 or later.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName, BaseRate, HireDate

FROM DimEmployee
WHERE BaseRate < 10 OR HireDate >= '2001-01-01';

See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
 SOME | ANY (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 3 min to read • Edit Online

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Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Compares a scalar value with a single-column set of values. SOME and ANY are equivalent.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
scalar_expression { = | < > | ! = | > | > = | ! > | < | < = | ! < }
{ SOME | ANY } ( subquery )

Arguments
scalar_expression
Is any valid expression.
{ = | <> | != | > | >= | !> | < | <= | !< }
Is any valid comparison operator.
SOME | ANY
Specifies that a comparison should be made.
subquery
Is a subquery that has a result set of one column. The data type of the column returned must be the same data
type as scalar_expression.

Result Types
Boolean

Result Value
SOME or ANY returns TRUE when the comparison specified is TRUE for any pair (scalar_expression,x) where x is a
value in the single-column set; otherwise, returns FALSE.

Remarks
SOME requires the scalar_expression to compare positively to at least one value returned by the subquery. For
statements that require the scalar_expression to compare positively to every value that is returned by the
subquery, see ALL (Transact-SQL). For instance, if the subquery returns values of 2 and 3, scalar_expression =
SOME (subquery) would evaluate as TRUE for a scalar_express of 2. If the subquery returns values of 2 and 3,
scalar_expression = ALL (subquery) would evaluate as FALSE, because some of the values of the subquery (the
value of 3) would not meet the criteria of the expression.

Examples
A. Running a simple example
The following statements create a simple table and add the values of 1 , 2 , 3 , and 4 to the ID column.

CREATE TABLE T1
(ID int) ;
GO
INSERT T1 VALUES (1) ;
INSERT T1 VALUES (2) ;
INSERT T1 VALUES (3) ;
INSERT T1 VALUES (4) ;

The following query returns TRUE because 3 is less than some of the values in the table.

IF 3 < SOME (SELECT ID FROM T1)

PRINT 'TRUE'
ELSE
PRINT 'FALSE' ;

The following query returns FALSE because 3 is not less than all of the values in the table.

IF 3 < ALL (SELECT ID FROM T1)

PRINT 'TRUE'
ELSE
PRINT 'FALSE' ;

B. Running a practical example

The following example creates a stored procedure that determines whether all the components of a specified
SalesOrderID in the AdventureWorks2012 database can be manufactured in the specified number of days. The
example uses a subquery to create a list of the number of DaysToManufacture value for all the components of the
specific SalesOrderID , and then tests whether any of the values that are returned by the subquery are greater than
the number of days specified. If every value of DaysToManufacture that is returned is less than the number
provided, the condition is TRUE and the first message is printed.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

CREATE PROCEDURE ManyDaysToComplete @OrderID int, @NumberOfDays int

AS
IF
@NumberOfDays < SOME
(
SELECT DaysToManufacture
FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail
JOIN Production.Product
ON Sales.SalesOrderDetail.ProductID = Production.Product.ProductID
WHERE SalesOrderID = @OrderID
)
PRINT 'At least one item for this order cannot be manufactured in specified number of days.'
ELSE
PRINT 'All items for this order can be manufactured in the specified number of days or less.' ;

To test the procedure, execute the procedure by using the SalesOrderID``49080 , which has one component that
requires 2 days and two components that require 0 days. The first statement meets the criteria. The second query
does not.

EXECUTE ManyDaysToComplete 49080, 2 ;

Here is the result set.
All items for this order can be manufactured in the specified number of days or less.

EXECUTE ManyDaysToComplete 49080, 1 ;

Here is the result set.

At least one item for this order cannot be manufactured in specified number of days.

See Also
ALL (Transact-SQL)
CASE (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)
IN (Transact-SQL)
 Scope Resolution Operator (Transact-SQL)
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Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
The scope resolution operator :: provides access to static members of a compound data type. A compound data
type is one that contains multiple simple data types and methods.

Examples
The following example shows how to use the scope resolution operator to access the GetRoot() member of the
hierarchyid type.

DECLARE @hid hierarchyid;

SELECT @hid = hierarchyid::GetRoot();
PRINT @hid.ToString();

Here is the result set.

/

See Also
Operators (Transact-SQL)
 String Operators (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2012) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
SQL Server provides the following string operators. String concatenation operators can combine two or more
character or binary strings, columns, or a combination of strings and column names into one expression. Wildcard
string operators can matches one or more characters in a string comparison operation such as LIKE or PATINDEX.

Section Heading
+ (String Concatenation)
+= (String Concatenation)
% (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match)
[ ] (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match)
[^] (Wildcard - Character(s) Not to Match)
_ (Wildcard - Match One Character)
 + (String Concatenation) (Transact-SQL)
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Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
An operator in a string expression that concatenates two or more character or binary strings, columns, or a
combination of strings and column names into one expression (a string operator). For example
SELECT 'book'+'case'; returns bookcase .

Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

expression + expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any one of the data types in the character and binary data type category, except the
image, ntext, or text data types. Both expressions must be of the same data type, or one expression must be able
to be implicitly converted to the data type of the other expression.
An explicit conversion to character data must be used when concatenating binary strings and any characters
between the binary strings. The following example shows when CONVERT , or CAST , must be used with binary
concatenation and when CONVERT , or CAST , does not have to be used.

DECLARE @mybin1 varbinary(5), @mybin2 varbinary(5)

SET @mybin1 = 0xFF
SET @mybin2 = 0xA5
-- No CONVERT or CAST function is required because this example
-- concatenates two binary strings.
SELECT @mybin1 + @mybin2
-- A CONVERT or CAST function is required because this example
-- concatenates two binary strings plus a space.
SELECT CONVERT(varchar(5), @mybin1) + ' '
+ CONVERT(varchar(5), @mybin2)
-- Here is the same conversion using CAST.
SELECT CAST(@mybin1 AS varchar(5)) + ' '
+ CAST(@mybin2 AS varchar(5))

Result Types
Returns the data type of the argument with the highest precedence. For more information, see Data Type
Precedence (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
The + (String Concatenation) operator behaves differently when it works with an empty, zero-length string than
when it works with NULL, or unknown values. A zero-length character string can be specified as two single
quotation marks without any characters inside the quotation marks. A zero-length binary string can be specified as
0x without any byte values specified in the hexadecimal constant. Concatenating a zero-length string always
concatenates the two specified strings. When you work with strings with a null value, the result of the
concatenation depends on the session settings. Just like arithmetic operations that are performed on null values,
when a null value is added to a known value the result is typically an unknown value, a string concatenation
operation that is performed with a null value should also produce a null result. However, you can change this
behavior by changing the setting of CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL for the current session. For more information, see
SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL (Transact-SQL).
If the result of the concatenation of strings exceeds the limit of 8,000 bytes, the result is truncated. However, if at
least one of the strings concatenated is a large value type, truncation does not occur.

Examples
A. Using string concatenation
The following example creates a single column under the column heading Name from multiple character columns,
with the last name of the person followed by a comma, a single space, and then the first name of the person. The
result set is in ascending, alphabetical order by the last name, and then by the first name.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT (LastName + ', ' + FirstName) AS Name

FROM Person.Person
ORDER BY LastName ASC, FirstName ASC;

B. Combining numeric and date data types

The following example uses the CONVERT function to concatenate numeric and date data types.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT 'The order is due on ' + CONVERT(varchar(12), DueDate, 101)

FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader
WHERE SalesOrderID = 50001;
GO

Here is the result set.

------------------------------------------------

The order is due on 04/23/2007

(1 row(s) affected)

C. Using multiple string concatenation

The following example concatenates multiple strings to form one long string to display the last name and the first
initial of the vice presidents at Adventure Works Cycles. A comma is added after the last name and a period after
the first initial.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT (LastName + ',' + SPACE(1) + SUBSTRING(FirstName, 1, 1) + '.') AS Name, e.JobTitle

FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON p.BusinessEntityID = e.BusinessEntityID
WHERE e.JobTitle LIKE 'Vice%'
ORDER BY LastName ASC;
GO

Here is the result set.

Name Title

------------- ---------------

Duffy, T. Vice President of Engineering

Hamilton, J. Vice President of Production

Welcker, B. Vice President of Sales

(3 row(s) affected)

D. Using large strings in concatenation

The following example concatenates multiple strings to form one long string and then tries to compute the length
of the final string. The final length of resultset is 16000, because expression evaluation starts from left that is, @x +
@z + @y => (@x + @z) + @y. In this case the result of (@x + @z) is truncated at 8000 bytes and then @y is added
to the resultset, which makes the final string length 16000. Since @y is a large value type string, truncation does
not occur.

DECLARE @x varchar(8000) = replicate('x', 8000)

DECLARE @y varchar(max) = replicate('y', 8000)
DECLARE @z varchar(8000) = replicate('z',8000)
SET @y = @x + @z + @y
-- The result of following select is 16000
SELECT len(@y) AS y
GO

Here is the result set.

y

-------

16000

(1 row(s) affected)

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

E. Using string concatenation
The following example creates a single column under the column heading Name from multiple-character columns,
with the last name of the contact followed by a comma, a single space, and then the first name of the contact. The
result set is in ascending, alphabetical order by the last name, and then by the first name.
 -- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT (LastName + ', ' + FirstName) AS Name

FROM DimEmployee
ORDER BY LastName ASC, FirstName ASC;

F. Using multiple string concatenation

The following example concatenates multiple strings to form one long string to display the last name and the first
initial of the vice presidents within a sample database. A comma is added after the last name and a period after the
first initial.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT (LastName + ', ' + SUBSTRING(FirstName, 1, 1) + '.') AS Name, Title

FROM DimEmployee
WHERE Title LIKE '%Vice Pres%'
ORDER BY LastName ASC;

Here is the result set.

Name Title
------------- ---------------
Duffy, T. Vice President of Engineering
Hamilton, J. Vice President of Production
Welcker, B. Vice President of Sales

See Also
ALTER DATABASE (Transact-SQL)
CAST and CONVERT (Transact-SQL)
Data Type Conversion (Database Engine)
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
SET Statements (Transact-SQL)
+= (String Concatenation) (Transact-SQL)
 String Concatenation - equal (Transact-SQL)
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Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Concatenates two strings and sets the string to the result of the operation. For example, if a variable @x equals
'Adventure', then @x += 'Works' takes the original value of @x, adds 'Works' to the string, and sets @x to that
new value 'AdventureWorks'.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
expression += expression

Arguments
expression
Is any valid expression of any of the character data types.

Result Types
Returns the data type that is defined for the variable.

Remarks
SET @v1 += 'expression' is equivalent to SET @v1 = @v1 + ('expression'). Also, SET @v1 = @v2 + @v3 + @v4 is
equivalent to SET @v1 = (@v2 + @v3) + @v4.
The += operator cannot be used without a variable. For example, the following code will cause an error:

SELECT 'Adventure' += 'Works'

Examples
A. Concatenation using += operator
The following example concatenates using the += operator.

DECLARE @v1 varchar(40);

SET @v1 = 'This is the original.';
SET @v1 += ' More text.';
PRINT @v1;

Here is the result set.

This is the original. More text.

B. Order of evaluation while concatenating using += operator

The following example concatenates multiple strings to form one long string and then tries to compute the length
of the final string. This example demonstrates the evaluation order and truncation rules, while using the
concatenation operator.

DECLARE @x varchar(4000) = replicate('x', 4000)

DECLARE @z varchar(8000) = replicate('z',8000)
DECLARE @y varchar(max);

SET @y = '';
SET @y += @x + @z;
SELECT LEN(@y) AS Y; -- 8000

SET @y = '';
SET @y = @y + @x + @z;
SELECT LEN(@y) AS Y; -- 12000

SET @y = '';
SET @y = @y +(@x + @z);
SELECT LEN(@y) AS Y; -- 8000
-- or
SET @y = '';
SET @y = @x + @z + @y;
SELECT LEN(@y) AS Y; -- 8000
GO

Here is the result set.

Y

-------

8000

(1 row(s) affected)

-------

12000

(1 row(s) affected)

-------

8000

(1 row(s) affected)

-------

8000

(1 row(s) affected)

See Also
Operators (Transact-SQL)
+= (Add EQUALS) (Transact-SQL)
+ (String Concatenation) (Transact-SQL)
 Percent character (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match)
(Transact-SQL)
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THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Matches any string of zero or more characters. This wildcard character can be used as either a prefix or a suffix.

Examples
The following example returns all the first names of people in the Person table of AdventureWorks2012 that start
with Dan .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName

FROM Person.Person
WHERE FirstName LIKE 'Dan%';
GO

See Also
LIKE (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
[ ] (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match)
[^] (Wildcard - Character(s) Not to Match)
_ (Wildcard - Match One Character)
 (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match) (Transact-SQL)
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THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Matches any single character within the specified range or set that is specified between brackets [ ] . These
wildcard characters can be used in string comparisons that involve pattern matching, such as LIKE and PATINDEX .

Examples
A: Simple example
The following example returns the names of that start with the letter m . [n-z] specifies that the second letter
must be somewhere in the range from n to z . The percent wildcard % allows any or no characters starting with
the 3 character. The model and msdb databases meet this criteria. The master database does not and is excluded
from the result set.

SELECT name FROM sys.databases

WHERE name LIKE 'm[n-z]%';

Here is the result set.

name
-----
model
msdb

You may have additional qualifying databases installed.

B: More complex example
The following example uses the [] operator to find the IDs and names of all Adventure Works employees who have
addresses with a four-digit postal code.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT e.BusinessEntityID, p.FirstName, p.LastName, a.PostalCode

FROM HumanResources.Employee AS e
INNER JOIN Person.Person AS p ON e.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
INNER JOIN Person.BusinessEntityAddress AS ea ON e.BusinessEntityID = ea.BusinessEntityID
INNER JOIN Person.Address AS a ON a.AddressID = ea.AddressID
WHERE a.PostalCode LIKE '[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]';

Here is the result set:

EmployeeID FirstName LastName PostalCode

---------- --------- --------- ----------
290 Lynn Tsoflias 3000

See Also
LIKE (Transact-SQL)
PATINDEX (Transact-SQL)
% (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match)
[^] (Wildcard - Character(s) Not to Match)
_ (Wildcard - Match One Character)
 (Wildcard - Character(s) Not to Match) (Transact-
SQL)
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THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Matches any single character that is not within the range or set specified between the square brackets.

Examples
The following example uses the [^] operator to find all the people in the Contact table who have first names that
start with Al and have a third letter that is not the letter a .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName

FROM Person.Person
WHERE FirstName LIKE 'Al[^a]%'
ORDER BY FirstName;

See Also
LIKE (Transact-SQL)
PATINDEX (Transact-SQL)
% (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match) (Transact-SQL)
[ ] (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match)
_ (Wildcard - Match One Character)
 _ (Wildcard - Match One Character) (Transact-SQL)
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THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Use the underscore character _ to match any single character in a string comparison operation that involves
pattern matching, such as LIKE and PATINDEX .

Examples
A: Simple example
The following example returns all database names that begin with the letter m and have the letter d as the third
letter. The underscore character specifies that the second character of the name can be any letter. The model and
msdb databases meet this criteria. The master database does not.

SELECT name FROM sys.databases

WHERE name LIKE 'm_d%';

Here is the result set.

name
-----
model
msdb

You may have additional databases that meet this criteria.

You can use multiple underscores to represent multiple characters. Changing the LIKE criteria to include two
underscores 'm__% includes the master database in the result.
B: More complex example
The following example uses the _ operator to find all the people in the Person table, who have a three-letter first
name that ends in an .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

SELECT FirstName, LastName

FROM Person.Person
WHERE FirstName LIKE '_an'
ORDER BY FirstName;

C: Escaping the underscore character

The following example returns the names of the fixed database roles like db_owner and db_ddladmin , but it also
returns the dbo user.
 SELECT name FROM sys.database_principals
WHERE name LIKE 'db_%';

The underscore in the third character position is taken as a wildcard, and is not filtering for only principals starting
with the letters db_ . To escape the underscore enclose it in brackets [_] .

SELECT name FROM sys.database_principals

WHERE name LIKE 'db[_]%';

Now the dbo user is excluded.

Here is the result set.

name
-------------
db_owner
db_accessadmin
db_securityadmin
...

See Also
LIKE (Transact-SQL)
PATINDEX (Transact-SQL)
% (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match)
[ ] (Wildcard - Character(s) to Match)
[^] (Wildcard - Character(s) Not to Match)
 Operator Precedence (Transact-SQL)
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Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
When a complex expression has multiple operators, operator precedence determines the sequence in which the
operations are performed. The order of execution can significantly affect the resulting value.
Operators have the precedence levels shown in the following table. An operator on higher levels is evaluated
before an operator on a lower level.

LEVEL OPERATORS

1 ~ (Bitwise NOT)

2 * (Multiply), / (Division), % (Modulo)

3 + (Positive), - (Negative), + (Add), (+ Concatenate), -

(Subtract), & (Bitwise AND), ^ (Bitwise Exclusive OR), | (Bitwise
OR)

4 =, >, <, >=, <=, <>, !=, !>, !< (Comparison operators)

5 NOT

6 AND

7 ALL, ANY, BETWEEN, IN, LIKE, OR, SOME

8 = (Assignment)

When two operators in an expression have the same operator precedence level, they are evaluated left to right
based on their position in the expression. For example, in the expression that is used in the following SET
statement, the subtraction operator is evaluated before the addition operator.

DECLARE @MyNumber int;

SET @MyNumber = 4 - 2 + 27;
-- Evaluates to 2 + 27 which yields an expression result of 29.
SELECT @MyNumber;

Use parentheses to override the defined precedence of the operators in an expression. Everything within the
parentheses is evaluated first to yield a single value before that value can be used by any operator outside the
parentheses.
For example, in the expression used in the following SET statement, the multiplication operator has a higher
precedence than the addition operator. Therefore, it is evaluated first; the expression result is 13 .
 DECLARE @MyNumber int;
SET @MyNumber = 2 * 4 + 5;
-- Evaluates to 8 + 5 which yields an expression result of 13.
SELECT @MyNumber;

In the expression used in the following SET statement, the parentheses cause the addition to be performed first.
The expression result is 18 .

DECLARE @MyNumber int;

SET @MyNumber = 2 * (4 + 5);
-- Evaluates to 2 * 9 which yields an expression result of 18.
SELECT @MyNumber;

If an expression has nested parentheses, the most deeply nested expression is evaluated first. The following
example contains nested parentheses, with the expression 5 - 3 in the most deeply nested set of parentheses.
This expression yields a value of 2 . Then, the addition operator ( + ) adds this result to 4 . This yields a value of
6 . Finally, the 6 is multiplied by 2 to yield an expression result of 12 .

DECLARE @MyNumber int;

SET @MyNumber = 2 * (4 + (5 - 3) );
-- Evaluates to 2 * (4 + 2) which then evaluates to 2 * 6, and
-- yields an expression result of 12.
SELECT @MyNumber;

See Also
Logical Operators (Transact-SQL)
Operators (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
 Transactions (Transact-SQL)
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THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2012) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
A transaction is a single unit of work. If a transaction is successful, all of the data modifications made during the
transaction are committed and become a permanent part of the database. If a transaction encounters errors and
must be canceled or rolled back, then all of the data modifications are erased.
SQL Server operates in the following transaction modes.
Autocommit transactions
Each individual statement is a transaction.
Explicit transactions
Each transaction is explicitly started with the BEGIN TRANSACTION statement and explicitly ended with a COMMIT
or ROLLBACK statement.
Implicit transactions
A new transaction is implicitly started when the prior transaction completes, but each transaction is explicitly
completed with a COMMIT or ROLLBACK statement.
Batch-scoped transactions
Applicable only to multiple active result sets (MARS), a Transact-SQL explicit or implicit transaction that starts under
a MARS session becomes a batch-scoped transaction. A batch-scoped transaction that is not committed or rolled
back when a batch completes is automatically rolled back by SQL Server.

In This Section
SQL Server provides the following transaction statements.

BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION ROLLBACK TRANSACTION

BEGIN TRANSACTION ROLLBACK WORK

COMMIT TRANSACTION SAVE TRANSACTION

COMMIT WORK

See Also
SET IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS (Transact-SQL)
@@TRANCOUNT (Transact-SQL)
 Transactions (SQL Data Warehouse)
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THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse Parallel Data
Warehouse
A transaction is a group of one or more database statements that are either wholly committed or wholly rolled
back. Each transaction is atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable (ACID). If the transaction succeeds, all statements
within it are committed. If the transaction fails, that is at least one of the statements in the group fails, then the
entire group is rolled back.
The beginning and end of transactions depends on the AUTOCOMMIT setting and the BEGIN TRANSACTION,
COMMIT, and ROLLBACK statements. SQL Data Warehouse supports the following types of transactions:
Explicit transactions start with the BEGIN TRANSACTION statement and end with the COMMIT or ROLLBACK
statement.
Auto-commit transactions initiate automatically within a session and do not start with the BEGIN
TRANSACTION statement. When the AUTOCOMMIT setting is ON, each statement runs in a transaction and
no explicit COMMIT or ROLLBACK is necessary. When the AUTOCOMMIT setting is OFF, a COMMIT or
ROLLBACK statement is required to determine the outcome of the transaction. In SQL Data Warehouse,
autocommit transactions begin immediately after a COMMIT or ROLLBACK statement, or after a SET
AUTOCOMMIT OFF statement.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions (Transact-SQL)

Syntax
-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

BEGIN TRANSACTION [;]

COMMIT [ TRAN | TRANSACTION | WORK ] [;]
ROLLBACK [ TRAN | TRANSACTION | WORK ] [;]
SET AUTOCOMMIT { ON | OFF } [;]
SET IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS { ON | OFF } [;]

Arguments
BEGIN TRANSACTION
Marks the starting point of an explicit transaction.
COMMIT [ WORK ]
Marks the end of an explicit or autocommit transaction. This statement causes the changes in the transaction to be
permanently committed to the database. The statement COMMIT is identical to COMMIT WORK, COMMIT TRAN,
and COMMIT TRANSACTION.
ROLLBACK [ WORK ]
Rolls back a transaction to the beginning of the transaction. No changes for the transaction are committed to the
database. The statement ROLLBACK is identical to ROLLBACK WORK, ROLLBACK TRAN, and ROLLBACK
TRANSACTION.
SET AUTOCOMMIT { ON | OFF }
Determines how transactions can start and end.
ON
Each statement runs under its own transaction and no explicit COMMIT or ROLLBACK statement is necessary.
Explicit transactions are allowed when AUTOCOMMIT is ON.
OFF
SQL Data Warehouse automatically initiates a transaction when a transaction is not already in progress. Any
subsequent statements are run as part of the transaction and a COMMIT or ROLLBACK is necessary to determine
the outcome of the transaction. As soon as a transaction commits or rolls back under this mode of operation, the
mode remains OFF, and SQL Data Warehouse initiates a new transaction. Explicit transactions are not allowed
when AUTOCOMMIT is OFF.
If you change the AUTOCOMMIT setting within an active transaction, the setting does affect the current transaction
and does not take affect until the transaction is completed.
If AUTOCOMMIT is ON, running another SET AUTOCOMMIT ON statement has no effect. Likewise, if
AUTOCOMMIT is OFF, running another SET AUTOCOMMIT OFF has no effect.
SET IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS { ON | OFF }
This toggles the same modes as SET AUTOCOMMIT. When ON, SET IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS sets the connection
into implicit transaction mode. When OFF, it returns the connection to autocommit mode. For more information,
see SET IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS (Transact-SQL).

Permissions
No specific permissions are required to run the transaction-related statements. Permissions are required to run the
statements within the transaction.

Error Handling
If COMMIT or ROLLBACK are run and there is no active transaction, an error is raised.
If a BEGIN TRANSACTION is run while a transaction is already in progress, an error is raised. This can occur if a
BEGIN TRANSACTION occurs after a successful BEGIN TRANSACTION statement or when the session is under SET
AUTOCOMMIT OFF.
If an error other than a run-time statement error prevents the successful completion of an explicit transaction, SQL
Data Warehouse automatically rolls back the transaction and frees all resources held by the transaction. For
example, if the client's network connection to an instance of SQL Data Warehouse is broken or the client logs off
the application, any uncommitted transactions for the connection are rolled back when the network notifies the
instance of the break.
If a run-time statement error occurs in a batch, SQL Data Warehouse behaves consistent with SQL
ServerXACT_ABORT set to ON and the entire transaction is rolled back. For more information about the
XACT_ABORT setting, see SET XACT_ABORT (Transact-SQL).

General Remarks
A session can only run one transaction at a given time; save points and nested transactions are not supported.
It is the responsibility of the SQL programmer to issue COMMIT only at a point when all data referenced by the
transaction is logically correct.
When a session is terminated before a transaction completes, the transaction is rolled back.
Transaction modes are managed at the session level. For example, if one session begins an explicit transaction or
sets AUTOCOMMIT to OFF, or sets IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS to ON, it has no effect on the transaction modes of
any other session.
Limitations and Restrictions
You cannot roll back a transaction after a COMMIT statement is issued because the data modifications have been
made a permanent part of the database.
The CREATE DATABASE (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) and DROP DATABASE (Transact-SQL) commands cannot be
used inside an explicit transaction.
SQL Data Warehouse does not have a transaction sharing mechanism. This implies that at any given point in time,
only one session can be doing work on any transaction in the system.

Locking Behavior
SQL Data Warehouse uses locking to ensure the integrity of transactions and maintain the consistency of
databases when multiple users are accessing data at the same time. Locking is used by both implicit and explicit
transactions. Each transaction requests locks of different types on the resources, such as tables or databases on
which the transaction depends. All SQL Data Warehouse locks are table level or higher. The locks block other
transactions from modifying the resources in a way that would cause problems for the transaction requesting the
lock. Each transaction frees its locks when it no longer has a dependency on the locked resources; explicit
transactions retain locks until the transaction completes when it is either committed or rolled back.

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

A. Using an explicit transaction

BEGIN TRANSACTION;
DELETE FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
WHERE JobCandidateID = 13;
COMMIT;

B. Rolling back a transaction

The following example shows the effect of rolling back a transaction. In this example, the ROLLBACK statement will
roll back the INSERT statement, but the created table will still exist.

CREATE TABLE ValueTable (id int);

BEGIN TRANSACTION;
INSERT INTO ValueTable VALUES(1);
INSERT INTO ValueTable VALUES(2);
ROLLBACK;

C. Setting AUTOCOMMIT
The following example sets the AUTOCOMMIT setting to ON .

SET AUTOCOMMIT ON;

The following example sets the AUTOCOMMIT setting to OFF .

SET AUTOCOMMIT OFF;

D. Using an implicit multi-statement transaction

 SET AUTOCOMMIT OFF;
CREATE TABLE ValueTable (id int);
INSERT INTO ValueTable VALUES(1);
INSERT INTO ValueTable VALUES(2);
COMMIT;

See Also
SET IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS (Transact-SQL)
SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL (Transact-SQL)
@@TRANCOUNT (Transact-SQL)
 Transaction Isolation Levels
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Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
SQL Server does not guarantee that lock hints will be honored in queries that access metadata through catalog
views, compatibility views, information schema views, metadata-emitting built-in functions.
Internally, the SQL Server Database Engine only honors the READ COMMITTED isolation level for metadata access.
If a transaction has an isolation level that is, for example, SERIALIZABLE and within the transaction, an attempt is
made to access metadata by using catalog views or metadata-emitting built-in functions, those queries will run
until they are completed as READ COMMITTED. However, under snapshot isolation, access to metadata might fail
because of concurrent DDL operations. This is because metadata is not versioned. Therefore, accessing the
following under snapshot isolation might fail:
Catalog views
Compatibility views
Information Schema Views
Metadata-emitting built-in functions
sp_help group of stored procedures
SQL Server Native Client catalog procedures
Dynamic management views and functions
For more information about isolation levels, see SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL (Transact-SQL).
The following table provides a summary of metadata access under various isolation levels.

ISOLATION LEVEL SUPPORTED HONORED

READ UNCOMMITTED No Not guaranteed

READ COMMITTED Yes Yes

REPEATABLE READ No No

SNAPSHOT ISOLATION No No

SERIALIZABLE No No
 BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
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THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Specifies the start of a Transact-SQL distributed transaction managed by Microsoft Distributed Transaction
Coordinator (MS DTC).
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
BEGIN DISTRIBUTED { TRAN | TRANSACTION }
[ transaction_name | @tran_name_variable ]
[ ; ]

Arguments
transaction_name
Is a user-defined transaction name used to track the distributed transaction within MS DTC utilities.
transaction_name must conform to the rules for identifiers and must be <= 32 characters.
@tran_name_variable
Is the name of a user-defined variable containing a transaction name used to track the distributed transaction
within MS DTC utilities. The variable must be declared with a char, varchar, nchar, or nvarchar data type.

Remarks
The instance of the SQL Server Database Engine executing the BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION statement is
the transaction originator and controls the completion of the transaction. When a subsequent COMMIT
TRANSACTION or ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement is issued for the session, the controlling instance requests
that MS DTC manage the completion of the distributed transaction across all of the instances involved.
Transaction-level snapshot isolation does not support distributed transactions.
The primary way remote instances of the Database Engine are enlisted in a distributed transaction is when a
session already enlisted in the distributed transaction executes a distributed query referencing a linked server.
For example, if BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION is issued on ServerA, the session calls a stored procedure on
ServerB and another stored procedure on ServerC. The stored procedure on ServerC executes a distributed query
against ServerD, and then all four computers are involved in the distributed transaction. The instance of the
Database Engine on ServerA is the originating controlling instance for the transaction.
The sessions involved in Transact-SQL distributed transactions do not get a transaction object they can pass to
another session for it to explicitly enlist in the distributed transaction. The only way for a remote server to enlist in
the transaction is to be the target of a distributed query or a remote stored procedure call.
When a distributed query is executed in a local transaction, the transaction is automatically promoted to a
distributed transaction if the target OLE DB data source supports ITransactionLocal. If the target OLE DB data
source does not support ITransactionLocal, only read-only operations are allowed in the distributed query.
A session already enlisted in the distributed transaction performs a remote stored procedure call referencing a
remote server.
The sp_configure remote proc trans option controls whether calls to remote stored procedures in a local
transaction automatically cause the local transaction to be promoted to a distributed transaction managed by MS
DTC. The connection-level SET option REMOTE_PROC_TRANSACTIONS can be used to override the instance
default established by sp_configure remote proc trans. With this option set on, a remote stored procedure call
causes a local transaction to be promoted to a distributed transaction. The connection that creates the MS DTC
transaction becomes the originator for the transaction. COMMIT TRANSACTION initiates an MS DTC coordinated
commit. If the sp_configure remote proc trans option is ON, remote stored procedure calls in local transactions
are automatically protected as part of distributed transactions without having to rewrite applications to specifically
issue BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION instead of BEGIN TRANSACTION.
For more information about the distributed transaction environment and process, see the Microsoft Distributed
Transaction Coordinator documentation.

Permissions
Requires membership in the public role.

Examples
This example deletes a candidate from the AdventureWorks2012 database on both the local instance of the
Database Engine and an instance on a remote server. Both the local and remote databases will either commit or
roll back the transaction.

NOTE
Unless MS DTC is currently installed on the computer running the instance of the Database Engine, this example produces
an error message. For more information about installing MS DTC, see the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator
documentation.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION;
-- Delete candidate from local instance.
DELETE AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.JobCandidate
WHERE JobCandidateID = 13;
-- Delete candidate from remote instance.
DELETE RemoteServer.AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.JobCandidate
WHERE JobCandidateID = 13;
COMMIT TRANSACTION;
GO

See Also
BEGIN TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT WORK (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK WORK (Transact-SQL)
SAVE TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
 BEGIN TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
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THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Marks the starting point of an explicit, local transaction. Explicit transactions start with the BEGIN TRANSACTION
statement and end with the COMMIT or ROLLBACK statement.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
--Applies to SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

BEGIN { TRAN | TRANSACTION }

[ { transaction_name | @tran_name_variable }
[ WITH MARK [ 'description' ] ]
]
[ ; ]

--Applies to Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

BEGIN { TRAN | TRANSACTION }

[ ; ]

Arguments
transaction_name
APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008), Azure SQL Database
Is the name assigned to the transaction. transaction_name must conform to the rules for identifiers, but identifiers
longer than 32 characters are not allowed. Use transaction names only on the outermost pair of nested
BEGIN...COMMIT or BEGIN...ROLLBACK statements. transaction_name is always case sensitive, even when the
instance of SQL Server is not case sensitive.
@tran_name_variable
APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008), Azure SQL Database
Is the name of a user-defined variable containing a valid transaction name. The variable must be declared with a
char, varchar, nchar, or nvarchar data type. If more than 32 characters are passed to the variable, only the first
32 characters will be used; the remaining characters will be truncated.
WITH MARK [ 'description' ]
APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008), Azure SQL Database
Specifies that the transaction is marked in the log. description is a string that describes the mark. A description
longer than 128 characters is truncated to 128 characters before being stored in the msdb.dbo.logmarkhistory
table.
If WITH MARK is used, a transaction name must be specified. WITH MARK allows for restoring a transaction log to
a named mark.
General Remarks
BEGIN TRANSACTION increments @@TRANCOUNT by 1.
BEGIN TRANSACTION represents a point at which the data referenced by a connection is logically and physically
consistent. If errors are encountered, all data modifications made after the BEGIN TRANSACTION can be rolled
back to return the data to this known state of consistency. Each transaction lasts until either it completes without
errors and COMMIT TRANSACTION is issued to make the modifications a permanent part of the database, or
errors are encountered and all modifications are erased with a ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement.
BEGIN TRANSACTION starts a local transaction for the connection issuing the statement. Depending on the
current transaction isolation level settings, many resources acquired to support the Transact-SQL statements
issued by the connection are locked by the transaction until it is completed with either a COMMIT TRANSACTION
or ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement. Transactions left outstanding for long periods of time can prevent other
users from accessing these locked resources, and also can prevent log truncation.
Although BEGIN TRANSACTION starts a local transaction, it is not recorded in the transaction log until the
application subsequently performs an action that must be recorded in the log, such as executing an INSERT,
UPDATE, or DELETE statement. An application can perform actions such as acquiring locks to protect the
transaction isolation level of SELECT statements, but nothing is recorded in the log until the application performs a
modification action.
Naming multiple transactions in a series of nested transactions with a transaction name has little effect on the
transaction. Only the first (outermost) transaction name is registered with the system. A rollback to any other
name (other than a valid savepoint name) generates an error. None of the statements executed before the rollback
is, in fact, rolled back at the time this error occurs. The statements are rolled back only when the outer transaction
is rolled back.
The local transaction started by the BEGIN TRANSACTION statement is escalated to a distributed transaction if the
following actions are performed before the statement is committed or rolled back:
An INSERT, DELETE, or UPDATE statement that references a remote table on a linked server is executed. The
INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement fails if the OLE DB provider used to access the linked server does not
support the ITransactionJoin interface.
A call is made to a remote stored procedure when the REMOTE_PROC_TRANSACTIONS option is set to ON.
The local copy of SQL Server becomes the transaction controller and uses Microsoft Distributed Transaction
Coordinator (MS DTC) to manage the distributed transaction.
A transaction can be explicitly executed as a distributed transaction by using BEGIN DISTRIBUTED
TRANSACTION. For more information, see BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL).
When SET IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS is set to ON, a BEGIN TRANSACTION statement creates two nested
transactions. For more information see, SET IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS (Transact-SQL)

Marked Transactions
The WITH MARK option causes the transaction name to be placed in the transaction log. When restoring a
database to an earlier state, the marked transaction can be used in place of a date and time. For more information,
see Use Marked Transactions to Recover Related Databases Consistently (Full Recovery Model) and RESTORE
(Transact-SQL).
Additionally, transaction log marks are necessary if you need to recover a set of related databases to a logically
consistent state. Marks can be placed in the transaction logs of the related databases by a distributed transaction.
Recovering the set of related databases to these marks results in a set of databases that are transactionally
consistent. Placement of marks in related databases requires special procedures.
The mark is placed in the transaction log only if the database is updated by the marked transaction. Transactions
that do not modify data are not marked.
BEGIN TRAN new_name WITH MARK can be nested within an already existing transaction that is not marked.
Upon doing so, new_name becomes the mark name for the transaction, despite the name that the transaction may
already have been given. In the following example, M2 is the name of the mark.

BEGIN TRAN T1;

UPDATE table1 ...;
BEGIN TRAN M2 WITH MARK;
UPDATE table2 ...;
SELECT * from table1;
COMMIT TRAN M2;
UPDATE table3 ...;
COMMIT TRAN T1;

When nesting transactions, trying to mark a transaction that is already marked results in a warning (not error)
message:
"BEGIN TRAN T1 WITH MARK ...;"
"UPDATE table1 ...;"
"BEGIN TRAN M2 WITH MARK ...;"
"Server: Msg 3920, Level 16, State 1, Line 3"
"WITH MARK option only applies to the first BEGIN TRAN WITH MARK."
"The option is ignored."

Permissions
Requires membership in the public role.

Examples
A. Using an explicit transaction
APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008), Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data
Warehouse
This example uses AdventureWorks.

BEGIN TRANSACTION;
DELETE FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
WHERE JobCandidateID = 13;
COMMIT;

B. Rolling back a transaction

APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008), Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data
Warehouse
The following example shows the effect of rolling back a transaction. In this example, the ROLLBACK statement will
roll back the INSERT statement, but the created table will still exist.
 CREATE TABLE ValueTable (id int);
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
INSERT INTO ValueTable VALUES(1);
INSERT INTO ValueTable VALUES(2);
ROLLBACK;

C. Naming a transaction
APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008), Azure SQL Database
The following example shows how to name a transaction.

DECLARE @TranName VARCHAR(20);

SELECT @TranName = 'MyTransaction';

BEGIN TRANSACTION @TranName;

USE AdventureWorks2012;
DELETE FROM AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.JobCandidate
WHERE JobCandidateID = 13;

COMMIT TRANSACTION @TranName;

GO

D. Marking a transaction
APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008), Azure SQL Database
The following example shows how to mark a transaction. The transaction CandidateDelete is marked.

BEGIN TRANSACTION CandidateDelete

WITH MARK N'Deleting a Job Candidate';
GO
USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
DELETE FROM AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.JobCandidate
WHERE JobCandidateID = 13;
GO
COMMIT TRANSACTION CandidateDelete;
GO

See Also
BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT WORK (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK WORK (Transact-SQL)
SAVE TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
 COMMIT TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 4 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Marks the end of a successful implicit or explicit transaction. If @@TRANCOUNT is 1, COMMIT TRANSACTION
makes all data modifications performed since the start of the transaction a permanent part of the database, frees
the resources held by the transaction, and decrements @@TRANCOUNT to 0. If @@TRANCOUNT is greater than
1, COMMIT TRANSACTION decrements @@TRANCOUNT only by 1 and the transaction stays active.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Applies to SQL Server (starting with 2008) and Azure SQL Database

COMMIT [ { TRAN | TRANSACTION } [ transaction_name | @tran_name_variable ] ] [ WITH ( DELAYED_DURABILITY = {

OFF | ON } ) ]
[ ; ]

-- Applies to Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse Database

COMMIT [ TRAN | TRANSACTION ]

[ ; ]

Arguments
transaction_name
APPLIES TO: SQL Server and Azure SQL Database
Is ignored by the SQL Server Database Engine. transaction_name specifies a transaction name assigned by a
previous BEGIN TRANSACTION. transaction_namemust conform to the rules for identifiers, but cannot exceed 32
characters. transaction_name can be used as a readability aid by indicating to programmers which nested BEGIN
TRANSACTION the COMMIT TRANSACTION is associated with.
@tran_name_variable
APPLIES TO: SQL Server and Azure SQL Database
Is the name of a user-defined variable containing a valid transaction name. The variable must be declared with a
char, varchar, nchar, or nvarchar data type. If more than 32 characters are passed to the variable, only 32
characters will be used; the remaining characters are truncated.
DELAYED_DURABILITY
APPLIES TO: SQL Server and Azure SQL Database
Option that requests this transaction be committed with delayed durability. The request is ignored if the database
has been altered with DELAYED_DURABILITY = DISABLED or DELAYED_DURABILITY = FORCED . See the topic Control
Transaction Durability for more information.

Remarks
It is the responsibility of the Transact-SQL programmer to issue COMMIT TRANSACTION only at a point when all
data referenced by the transaction is logically correct.
If the transaction committed was a Transact-SQL distributed transaction, COMMIT TRANSACTION triggers MS
DTC to use a two-phase commit protocol to commit all of the servers involved in the transaction. If a local
transaction spans two or more databases on the same instance of the Database Engine, the instance uses an
internal two-phase commit to commit all of the databases involved in the transaction.
When used in nested transactions, commits of the inner transactions do not free resources or make their
modifications permanent. The data modifications are made permanent and resources freed only when the outer
transaction is committed. Each COMMIT TRANSACTION issued when @@TRANCOUNT is greater than 1 simply
decrements @@TRANCOUNT by 1. When @@TRANCOUNT is finally decremented to 0, the entire outer
transaction is committed. Because transaction_name is ignored by the Database Engine, issuing a COMMIT
TRANSACTION referencing the name of an outer transaction when there are outstanding inner transactions only
decrements @@TRANCOUNT by 1.
Issuing a COMMIT TRANSACTION when @@TRANCOUNT is 0 results in an error; there is no corresponding
BEGIN TRANSACTION.
You cannot roll back a transaction after a COMMIT TRANSACTION statement is issued because the data
modifications have been made a permanent part of the database.
The Database Engine increments the transaction count within a statement only when the transaction count is 0 at
the start of the statement.

Permissions
Requires membership in the public role.

Examples
A. Committing a transaction
APPLIES TO: SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, and Parallel Data Warehouse
The following example deletes a job candidate. It uses AdventureWorks.

BEGIN TRANSACTION;
DELETE FROM HumanResources.JobCandidate
WHERE JobCandidateID = 13;
COMMIT TRANSACTION;

B. Committing a nested transaction

APPLIES TO: SQL Server and Azure SQL Database
The following example creates a table, generates three levels of nested transactions, and then commits the nested
transaction. Although each COMMIT TRANSACTION statement has a transaction_name parameter, there is no
relationship between the COMMIT TRANSACTION and BEGIN TRANSACTION statements. The transaction_name
parameters are simply readability aids to help the programmer ensure that the proper number of commits are
coded to decrement @@TRANCOUNT to 0 and thereby commit the outer transaction.
 IF OBJECT_ID(N'TestTran',N'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE TestTran;
GO
CREATE TABLE TestTran (Cola int PRIMARY KEY, Colb char(3));
GO
-- This statement sets @@TRANCOUNT to 1.
BEGIN TRANSACTION OuterTran;

PRINT N'Transaction count after BEGIN OuterTran = '

+ CAST(@@TRANCOUNT AS nvarchar(10));

INSERT INTO TestTran VALUES (1, 'aaa');

-- This statement sets @@TRANCOUNT to 2.

BEGIN TRANSACTION Inner1;

PRINT N'Transaction count after BEGIN Inner1 = '

+ CAST(@@TRANCOUNT AS nvarchar(10));

INSERT INTO TestTran VALUES (2, 'bbb');

-- This statement sets @@TRANCOUNT to 3.

BEGIN TRANSACTION Inner2;

PRINT N'Transaction count after BEGIN Inner2 = '

+ CAST(@@TRANCOUNT AS nvarchar(10));

INSERT INTO TestTran VALUES (3, 'ccc');

-- This statement decrements @@TRANCOUNT to 2.

-- Nothing is committed.
COMMIT TRANSACTION Inner2;

PRINT N'Transaction count after COMMIT Inner2 = '

+ CAST(@@TRANCOUNT AS nvarchar(10));

-- This statement decrements @@TRANCOUNT to 1.

-- Nothing is committed.
COMMIT TRANSACTION Inner1;

PRINT N'Transaction count after COMMIT Inner1 = '

+ CAST(@@TRANCOUNT AS nvarchar(10));

-- This statement decrements @@TRANCOUNT to 0 and

-- commits outer transaction OuterTran.
COMMIT TRANSACTION OuterTran;

PRINT N'Transaction count after COMMIT OuterTran = '

+ CAST(@@TRANCOUNT AS nvarchar(10));

See Also
BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT WORK (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK WORK (Transact-SQL)
SAVE TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
@@TRANCOUNT (Transact-SQL)
 COMMIT WORK (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Marks the end of a transaction.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
COMMIT [ WORK ]
[ ; ]

Remarks
This statement functions identically to COMMIT TRANSACTION, except COMMIT TRANSACTION accepts a user-
defined transaction name. This COMMIT syntax, with or without specifying the optional keyword WORK, is
compatible with SQL-92.

See Also
BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK WORK (Transact-SQL)
SAVE TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
@@TRANCOUNT (Transact-SQL)
 ROLLBACK TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 4 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Rolls back an explicit or implicit transaction to the beginning of the transaction, or to a savepoint inside the
transaction. You can use ROLLBACK TRANSACTION to erase all data modifications made from the start of the
transaction or to a savepoint. It also frees resources held by the transaction.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
ROLLBACK { TRAN | TRANSACTION }
[ transaction_name | @tran_name_variable
| savepoint_name | @savepoint_variable ]
[ ; ]

Arguments
transaction_name
Is the name assigned to the transaction on BEGIN TRANSACTION. transaction_name must conform to the rules
for identifiers, but only the first 32 characters of the transaction name are used. When nesting transactions,
transaction_name must be the name from the outermost BEGIN TRANSACTION statement. transaction_name is
always case sensitive, even when the instance of SQL Server is not case sensitive.
@ tran_name_variable
Is the name of a user-defined variable containing a valid transaction name. The variable must be declared with a
char, varchar, nchar, or nvarchar data type.
savepoint_name
Is savepoint_name from a SAVE TRANSACTION statement. savepoint_name must conform to the rules for
identifiers. Use savepoint_name when a conditional rollback should affect only part of the transaction.
@ savepoint_variable
Is name of a user-defined variable containing a valid savepoint name. The variable must be declared with a char,
varchar, nchar, or nvarchar data type.

Error Handling
A ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement does not produce any messages to the user. If warnings are needed in
stored procedures or triggers, use the RAISERROR or PRINT statements. RAISERROR is the preferred statement
for indicating errors.

General Remarks
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION without a savepoint_name or transaction_name rolls back to the beginning of the
transaction. When nesting transactions, this same statement rolls back all inner transactions to the outermost
BEGIN TRANSACTION statement. In both cases, ROLLBACK TRANSACTION decrements the @@TRANCOUNT
system function to 0. ROLLBACK TRANSACTION savepoint_name does not decrement @@TRANCOUNT.
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION cannot reference a savepoint_name in distributed transactions started either explicitly
with BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION or escalated from a local transaction.
A transaction cannot be rolled back after a COMMIT TRANSACTION statement is executed, except when the
COMMIT TRANSACTION is associated with a nested transaction that is contained within the transaction being
rolled back. In this instance, the nested transaction will also be rolled back, even if you have issued a COMMIT
TRANSACTION for it.
Within a transaction, duplicate savepoint names are allowed, but a ROLLBACK TRANSACTION using the duplicate
savepoint name rolls back only to the most recent SAVE TRANSACTION using that savepoint name.

Interoperability
In stored procedures, ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statements without a savepoint_name or transaction_name roll
back all statements to the outermost BEGIN TRANSACTION. A ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement in a stored
procedure that causes @@TRANCOUNT to have a different value when the stored procedure completes than the
@@TRANCOUNT value when the stored procedure was called produces an informational message. This message
does not affect subsequent processing.
If a ROLLBACK TRANSACTION is issued in a trigger:
All data modifications made to that point in the current transaction are rolled back, including any made by
the trigger.
The trigger continues executing any remaining statements after the ROLLBACK statement. If any of these
statements modify data, the modifications are not rolled back. No nested triggers are fired by the execution
of these remaining statements.
The statements in the batch after the statement that fired the trigger are not executed.
@@TRANCOUNT is incremented by one when entering a trigger, even when in autocommit mode. (The
system treats a trigger as an implied nested transaction.)
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statements in stored procedures do not affect subsequent statements in the
batch that called the procedure; subsequent statements in the batch are executed. ROLLBACK
TRANSACTION statements in triggers terminate the batch containing the statement that fired the trigger;
subsequent statements in the batch are not executed.
The effect of a ROLLBACK on cursors is defined by these three rules:
1. With CURSOR_CLOSE_ON_COMMIT set ON, ROLLBACK closes, but does not deallocate all open cursors.
2. With CURSOR_CLOSE_ON_COMMIT set OFF, ROLLBACK does not affect any open synchronous STATIC or
INSENSITIVE cursors or asynchronous STATIC cursors that have been fully populated. Open cursors of any
other type are closed but not deallocated.
3. An error that terminates a batch and generates an internal rollback deallocates all cursors that were
declared in the batch containing the error statement. All cursors are deallocated regardless of their type or
the setting of CURSOR_CLOSE_ON_COMMIT. This includes cursors declared in stored procedures called by
the error batch. Cursors declared in a batch before the error batch are subject to rules 1 and 2. A deadlock
error is an example of this type of error. A ROLLBACK statement issued in a trigger also automatically
generates this type of error.

Locking Behavior
A ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement specifying a savepoint_name releases any locks that are acquired beyond
the savepoint, with the exception of escalations and conversions. These locks are not released, and they are not
converted back to their previous lock mode.

Permissions
Requires membership in the public role.

Examples
The following example shows the effect of rolling back a named transaction.

USE tempdb;
GO
CREATE TABLE ValueTable ([value] int;)
GO

DECLARE @TransactionName varchar(20) = 'Transaction1';

--The following statements start a named transaction,

--insert two rows, and then roll back
--the transaction named in the variable @TransactionName.
--Another statement outside of the named transaction inserts two rows.
--The query returns the results of the previous statements.

BEGIN TRAN @TransactionName

INSERT INTO ValueTable VALUES(1), (2);
ROLLBACK TRAN @TransactionName;

INSERT INTO ValueTable VALUES(3),(4);

SELECT [value] FROM ValueTable;

DROP TABLE ValueTable;

--Results
--value
-------------
--3
--4

See Also
BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT WORK (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK WORK (Transact-SQL)
SAVE TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
 ROLLBACK WORK (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Rolls back a user-specified transaction to the beginning of the transaction.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
ROLLBACK [ WORK ]
[ ; ]

Remarks
This statement functions identically to ROLLBACK TRANSACTION except that ROLLBACK TRANSACTION accepts a
user-defined transaction name. With or without specifying the optional WORK keyword, this ROLLBACK syntax is
ISO-compatible.
When nesting transactions, ROLLBACK WORK always rolls back to the outermost BEGIN TRANSACTION
statement and decrements the @@TRANCOUNT system function to 0.

Permissions
ROLLBACK WORK permissions default to any valid user.

See Also
BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT WORK (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
SAVE TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
 SAVE TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 3 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Sets a savepoint within a transaction.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions
.|

Syntax
SAVE { TRAN | TRANSACTION } { savepoint_name | @savepoint_variable }
[ ; ]

Arguments
savepoint_name
Is the name assigned to the savepoint. Savepoint names must conform to the rules for identifiers, but are limited
to 32 characters. transaction_name is always case sensitive, even when the instance of SQL Server is not case
sensitive.
@savepoint_variable
Is the name of a user-defined variable containing a valid savepoint name. The variable must be declared with a
char, varchar, nchar, or nvarchar data type. More than 32 characters can be passed to the variable, but only the
first 32 characters will be used.

Remarks
A user can set a savepoint, or marker, within a transaction. The savepoint defines a location to which a transaction
can return if part of the transaction is conditionally canceled. If a transaction is rolled back to a savepoint, it must
proceed to completion with more Transact-SQL statements if needed and a COMMIT TRANSACTION statement,
or it must be canceled altogether by rolling the transaction back to its beginning. To cancel an entire transaction,
use the form ROLLBACK TRANSACTION transaction_name. All the statements or procedures of the transaction
are undone.
Duplicate savepoint names are allowed in a transaction, but a ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement that specifies
the savepoint name will only roll the transaction back to the most recent SAVE TRANSACTION using that name.
SAVE TRANSACTION is not supported in distributed transactions started either explicitly with BEGIN
DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION or escalated from a local transaction.

IMPORTANT
A ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement specifying a savepoint_name releases any locks that are acquired beyond the
savepoint, with the exception of escalations and conversions. These locks are not released, and they are not converted back
to their previous lock mode.
Permissions
Requires membership in the public role.

Examples
The following example shows how to use a transaction savepoint to roll back only the modifications made by a
stored procedure if an active transaction is started before the stored procedure is executed.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
IF EXISTS (SELECT name FROM sys.objects
WHERE name = N'SaveTranExample')
DROP PROCEDURE SaveTranExample;
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE SaveTranExample
@InputCandidateID INT
AS
-- Detect whether the procedure was called
-- from an active transaction and save
-- that for later use.
-- In the procedure, @TranCounter = 0
-- means there was no active transaction
-- and the procedure started one.
-- @TranCounter > 0 means an active
-- transaction was started before the
-- procedure was called.
DECLARE @TranCounter INT;
SET @TranCounter = @@TRANCOUNT;
IF @TranCounter > 0
-- Procedure called when there is
-- an active transaction.
-- Create a savepoint to be able
-- to roll back only the work done
-- in the procedure if there is an
-- error.
SAVE TRANSACTION ProcedureSave;
ELSE
-- Procedure must start its own
-- transaction.
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
-- Modify database.
BEGIN TRY
DELETE HumanResources.JobCandidate
WHERE JobCandidateID = @InputCandidateID;
-- Get here if no errors; must commit
-- any transaction started in the
-- procedure, but not commit a transaction
-- started before the transaction was called.
IF @TranCounter = 0
-- @TranCounter = 0 means no transaction was
-- started before the procedure was called.
-- The procedure must commit the transaction
-- it started.
COMMIT TRANSACTION;
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
-- An error occurred; must determine
-- which type of rollback will roll
-- back only the work done in the
-- procedure.
IF @TranCounter = 0
-- Transaction started in procedure.
-- Roll back complete transaction.
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
ELSE
 -- Transaction started before procedure
-- called, do not roll back modifications
-- made before the procedure was called.
IF XACT_STATE() <> -1
-- If the transaction is still valid, just
-- roll back to the savepoint set at the
-- start of the stored procedure.
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION ProcedureSave;
-- If the transaction is uncommitable, a
-- rollback to the savepoint is not allowed
-- because the savepoint rollback writes to
-- the log. Just return to the caller, which
-- should roll back the outer transaction.

-- After the appropriate rollback, echo error

-- information to the caller.
DECLARE @ErrorMessage NVARCHAR(4000);
DECLARE @ErrorSeverity INT;
DECLARE @ErrorState INT;

SELECT @ErrorMessage = ERROR_MESSAGE();

SELECT @ErrorSeverity = ERROR_SEVERITY();
SELECT @ErrorState = ERROR_STATE();

RAISERROR (@ErrorMessage, -- Message text.

@ErrorSeverity, -- Severity.
@ErrorState -- State.
);
END CATCH
GO

See Also
BEGIN TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
COMMIT WORK (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_LINE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_MESSAGE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_NUMBER (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_PROCEDURE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_SEVERITY (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_STATE (Transact-SQL)
RAISERROR (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL)
ROLLBACK WORK (Transact-SQL)
TRY...CATCH (Transact-SQL)
XACT_STATE (Transact-SQL)
 Variables (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 5 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2012) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
A Transact-SQL local variable is an object that can hold a single data value of a specific type. Variables in batches
and scripts are typically used:
As a counter either to count the number of times a loop is performed or to control how many times the loop is
performed.
To hold a data value to be tested by a control-of-flow statement.
To save a data value to be returned by a stored procedure return code or function return value.

NOTE
The names of some Transact-SQL system functions begin with two at signs (@@). Although in earlier versions of SQL Server,
the @@functions are referred to as global variables, they are not variables and do not have the same behaviors as variables.
The @@functions are system functions, and their syntax usage follows the rules for functions.

The following script creates a small test table and populates it with 26 rows. The script uses a variable to do three
things:
Control how many rows are inserted by controlling how many times the loop is executed.
Supply the value inserted into the integer column.
Function as part of the expression that generates letters to be inserted into the character column. ``` -- Create the
table. CREATE TABLE TestTable (cola int, colb char(3)); GO SET NOCOUNT ON; GO -- Declare the variable to be
used. DECLARE @MyCounter int;
-- Initialize the variable. SET @MyCounter = 0;
-- Test the variable to see if the loop is finished. WHILE (@MyCounter < 26) BEGIN; -- Insert a row into the table.
INSERT INTO TestTable VALUES -- Use the variable to provide the integer value -- for cola. Also use it to generate a
unique letter -- for each row. Use the ASCII function to get the -- integer value of 'a'. Add @MyCounter. Use CHAR
to -- convert the sum back to the character @MyCounter -- characters after 'a'. (@MyCounter, CHAR( (
@MyCounter + ASCII('a') ) ) ); -- Increment the variable to count this iteration -- of the loop. SET @MyCounter =
@MyCounter + 1; END; GO SET NOCOUNT OFF; GO -- View the data. SELECT cola, colb FROM TestTable; GO DROP
TABLE TestTable; GO

## Declaring a Transact-SQL Variable

The DECLARE statement initializes a Transact-SQL variable by:
* Assigning a name. The name must have a single @ as the first character.
* Assigning a system-supplied or user-defined data type and a length. For numeric variables, a precision and
scale are also assigned. For variables of type XML, an optional schema collection may be assigned.
* Setting the value to NULL.

For example, the following **DECLARE** statement creates a local variable named **@mycounter** with an int data
type.

DECLARE @MyCounter int;

 To declare more than one local variable, use a comma after the first local variable defined, and then specify
the next local variable name and data type.

For example, the following **DECLARE** statement creates three local variables named **@LastName**,
**@FirstName** and **@StateProvince**, and initializes each to NULL:

DECLARE @LastName nvarchar(30), @FirstName nvarchar(20), @StateProvince nchar(2);

The scope of a variable is the range of Transact-SQL statements that can reference the variable. The scope of a
variable lasts from the point it is declared until the end of the batch or stored procedure in which it is
declared. For example, the following script generates a syntax error because the variable is declared in one
batch and referenced in another:

USE AdventureWorks2014; GO DECLARE @MyVariable int; SET @MyVariable = 1; -- Terminate the batch by using
the GO keyword. GO -- @MyVariable has gone out of scope and no longer exists.
-- This SELECT statement generates a syntax error because it is -- no longer legal to reference @MyVariable.
SELECT BusinessEntityID, NationalIDNumber, JobTitle FROM HumanResources.Employee WHERE BusinessEntityID
= @MyVariable;

Variables have local scope and are only visible within the batch or procedure where they are defined. In the
following example, the nested scope created for execution of sp_executesql does not have access to the variable
declared in the higher scope and returns and error.

DECLARE @MyVariable int; SET @MyVariable = 1; EXECUTE sp_executesql N'SELECT @MyVariable'; -- this
produces an error

## Setting a Value in a Transact-SQL Variable

When a variable is first declared, its value is set to NULL. To assign a value to a variable, use the SET
statement. This is the preferred method of assigning a value to a variable. A variable can also have a value
assigned by being referenced in the select list of a SELECT statement.

To assign a variable a value by using the SET statement, include the variable name and the value to assign to
the variable. This is the preferred method of assigning a value to a variable. The following batch, for
example, declares two variables, assigns values to them, and then uses them in the `WHERE` clause of a `SELECT`
statement:

USE AdventureWorks2014; GO -- Declare two variables. DECLARE @FirstNameVariable nvarchar(50),

@PostalCodeVariable nvarchar(15);
-- Set their values. SET @FirstNameVariable = N'Amy'; SET @PostalCodeVariable = N'BA5 3HX';
-- Use them in the WHERE clause of a SELECT statement. SELECT LastName, FirstName, JobTitle, City,
StateProvinceName, CountryRegionName FROM HumanResources.vEmployee WHERE FirstName =
@FirstNameVariable OR PostalCode = @PostalCodeVariable; GO

A variable can also have a value assigned by being referenced in a select list. If a variable is referenced in
a select list, it should be assigned a scalar value or the SELECT statement should only return one row. For
example:

USE AdventureWorks2014; GO DECLARE @EmpIDVariable int;

SELECT @EmpIDVariable = MAX(EmployeeID) FROM HumanResources.Employee; GO

> [!WARNING]
> If there are multiple assignment clauses in a single SELECT statement, SQL Server does not guarantee the
order of evaluation of the expressions. Note that effects are only visible if there are references among the
assignments.

If a SELECT statement returns more than one row and the variable references a non-scalar expression, the
variable is set to the value returned for the expression in the last row of the result set. For example, in the
following batch **@EmpIDVariable** is set to the **BusinessEntityID** value of the last row returned, which is
1:

USE AdventureWorks2014; GO DECLARE @EmpIDVariable int;

SELECT @EmpIDVariable = BusinessEntityID FROM HumanResources.Employee ORDER BY BusinessEntityID DESC;
SELECT @EmpIDVariable; GO

## See Also
[Declare @local_variable](../../t-sql/language-elements/declare-local-variable-transact-sql.md)

[SET @local_variable](../../t-sql/language-elements/set-local-variable-transact-sql.md)

[SELECT @local_variable](../../t-sql/language-elements/select-local-variable-transact-sql.md)
 SET (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 11 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Sets the specified local variable, previously created by using the DECLARE @local_variable statement, to the
specified value.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

SET
{ @local_variable
[ . { property_name | field_name } ] = { expression | udt_name { . | :: } method_name }
}
|
{ @SQLCLR_local_variable.mutator_method
}
|
{ @local_variable
{+= | -= | *= | /= | %= | &= | ^= | |= } expression
}
|
{ @cursor_variable =
{ @cursor_variable | cursor_name
| { CURSOR [ FORWARD_ONLY | SCROLL ]
[ STATIC | KEYSET | DYNAMIC | FAST_FORWARD ]
[ READ_ONLY | SCROLL_LOCKS | OPTIMISTIC ]
[ TYPE_WARNING ]
FOR select_statement
[ FOR { READ ONLY | UPDATE [ OF column_name [ ,...n ] ] } ]
}
}
}

-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

SET @local_variable {+= | -= | *= | /= | %= | &= | ^= | |= } expression

Arguments
@ local_variable
Is the name of a variable of any type except cursor, text, ntext, image, or table. Variable names must start with
one at sign (@). Variable names must comply with the rules for identifiers.
property_name
Is a property of a user-defined type.
field_name
Is a public field of a user-defined type.
udt_name
Is the name of a common language runtime (CLR) user-defined type.
{ . | :: }
Specifies a method of a CLR user-define type. For an instance (non-static) method, use a period (.). For a static
method, use two colons (::). To invoke a method, property, or field of a CLR user-defined type, you must have
EXECUTE permission on the type.
method_name ( argument [ ,... n ] )
Is a method of a user-defined type that takes one or more arguments to modify the state of an instance of a type.
Static methods must be public.
@ SQLCLR_local_variable
Is a variable whose type is located in an assembly. For more information, see Common Language Runtime (CLR)
Integration Programming Concepts.
mutator_method
Is a method in the assembly that can change the state of the object. SQLMethodAttribute.IsMutator will be applied
to this method.
{ += | -= | *= | /= | %= | &= | ^= | |= }
Compound assignment operator:
+= Add and assign
-= Subtract and assign
*= Multiply and assign
/= Divide and assign
%= Modulo and assign
&= Bitwise AND and assign
^= Bitwise XOR and assign
|= Bitwise OR and assign
expression
Is any valid expression.
cursor_variable
Is the name of a cursor variable. If the target cursor variable previously referenced a different cursor, that previous
reference is removed.
cursor_name
Is the name of a cursor declared by using the DECLARE CURSOR statement.
CURSOR
Specifies that the SET statement contains a declaration of a cursor.
SCROLL
Specifies that the cursor supports all fetch options: FIRST, LAST, NEXT, PRIOR, RELATIVE, and ABSOLUTE. SCROLL
cannot be specified when FAST_FORWARD is also specified.
FORWARD_ONLY
Specifies that the cursor supports only the FETCH NEXT option. The cursor can be retrieved only in one direction,
from the first to the last row. When FORWARD_ONLY is specified without the STATIC, KEYSET, or DYNAMIC
keywords, the cursor is implemented as DYNAMIC. When neither FORWARD_ONLY nor SCROLL is specified,
FORWARD_ONLY is the default, unless the keywords STATIC, KEYSET, or DYNAMIC are specified. For STATIC,
KEYSET, and DYNAMIC cursors, SCROLL is the default.
STATIC
Defines a cursor that makes a temporary copy of the data to be used by the cursor. All requests to the cursor are
answered from this temporary table in tempdb; therefore, modifications made to base tables are not reflected in
the data returned by fetches made to this cursor, and this cursor does not allow for modifications.
KEYSET
Specifies that the membership and order of rows in the cursor are fixed when the cursor is opened. The set of keys
that uniquely identify the rows is built into the keysettable in tempdb. Changes to nonkey values in the base tables,
either made by the cursor owner or committed by other users, are visible as the cursor owner scrolls around the
cursor. Inserts made by other users are not visible, and inserts cannot be made through a Transact-SQL server
cursor.
If a row is deleted, an attempt to fetch the row returns an @@FETCH_STATUS of -2. Updates of key values from
outside the cursor are similar to a delete of the old row followed by an insert of the new row. The row with the new
values is not visible, and tries to fetch the row with the old values return an @@FETCH_STATUS of -2. The new
values are visible if the update is performed through the cursor by specifying the WHERE CURRENT OF clause.
DYNAMIC
Defines a cursor that reflects all data changes made to the rows in its result set as the cursor owner scrolls around
the cursor. The data values, order, and membership of the rows can change on each fetch. The absolute and
relative fetch options are not supported with dynamic cursors.
FAST_FORWARD
Specifies a FORWARD_ONLY, READ_ONLY cursor with optimizations enabled. FAST_FORWARD cannot be
specified when SCROLL is also specified.
READ_ONLY
Prevents updates from being made through this cursor. The cursor cannot be referenced in a WHERE CURRENT OF
clause in an UPDATE or DELETE statement. This option overrides the default capability of a cursor to be updated.
SCROLL LOCKS
Specifies that positioned updates or deletes made through the cursor are guaranteed to succeed. SQL Server locks
the rows as they are read into the cursor to guarantee their availability for later modifications. SCROLL_LOCKS
cannot be specified when FAST_FORWARD is also specified.
OPTIMISTIC
Specifies that positioned updates or deletes made through the cursor do not succeed if the row has been updated
since it was read into the cursor. SQL Server does not lock rows as they are read into the cursor. Instead, it uses
comparisons of timestamp column values, or a checksum value if the table has no timestamp column, to
determine whether the row was modified after it was read into the cursor. If the row was modified, the attempted
positioned update or delete fails. OPTIMISTIC cannot be specified when FAST_FORWARD is also specified.
TYPE_WARNING
Specifies that a warning message is sent to the client when the cursor is implicitly converted from the requested
type to another.
FOR select_statement
Is a standard SELECT statement that defines the result set of the cursor. The keywords FOR BROWSE, and INTO are
not allowed within the select_statement of a cursor declaration.
If DISTINCT, UNION, GROUP BY, or HAVING are used, or an aggregate expression is included in the select_list, the
cursor will be created as STATIC.
If each underlying tables does not have a unique index and an ISO SCROLL cursor or a Transact-SQL KEYSET
cursor is requested, it will automatically be a STATIC cursor.
If select_statement contains an ORDER BY clause in which the columns are not unique row identifiers, a DYNAMIC
cursor is converted to a KEYSET cursor, or to a STATIC cursor if a KEYSET cursor cannot be opened. This also occurs
for a cursor defined by using ISO syntax but without the STATIC keyword.
READ ONLY
Prevents updates from being made through this cursor. The cursor cannot be referenced in a WHERE CURRENT OF
clause in an UPDATE or DELETE statement. This option overrides the default capability of a cursor to be updated.
This keyword varies from the earlier READ_ONLY by having a space instead of an underscore between READ and
ONLY.
UPDATE [OF column_name[ ,... n ] ]
Defines updatable columns within the cursor. If OF column_name [,...n] is supplied, only the columns listed will
allow modifications. If no list is supplied, all columns can be updated, unless the cursor has been defined as
READ_ONLY.

Remarks
After a variable is declared, it is initialized to NULL. Use the SET statement to assign a value that is not NULL to a
declared variable. The SET statement that assigns a value to the variable returns a single value. When you initialize
multiple variables, use a separate SET statement for each local variable.
Variables can be used only in expressions, not instead of object names or keywords. To construct dynamic
Transact-SQL statements, use EXECUTE.
The syntax rules for SET @cursor_variable do not include the LOCAL and GLOBAL keywords. When the SET
@cursor_variable = CURSOR... syntax is used, the cursor is created as GLOBAL or LOCAL, depending on the setting
of the default to local cursor database option.
Cursor variables are always local, even if they reference a global cursor. When a cursor variable references a global
cursor, the cursor has both a global and a local cursor reference. For more information, see Example C.
For more information, see DECLARE CURSOR (Transact-SQL).
The compound assignment operator can be used anywhere you have an assignment with an expression on the
right hand side of the operator, including variables, and a SET in an UPDATE, SELECT and RECEIVE statement.
Do not use a variable in a SELECT statement to concatenate values (that is, to compute aggregate values).
Unexpected query results may occur. This is because all expressions in the SELECT list (including assignments) are
not guaranteed to be executed exactly once for each output row. For more information, see this KB article.

Permissions
Requires membership in the public role. All users can use SET @local_variable.

Examples
A. Printing the value of a variable initialized by using SET
The following example creates the @myvar variable, puts a string value into the variable, and prints the value of the
@myvar variable.

DECLARE @myvar char(20);

SET @myvar = 'This is a test';
SELECT @myvar;
GO
B. Using a local variable assigned a value by using SET in a SELECT statement
The following example creates a local variable named @state and uses this local variable in a SELECT statement to
find the first and last names of all employees who reside in the state of Oregon .

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
DECLARE @state char(25);
SET @state = N'Oregon';
SELECT RTRIM(FirstName) + ' ' + RTRIM(LastName) AS Name, City
FROM HumanResources.vEmployee
WHERE StateProvinceName = @state;

C. Using a compound assignment for a local variable

The following two examples produce the same result. They create a local variable named @NewBalance , multiplies it
by 10 and displays the new value of the local variable in a SELECT statement. The second example uses a
compound assignment operator.

/* Example one */
DECLARE @NewBalance int ;
SET @NewBalance = 10;
SET @NewBalance = @NewBalance * 10;
SELECT @NewBalance;

/* Example Two */
DECLARE @NewBalance int = 10;
SET @NewBalance *= 10;
SELECT @NewBalance;

D. Using SET with a global cursor

The following example creates a local variable and then sets the cursor variable to the global cursor name.

DECLARE my_cursor CURSOR GLOBAL

FOR SELECT * FROM Purchasing.ShipMethod
DECLARE @my_variable CURSOR ;
SET @my_variable = my_cursor ;
--There is a GLOBAL cursor declared(my_cursor) and a LOCAL variable
--(@my_variable) set to the my_cursor cursor.
DEALLOCATE my_cursor;
--There is now only a LOCAL variable reference
--(@my_variable) to the my_cursor cursor.

E. Defining a cursor by using SET

The following example uses the SET statement to define a cursor.
 DECLARE @CursorVar CURSOR;

SET @CursorVar = CURSOR SCROLL DYNAMIC

FOR
SELECT LastName, FirstName
FROM AdventureWorks2012.HumanResources.vEmployee
WHERE LastName like 'B%';

OPEN @CursorVar;

FETCH NEXT FROM @CursorVar;

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
FETCH NEXT FROM @CursorVar
END;

CLOSE @CursorVar;
DEALLOCATE @CursorVar;

F. Assigning a value from a query

The following example uses a query to assign a value to a variable.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
DECLARE @rows int;
SET @rows = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Sales.Customer);
SELECT @rows;

G. Assigning a value to a user-defined type variable by modifying a property of the type

The following example sets a value for user-defined type Point by modifying the value of the property X of the
type.

DECLARE @p Point;
SET @p.X = @p.X + 1.1;
SELECT @p;
GO

H. Assigning a value to a user-defined type variable by invoking a method of the type

The following example sets a value for user-defined type point by invoking method SetXY of the type.

DECLARE @p Point;
SET @p=point.SetXY(23.5, 23.5);

I. Creating a variable for a CLR type and calling a mutator method

The following example creates a variable for the type Point , and then executes a mutator method in Point .

CREATE ASSEMBLY mytest from 'c:\test.dll' WITH PERMISSION_SET = SAFE

CREATE TYPE Point EXTERNAL NAME mytest.Point
GO
DECLARE @p Point = CONVERT(Point, '')
SET @p.SetXY(22, 23);

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

J. Printing the value of a variable initialized by using SET
The following example creates the @myvar variable, puts a string value into the variable, and prints the value of the
@myvar variable.

DECLARE @myvar char(20);

SET @myvar = 'This is a test';
SELECT top 1 @myvar FROM sys.databases;

K. Using a local variable assigned a value by using SET in a SELECT statement

The following example creates a local variable named @dept and uses this local variable in a SELECT statement to
find the first and last names of all employees who work in the Marketing department.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @dept char(25);

SET @dept = N'Marketing';
SELECT RTRIM(FirstName) + ' ' + RTRIM(LastName) AS Name
FROM DimEmployee
WHERE DepartmentName = @dept;

L. Using a compound assignment for a local variable

The following two examples produce the same result. They create a local variable named @NewBalance , multiplies it
by 10 and displays the new value of the local variable in a SELECT statement. The second example uses a
compound assignment operator.

/* Example one */
DECLARE @NewBalance int ;
SET @NewBalance = 10;
SET @NewBalance = @NewBalance * 10;
SELECT TOP 1 @NewBalance FROM sys.tables;

/* Example Two */
DECLARE @NewBalance int = 10;
SET @NewBalance *= 10;
SELECT TOP 1 @NewBalance FROM sys.tables;

M. Assigning a value from a query

The following example uses a query to assign a value to a variable.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @rows int;

SET @rows = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM dbo.DimCustomer);
SELECT TOP 1 @rows FROM sys.tables;

See Also
DECLARE @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
EXECUTE (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
SET Statements (Transact-SQL)
 SELECT (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Sets a local variable to the value of an expression.
For assigning variables, we recommend that you use SET @local_variable instead of SELECT @local_variable.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

SELECT { @local_variable { = | += | -= | *= | /= | %= | &= | ^= | |= } expression } [ ,...n ] [ ; ]

Arguments
@local_variable
Is a declared variable for which a value is to be assigned.
=
Assign the value on the right to the variable on the left.
{= | += | -= | *= | /= | %= | &= | ^= | |= }
Compound assignment operator:
+= Add and assign
-= Subtract and assign
*= Multiply and assign
/= Divide and assign
%= Modulo and assign
&= Bitwise AND and assign
^= Bitwise XOR and assign
|= Bitwise OR and assign
expression
Is any valid expression. This includes a scalar subquery.

Remarks
SELECT @local_variable is typically used to return a single value into the variable. However, when expression is the
name of a column, it can return multiple values. If the SELECT statement returns more than one value, the variable
is assigned the last value that is returned.
If the SELECT statement returns no rows, the variable retains its present value. If expression is a scalar subquery that
returns no value, the variable is set to NULL.
One SELECT statement can initialize multiple local variables.

NOTE
A SELECT statement that contains a variable assignment cannot be used to also perform typical result set retrieval operations.

Examples
A. Use SELECT @local_variable to return a single value
In the following example, the variable @var1 is assigned Generic Name as its value. The query against the Store
table returns no rows because the value specified for CustomerID does not exist in the table. The variable retains
the Generic Name value.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @var1 varchar(30);

SELECT @var1 = 'Generic Name';
SELECT @var1 = Name
FROM Sales.Store
WHERE CustomerID = 1000 ;
SELECT @var1 AS 'Company Name';

Here is the result set.

Company Name

------------------------------

Generic Name

B. Use SELECT @local_variable to return null

In the following example, a subquery is used to assign a value to @var1 . Because the value requested for
CustomerID does not exist, the subquery returns no value and the variable is set to NULL .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @var1 varchar(30)

SELECT @var1 = 'Generic Name'
SELECT @var1 = (SELECT Name
FROM Sales.Store
WHERE CustomerID = 1000)
SELECT @var1 AS 'Company Name' ;

Here is the result set.

Company Name

----------------------------

NULL

See Also
DECLARE @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
 DECLARE (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 9 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Variables are declared in the body of a batch or procedure with the DECLARE statement and are assigned values
by using either a SET or SELECT statement. Cursor variables can be declared with this statement and used with
other cursor-related statements. After declaration, all variables are initialized as NULL, unless a value is provided
as part of the declaration.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

DECLARE
{
{ @local_variable [AS] data_type | [ = value ] }
| { @cursor_variable_name CURSOR }
} [,...n]
| { @table_variable_name [AS] <table_type_definition> }

<table_type_definition> ::=
TABLE ( { <column_definition> | <table_constraint> } [ ,... ] )

<column_definition> ::=
column_name { scalar_data_type | AS computed_column_expression }
[ COLLATE collation_name ]
[ [ DEFAULT constant_expression ] | IDENTITY [ (seed ,increment ) ] ]
[ ROWGUIDCOL ]
[ <column_constraint> ]

<column_constraint> ::=
{ [ NULL | NOT NULL ]
| [ PRIMARY KEY | UNIQUE ]
| CHECK ( logical_expression )
| WITH ( <index_option > )
}

<table_constraint> ::=
{ { PRIMARY KEY | UNIQUE } ( column_name [ ,... ] )
| CHECK ( search_condition )
}

<index_option> ::=
See CREATE TABLE for index option syntax.

-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

DECLARE
{{ @local_variable [AS] data_type } [ =value [ COLLATE <collation_name> ] ] } [,...n]

Arguments
@local_variable
Is the name of a variable. Variable names must begin with an at (@) sign. Local variable names must comply with
the rules for identifiers.
data_type
Is any system-supplied, common language runtime (CLR) user-defined table type, or alias data type. A variable
cannot be of text, ntext, or image data type.
For more information about system data types, see Data Types (Transact-SQL). For more information about CLR
user-defined types or alias data types, see CREATE TYPE (Transact-SQL).
=value
Assigns a value to the variable in-line. The value can be a constant or an expression, but it must either match the
variable declaration type or be implicitly convertible to that type. For more information, see Expressions
(Transact-SQL).
@cursor_variable_name
Is the name of a cursor variable. Cursor variable names must begin with an at (@) sign and conform to the rules
for identifiers.
CURSOR
Specifies that the variable is a local cursor variable.
@table_variable_name
Is the name of a variable of type table. Variable names must begin with an at (@) sign and conform to the rules
for identifiers.

Defines the table data type. The table declaration includes column definitions, names, data types, and constraints.
The only constraint types allowed are PRIMARY KEY, UNIQUE, NULL, and CHECK. An alias data type cannot be
used as a column scalar data type if a rule or default definition is bound to the type.
is a subset of information used to define a table in CREATE TABLE. Elements and essential definitions are included
here. For more information, see CREATE TABLE (Transact-SQL).
n
Is a placeholder indicating that multiple variables can be specified and assigned values. When declaring table
variables, the table variable must be the only variable being declared in the DECLARE statement.
column_name
Is the name of the column in the table.
scalar_data_type
Specifies that the column is a scalar data type.
computed_column_expression
Is an expression defining the value of a computed column. It is computed from an expression using other
columns in the same table. For example, a computed column can have the definition cost AS price * qty. The
expression can be a noncomputed column name, constant, built-in function, variable, or any combination of
these connected by one or more operators. The expression cannot be a subquery or a user-defined function. The
expression cannot reference a CLR user-defined type.
[ COLLATE collation_name]
Specifies the collation for the column. collation_name can be either a Windows collation name or an SQL
collation name, and is applicable only for columns of the char, varchar, text, nchar, nvarchar, and ntext data
types. If not specified, the column is assigned either the collation of the user-defined data type (if the column is of
a user-defined data type) or the collation of the current database.
For more information about the Windows and SQL collation names, see COLLATE (Transact-SQL).
DEFAULT
Specifies the value provided for the column when a value is not explicitly supplied during an insert. DEFAULT
definitions can be applied to any columns except those defined as timestamp or those with the IDENTITY
property. DEFAULT definitions are removed when the table is dropped. Only a constant value, such as a character
string; a system function, such as a SYSTEM_USER(); or NULL can be used as a default. To maintain compatibility
with earlier versions of SQL Server, a constraint name can be assigned to a DEFAULT.
constant_expression
Is a constant, NULL, or a system function used as the default value for the column.
IDENTITY
Indicates that the new column is an identity column. When a new row is added to the table, SQL Server provides
a unique incremental value for the column. Identity columns are commonly used in conjunction with PRIMARY
KEY constraints to serve as the unique row identifier for the table. The IDENTITY property can be assigned to
tinyint, smallint, int, decimal(p,0), or numeric(p,0) columns. Only one identity column can be created per
table. Bound defaults and DEFAULT constraints cannot be used with an identity column. You must specify both
the seed and increment, or neither. If neither is specified, the default is (1,1).
seed
Is the value used for the very first row loaded into the table.
increment
Is the incremental value added to the identity value of the previous row that was loaded.
ROWGUIDCOL
Indicates that the new column is a row global unique identifier column. Only one uniqueidentifier column per
table can be designated as the ROWGUIDCOL column. The ROWGUIDCOL property can be assigned only to a
uniqueidentifier column.
NULL | NOT NULL
Indicates if null is allowed in the variable. The default is NULL.
PRIMARY KEY
Is a constraint that enforces entity integrity for a given column or columns through a unique index. Only one
PRIMARY KEY constraint can be created per table.
UNIQUE
Is a constraint that provides entity integrity for a given column or columns through a unique index. A table can
have multiple UNIQUE constraints.
CHECK
Is a constraint that enforces domain integrity by limiting the possible values that can be entered into a column or
columns.
logical_expression
Is a logical expression that returns TRUE or FALSE.

Remarks
Variables are often used in a batch or procedure as counters for WHILE, LOOP, or for an IF...ELSE block.
Variables can be used only in expressions, not in place of object names or keywords. To construct dynamic SQL
statements, use EXECUTE.
The scope of a local variable is the batch in which it is declared.
A table variable is not necessarily memory resident. Under memory pressure, the pages belonging to a table
variable can be pushed out to tempdb.
A cursor variable that currently has a cursor assigned to it can be referenced as a source in a:
CLOSE statement.
DEALLOCATE statement.
FETCH statement.
OPEN statement.
Positioned DELETE or UPDATE statement.
SET CURSOR variable statement (on the right side).
In all of these statements, SQL Server raises an error if a referenced cursor variable exists but does not
have a cursor currently allocated to it. If a referenced cursor variable does not exist, SQL Server raises the
same error raised for an undeclared variable of another type.
A cursor variable:
Can be the target of either a cursor type or another cursor variable. For more information, see SET
@local_variable (Transact-SQL).
Can be referenced as the target of an output cursor parameter in an EXECUTE statement if the cursor
variable does not have a cursor currently assigned to it.
Should be regarded as a pointer to the cursor.

Examples
A. Using DECLARE
The following example uses a local variable named @find to retrieve contact information for all last names
beginning with Man .

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
DECLARE @find varchar(30);
/* Also allowed:
DECLARE @find varchar(30) = 'Man%';
*/
SET @find = 'Man%';
SELECT p.LastName, p.FirstName, ph.PhoneNumber
FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN Person.PersonPhone AS ph ON p.BusinessEntityID = ph.BusinessEntityID
WHERE LastName LIKE @find;

Here is the result set.

LastName FirstName Phone

------------------- ----------------------- -------------------------

Manchepalli Ajay 1 (11) 500 555-0174

Manek Parul 1 (11) 500 555-0146

Manzanares Tomas 1 (11) 500 555-0178

(3 row(s) affected)

B. Using DECLARE with two variables

The following example retrieves the names of Adventure Works Cycles sales representatives who are located in
the North American sales territory and have at least $2,000,000 in sales for the year.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
SET NOCOUNT ON;
GO
DECLARE @Group nvarchar(50), @Sales money;
SET @Group = N'North America';
SET @Sales = 2000000;
SET NOCOUNT OFF;
SELECT FirstName, LastName, SalesYTD
FROM Sales.vSalesPerson
WHERE TerritoryGroup = @Group and SalesYTD >= @Sales;

C. Declaring a variable of type table

The following example creates a table variable that stores the values specified in the OUTPUT clause of the
UPDATE statement. Two SELECT statements follow that return the values in @MyTableVar and the results of the
update operation in the Employee table. Note that the results in the INSERTED.ModifiedDate column differ from
the values in the ModifiedDate column in the Employee table. This is because the AFTER UPDATE trigger, which
updates the value of ModifiedDate to the current date, is defined on the Employee table. However, the columns
returned from OUTPUT reflect the data before triggers are fired. For more information, see OUTPUT Clause
(Transact-SQL).

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
DECLARE @MyTableVar table(
EmpID int NOT NULL,
OldVacationHours int,
NewVacationHours int,
ModifiedDate datetime);
UPDATE TOP (10) HumanResources.Employee
SET VacationHours = VacationHours * 1.25
OUTPUT INSERTED.BusinessEntityID,
DELETED.VacationHours,
INSERTED.VacationHours,
INSERTED.ModifiedDate
INTO @MyTableVar;
--Display the result set of the table variable.
SELECT EmpID, OldVacationHours, NewVacationHours, ModifiedDate
FROM @MyTableVar;
GO
--Display the result set of the table.
--Note that ModifiedDate reflects the value generated by an
--AFTER UPDATE trigger.
SELECT TOP (10) BusinessEntityID, VacationHours, ModifiedDate
FROM HumanResources.Employee;
GO

D. Declaring a variable of user-defined table type

The following example creates a table-valued parameter or table variable called @LocationTVP . This requires a
corresponding user-defined table type called LocationTableType . For more information about how to create a
user-defined table type, see CREATE TYPE (Transact-SQL). For more information about table-valued parameters,
see Use Table-Valued Parameters (Database Engine).
 DECLARE @LocationTVP
AS LocationTableType;

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

E. Using DECLARE
The following example uses a local variable named @find to retrieve contact information for all last names
beginning with Walt .

-- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @find varchar(30);

/* Also allowed:
DECLARE @find varchar(30) = 'Man%';
*/
SET @find = 'Walt%';

SELECT LastName, FirstName, Phone

FROM DimEmployee
WHERE LastName LIKE @find;

F. Using DECLARE with two variables

The following example retrieves uses variables to specify the first and last names of employees in the
DimEmployee table.

-- Uses AdventureWorks

DECLARE @lastName varchar(30), @firstName varchar(30);

SET @lastName = 'Walt%';

SET @firstName = 'Bryan';

SELECT LastName, FirstName, Phone

FROM DimEmployee
WHERE LastName LIKE @lastName AND FirstName LIKE @firstName;

See Also
EXECUTE (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
table (Transact-SQL)
Compare Typed XML to Untyped XML
 EXECUTE-Transact-SQL
3/24/2017 • 25 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Executes a command string or character string within a Transact-SQL batch, or one of the following modules:
system stored procedure, user-defined stored procedure, CLR stored procedure, scalar-valued user-defined
function, or extended stored procedure. The EXECUTE statement can be used to send pass-through commands to
linked servers. Additionally, the context in which a string or command is executed can be explicitly set. Metadata
for the result set can be defined by using the WITH RESULT SETS options.

IMPORTANT
Before you call EXECUTE with a character string, validate the character string. Never execute a command constructed from
user input that has not been validated.

Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server

Execute a stored procedure or function

[ { EXEC | EXECUTE } ]
{
[ @return_status = ]
{ module_name [ ;number ] | @module_name_var }
[ [ @parameter = ] { value
| @variable [ OUTPUT ]
| [ DEFAULT ]
}
]
[ ,...n ]
[ WITH <execute_option> [ ,...n ] ]
}
[;]

Execute a character string

{ EXEC | EXECUTE }
( { @string_variable | [ N ]'tsql_string' } [ + ...n ] )
[ AS { LOGIN | USER } = ' name ' ]
[;]

Execute a pass-through command against a linked server

{ EXEC | EXECUTE }
( { @string_variable | [ N ] 'command_string [ ? ]' } [ + ...n ]
[ { , { value | @variable [ OUTPUT ] } } [ ...n ] ]
)
[ AS { LOGIN | USER } = ' name ' ]
[ AT linked_server_name ]
[;]

<execute_option>::=
{
RECOMPILE
| { RESULT SETS UNDEFINED }
| { RESULT SETS NONE }
| { RESULT SETS ( <result_sets_definition> [,...n ] ) }
}

<result_sets_definition> ::=
{
(
{ column_name
data_type
[ COLLATE collation_name ]
[ NULL | NOT NULL ] }
[,...n ]
)
| AS OBJECT
[ db_name . [ schema_name ] . | schema_name . ]
{table_name | view_name | table_valued_function_name }
| AS TYPE [ schema_name.]table_type_name
| AS FOR XML
}
-- In-Memory OLTP

Execute a natively compiled, scalar user-defined function

[ { EXEC | EXECUTE } ]
{
[ @return_status = ]
{ module_name | @module_name_var }
[ [ @parameter = ] { value
| @variable
| [ DEFAULT ]
}
]
[ ,...n ]
[ WITH <execute_option> [ ,...n ] ]
}
<execute_option>::=
{
| { RESULT SETS UNDEFINED }
| { RESULT SETS NONE }
| { RESULT SETS ( <result_sets_definition> [,...n ] ) }
}
 -- Syntax for Azure SQL Database

Execute a stored procedure or function

[ { EXEC | EXECUTE } ]
{
[ @return_status = ]
{ module_name | @module_name_var }
[ [ @parameter = ] { value
| @variable [ OUTPUT ]
| [ DEFAULT ]
}
]
[ ,...n ]
[ WITH RECOMPILE ]
}
[;]

Execute a character string

{ EXEC | EXECUTE }
( { @string_variable | [ N ]'tsql_string' } [ + ...n ] )
[ AS { USER } = ' name ' ]
[;]

<execute_option>::=
{
RECOMPILE
| { RESULT SETS UNDEFINED }
| { RESULT SETS NONE }
| { RESULT SETS ( <result_sets_definition> [,...n ] ) }
}

<result_sets_definition> ::=
{
(
{ column_name
data_type
[ COLLATE collation_name ]
[ NULL | NOT NULL ] }
[,...n ]
)
| AS OBJECT
[ db_name . [ schema_name ] . | schema_name . ]
{table_name | view_name | table_valued_function_name }
| AS TYPE [ schema_name.]table_type_name
| AS FOR XML

-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

-- Execute a stored procedure

[ { EXEC | EXECUTE } ]
procedure_name
[ { value | @variable [ OUT | OUTPUT ] } ] [ ,...n ] }
[;]

-- Execute a SQL string

{ EXEC | EXECUTE }
( { @string_variable | [ N ] 'tsql_string' } [ +...n ] )
[;]

Arguments
@return_status
Is an optional integer variable that stores the return status of a module. This variable must be declared in the
batch, stored procedure, or function before it is used in an EXECUTE statement.
When used to invoke a scalar-valued user-defined function, the @return_status variable can be of any scalar data
type.
module_name
Is the fully qualified or nonfully qualified name of the stored procedure or scalar-valued user-defined function to
call. Module names must comply with the rules for identifiers. The names of extended stored procedures are
always case-sensitive, regardless of the collation of the server.
A module that has been created in another database can be executed if the user running the module owns the
module or has the appropriate permission to execute it in that database. A module can be executed on another
server running SQL Server if the user running the module has the appropriate permission to use that server
(remote access) and to execute the module in that database. If a server name is specified but no database name is
specified, the SQL Server Database Engine looks for the module in the default database of the user.
;number
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2016.|
Is an optional integer that is used to group procedures of the same name. This parameter is not used for extended
stored procedures.

NOTE
This feature will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server. Avoid using this feature in new development work,
and plan to modify applications that currently use this feature.

For more information about procedure groups, see CREATE PROCEDURE (Transact-SQL).
@module_name_var
Is the name of a locally defined variable that represents a module name.
This can be a variable that holds the name of a natively compiled, scalar user-defined function.
@parameter
Is the parameter for module_name, as defined in the module. Parameter names must be preceded by the at sign
(@). When used with the @parameter_name=value form, parameter names and constants do not have to be
supplied in the order in which they are defined in the module. However, if the @parameter_name=value form is
used for any parameter, it must be used for all subsequent parameters.
By default, parameters are nullable.
value
Is the value of the parameter to pass to the module or pass-through command. If parameter names are not
specified, parameter values must be supplied in the order defined in the module.
When executing pass-through commands against linked servers, the order of the parameter values depends on
the OLE DB provider of the linked server. Most OLE DB providers bind values to parameters from left to right.
If the value of a parameter is an object name, character string, or qualified by a database name or schema name,
the whole name must be enclosed in single quotation marks. If the value of a parameter is a keyword, the
keyword must be enclosed in double quotation marks.
If a default is defined in the module, a user can execute the module without specifying a parameter.
The default can also be NULL. Generally, the module definition specifies the action that should be taken if a
parameter value is NULL.
@variable
Is the variable that stores a parameter or a return parameter.
OUTPUT
Specifies that the module or command string returns a parameter. The matching parameter in the module or
command string must also have been created by using the keyword OUTPUT. Use this keyword when you use
cursor variables as parameters.
If value is defined as OUTPUT of a module executed against a linked server, any changes to the corresponding
@parameter performed by the OLE DB provider will be copied back to the variable at the end of the execution of
module.
If OUTPUT parameters are being used and the intent is to use the return values in other statements within the
calling batch or module, the value of the parameter must be passed as a variable, such as @parameter =
@variable. You cannot execute a module by specifying OUTPUT for a parameter that is not defined as an OUTPUT
parameter in the module. Constants cannot be passed to module by using OUTPUT; the return parameter requires
a variable name. The data type of the variable must be declared and a value assigned before executing the
procedure.
When EXECUTE is used against a remote stored procedure, or to execute a pass-through command against a
linked server, OUTPUT parameters cannot be any one of the large object (LOB) data types.
Return parameters can be of any data type except the LOB data types.
DEFAULT
Supplies the default value of the parameter as defined in the module. When the module expects a value for a
parameter that does not have a defined default and either a parameter is missing or the DEFAULT keyword is
specified, an error occurs.
@string_variable
Is the name of a local variable. @string_variable can be any char, varchar, nchar, or nvarchar data type. These
include the (max) data types.
[N] 'tsql_string'
Is a constant string. tsql_string can be any nvarchar or varchar data type. If the N is included, the string is
interpreted as nvarchar data type.
AS
Specifies the context in which the statement is executed.
LOGIN
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2016.|
Specifies the context to be impersonated is a login. The scope of impersonation is the server.
USER
Specifies the context to be impersonated is a user in the current database. The scope of impersonation is restricted
to the current database. A context switch to a database user does not inherit the server-level permissions of that
user.
 IMPORTANT
While the context switch to the database user is active, any attempt to access resources outside the database will cause the
statement to fail. This includes USE database statements, distributed queries, and queries that reference another database
by using three- or four-part identifiers.

'name'
Is a valid user or login name. name must be a member of the sysadmin fixed server role or exist as a principal in
sys.database_principals or sys.server_principals, respectively.
name cannot be a built-in account, such as NT AUTHORITY\LocalService, NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService, or NT
AUTHORITY\LocalSystem.
For more information, see Specifying a User or Login Name later in this topic.
[N] 'command_string'
Is a constant string that contains the command to be passed through to the linked server. If the N is included, the
string is interpreted as nvarchar data type.
[?]
Indicates parameters for which values are supplied in the <arg-list> of pass-through commands that are used in
an EXEC('…', <arg-list>) AT <linkedsrv> statement.
AT linked_server_name
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2016.|
Specifies that command_string is executed against linked_server_name and results, if any, are returned to the
client. linked_server_name must refer to an existing linked server definition in the local server. Linked servers are
defined by using sp_addlinkedserver.
WITH
Possible execute options. The RESULT SETS options cannot be specified in an INSERT…EXEC statement.

TERM DEFINITION

RECOMPILE Forces a new plan to be compiled, used, and discarded after

the module is executed. If there is an existing query plan for
the module, this plan remains in the cache.

Use this option if the parameter you are supplying is atypical

or if the data has significantly changed. This option is not
used for extended stored procedures. We recommend that
you use this option sparingly because it is expensive.

Note: You can not use WITH RECOMPILE when calling a

stored procedure that uses OPENDATASOURCE syntax. The
WITH RECOMPILE option is ignored when a four-part object
name is specified.

Note: RECOMPILE is not supported with natively compiled,

scalar user-defined functions. If you need to recompile, use
sp_recompile (Transact-SQL).
 TERM DEFINITION

RESULT SETS UNDEFINED Applies to: SQL Server 2012 through SQL Server 2016,
Azure SQL Database.

This option provides no guarantee of what results, if any, will

be returned, and no definition is provided. The statement
executes without error if any results are returned or no results
are returned. RESULT SETS UNDEFINED is the default
behavior if a result_sets_option is not provided.

For interpreted scalar user-defined functions, and natively

compiled scalar user-defined functions, this option is not
operational because the functions never return a result set.

RESULT SETS NONE Applies to: SQL Server 2012 through SQL Server 2016,
Azure SQL Database.

Guarantees that the execute statement will not return any

results. If any results are returned the batch is aborted.

For interpreted scalar user-defined functions, and natively

compiled scalar user-defined functions, this option is not
operational because the functions never return a result set.

Applies to: SQL Server 2012 through SQL Server 2016,

Azure SQL Database.

Provides a guarantee that the result will come back as

specified in the result_sets_definition. For statements that
return multiple result sets, provide multiple
result_sets_definition sections. Enclose each
result_sets_definition in parentheses, separated by commas.
For more information, see later in this topic.

This option always results in an error for natively compiled,

scalar user-defined functions because the functions never
return a result set.

||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server 2012 through SQL Server 2016, Azure SQL Database.|
Describes the result sets returned by the executed statements. The clauses of the result_sets_definition have the
following meaning

TERM DEFINITION

{ See the table below.

column_name

data_type

[ COLLATE collation_name]

[NULL | NOT NULL]

}
 TERM DEFINITION

db_name The name of the database containing the table, view or table
valued function.

schema_name The name of the schema owning the table, view or table
valued function.

table_name | view_name | table_valued_function_name Specifies that the columns returned will be those specified in
the table, view or table valued function named. Table
variables, temporary tables, and synonyms are not supported
in the AS object syntax.

AS TYPE [schema_name.]table_type_name Specifies that the columns returned will be those specified in
the table type.

AS FOR XML Specifies that the XML results from the statement or stored
procedure called by the EXECUTE statement will be converted
into the format as though they were produced by a SELECT …
FOR XML … statement. All formatting from the type directives
in the original statement are removed, and the results
returned are as though no type directive was specified. AS
FOR XML does not convert non-XML tabular results from the
executed statement or stored procedure into XML.

TERM DEFINITION

column_name The names of each column. If the number of columns differs

from the result set, an error occurs and the batch is aborted.
If the name of a column differs from the result set, the
column name returned will be set to the name defined.

data_type The data types of each column. If the data types differ, an
implicit conversion to the defined data type is performed. If
the conversion fails the batch is aborted

COLLATE collation_name The collation of each column. If there is a collation mismatch,

an implicit collation is attempted. If that fails, the batch is
aborted.

NULL | NOT NULL The nullability of each column. If the defined nullability is NOT
NULL and the data returned contains NULLs an error occurs
and the batch is aborted. If not specified, the default value
conforms to the setting of the ANSI_NULL_DFLT_ON and
ANSI_NULL_DFLT_OFF options.

The actual result set being returned during execution can differ from the result defined using the WITH RESULT
SETS clause in one of the following ways: number of result sets, number of columns, column name, nullability, and
data type. If the number of result sets differs, an error occurs and the batch is aborted.

Remarks
Parameters can be supplied either by using value or by using @parameter_name=value. A parameter is not part
of a transaction; therefore, if a parameter is changed in a transaction that is later rolled back, the value of the
parameter does not revert to its previous value. The value returned to the caller is always the value at the time the
module returns.
Nesting occurs when one module calls another or executes managed code by referencing a common language
runtime (CLR) module, user-defined type, or aggregate. The nesting level is incremented when the called module
or managed code reference starts execution, and it is decremented when the called module or managed code
reference has finished. Exceeding the maximum of 32 nesting levels causes the complete calling chain to fail. The
current nesting level is stored in the @@NESTLEVEL system function.
Because remote stored procedures and extended stored procedures are not within the scope of a transaction
(unless issued within a BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION statement or when used with various configuration
options), commands executed through calls to them cannot be rolled back. For more information, see System
Stored Procedures (Transact-SQL) and BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION (Transact-SQL).
When you use cursor variables, if you execute a procedure that passes in a cursor variable with a cursor allocated
to it an error occurs.
You do not have to specify the EXECUTE keyword when executing modules if the statement is the first one in a
batch.
For additional information specific to CLR stored procedures, see CLR Stored Procedures.

Using EXECUTE with Stored Procedures

You do not have to specify the EXECUTE keyword when you execute stored procedures when the statement is the
first one in a batch.
SQL Server system stored procedures start with the characters sp_. They are physically stored in the Resource
database, but logically appear in the sys schema of every system and user-defined database. When you execute a
system stored procedure, either in a batch or inside a module such as a user-defined stored procedure or function,
we recommend that you qualify the stored procedure name with the sys schema name.
SQL Server system extended stored procedures start with the characters xp_, and these are contained in the dbo
schema of the master database. When you execute a system extended stored procedure, either in a batch or inside
a module such as a user-defined stored procedure or function, we recommend that you qualify the stored
procedure name with master.dbo.
When you execute a user-defined stored procedure, either in a batch or inside a module such as a user-defined
stored procedure or function, we recommend that you qualify the stored procedure name with a schema name.
We do not recommend that you name a user-defined stored procedure with the same name as a system stored
procedure. For more information about executing stored procedures, see Execute a Stored Procedure.

Using EXECUTE with a Character String

In earlier versions of SQL Server, character strings are limited to 8,000 bytes. This requires concatenating large
strings for dynamic execution. In SQL Server, the varchar(max) and nvarchar(max) data types can be specified
that allow for character strings to be up to 2 gigabytes of data.
Changes in database context last only until the end of the EXECUTE statement. For example, after the EXEC in this
following statement is run, the database context is master.

USE master; EXEC ('USE AdventureWorks2012; SELECT BusinessEntityID, JobTitle FROM HumanResources.Employee;');

Context Switching
You can use the AS { LOGIN | USER } = ' name ' clause to switch the execution context of a dynamic statement.
When the context switch is specified as EXECUTE ('string') AS <context_specification> , the duration of the
context switch is limited to the scope of the query being executed.
Specifying a User or Login Name
The user or login name specified in AS { LOGIN | USER } = ' name ' must exist as a principal in
sys.database_principals or sys.server_principals, respectively, or the statement will fail. Additionally,
IMPERSONATE permissions must be granted on the principal. Unless the caller is the database owner or is a
member of the sysadmin fixed server role, the principal must exist even when the user is accessing the database
or instance of SQL Server through a Windows group membership. For example, assume the following conditions:
CompanyDomain\SQLUsers group has access to the Sales database.
CompanyDomain\SqlUser1 is a member of SQLUsers and, therefore, has implicit access to the Sales
database.
Although CompanyDomain\SqlUser1 has access to the database through membership in the SQLUsers
group, the statement EXECUTE @string_variable AS USER = 'CompanyDomain\SqlUser1' will fail because
CompanyDomain\SqlUser1 does not exist as a principal in the database.

Best Practices
Specify a login or user that has the least privileges required to perform the operations that are defined in the
statement or module. For example, do not specify a login name, which has server-level permissions, if only
database-level permissions are required; or do not specify a database owner account unless those permissions are
required.

Permissions
Permissions are not required to run the EXECUTE statement. However, permissions are required on the securables
that are referenced within the EXECUTE string. For example, if the string contains an INSERT statement, the caller
of the EXECUTE statement must have INSERT permission on the target table. Permissions are checked at the time
EXECUTE statement is encountered, even if the EXECUTE statement is included within a module.
EXECUTE permissions for a module default to the owner of the module, who can transfer them to other users.
When a module is run that executes a string, permissions are checked in the context of the user who executes the
module, not in the context of the user who created the module. However, if the same user owns the calling
module and the module being called, EXECUTE permission checking is not performed for the second module.
If the module accesses other database objects, execution succeeds when you have EXECUTE permission on the
module and one of the following is true:
The module is marked EXECUTE AS USER or SELF, and the module owner has the corresponding
permissions on the referenced object. For more information about impersonation within a module, see
EXECUTE AS Clause (Transact-SQL).
The module is marked EXECUTE AS CALLER, and you have the corresponding permissions on the object.
The module is marked EXECUTE AS user_name, and user_name has the corresponding permissions on the
object.
Context Switching Permissions
To specify EXECUTE AS on a login, the caller must have IMPERSONATE permissions on the specified login name.
To specify EXECUTE AS on a database user, the caller must have IMPERSONATE permissions on the specified user
name. When no execution context is specified, or EXECUTE AS CALLER is specified, IMPERSONATE permissions are
not required.

Examples
A. Using EXECUTE to pass a single parameter
The uspGetEmployeeManagers stored procedure in the AdventureWorks2012 database expects one parameter (
@EmployeeID ). The following examples execute the uspGetEmployeeManagers stored procedure with Employee ID 6
as its parameter value.

EXEC dbo.uspGetEmployeeManagers 6;
GO

The variable can be explicitly named in the execution:

EXEC dbo.uspGetEmployeeManagers @EmployeeID = 6;

GO

If the following is the first statement in a batch or an osql or sqlcmd script, EXEC is not required.

dbo.uspGetEmployeeManagers 6;
GO
--Or
dbo.uspGetEmployeeManagers @EmployeeID = 6;
GO

B. Using multiple parameters

The following example executes the spGetWhereUsedProductID stored procedure in the AdventureWorks2012
database. It passes two parameters: the first parameter is a product ID ( 819 ) and the second parameter,
@CheckDate, is a datetime value.

DECLARE @CheckDate datetime;

SET @CheckDate = GETDATE();
EXEC dbo.uspGetWhereUsedProductID 819, @CheckDate;
GO

C. Using EXECUTE 'tsql_string' with a variable

The following example shows how EXECUTE handles dynamically built strings that contain variables. This example
creates the tables_cursor cursor to hold a list of all user-defined tables in the AdventureWorks2012 database,
and then uses that list to rebuild all indexes on the tables.

DECLARE tables_cursor CURSOR

FOR
SELECT s.name, t.name
FROM sys.objects AS t
JOIN sys.schemas AS s ON s.schema_id = t.schema_id
WHERE t.type = 'U';
OPEN tables_cursor;
DECLARE @schemaname sysname;
DECLARE @tablename sysname;
FETCH NEXT FROM tables_cursor INTO @schemaname, @tablename;
WHILE (@@FETCH_STATUS <> -1)
BEGIN;
EXECUTE ('ALTER INDEX ALL ON ' + @schemaname + '.' + @tablename + ' REBUILD;');
FETCH NEXT FROM tables_cursor INTO @schemaname, @tablename;
END;
PRINT 'The indexes on all tables have been rebuilt.';
CLOSE tables_cursor;
DEALLOCATE tables_cursor;
GO

D. Using EXECUTE with a remote stored procedure

The following example executes the uspGetEmployeeManagers stored procedure on the remote server SQLSERVER1
and stores the return status that indicates success or failure in @retstat .
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2016.|

DECLARE @retstat int;

EXECUTE @retstat = SQLSERVER1.AdventureWorks2012.dbo.uspGetEmployeeManagers @BusinessEntityID = 6;

E. Using EXECUTE with a stored procedure variable

The following example creates a variable that represents a stored procedure name.

DECLARE @proc_name varchar(30);

SET @proc_name = 'sys.sp_who';
EXEC @proc_name;

F. Using EXECUTE with DEFAULT

The following example creates a stored procedure with default values for the first and third parameters. When the
procedure is run, these defaults are inserted for the first and third parameters when no value is passed in the call
or when the default is specified. Note the various ways the DEFAULT keyword can be used.

IF OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.ProcTestDefaults', N'P')IS NOT NULL

DROP PROCEDURE dbo.ProcTestDefaults;
GO
-- Create the stored procedure.
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.ProcTestDefaults (
@p1 smallint = 42,
@p2 char(1),
@p3 varchar(8) = 'CAR')
AS
SET NOCOUNT ON;
SELECT @p1, @p2, @p3
;
GO

The Proc_Test_Defaults stored procedure can be executed in many combinations.

-- Specifying a value only for one parameter (@p2).

EXECUTE dbo.ProcTestDefaults @p2 = 'A';
-- Specifying a value for the first two parameters.
EXECUTE dbo.ProcTestDefaults 68, 'B';
-- Specifying a value for all three parameters.
EXECUTE dbo.ProcTestDefaults 68, 'C', 'House';
-- Using the DEFAULT keyword for the first parameter.
EXECUTE dbo.ProcTestDefaults @p1 = DEFAULT, @p2 = 'D';
-- Specifying the parameters in an order different from the order defined in the procedure.
EXECUTE dbo.ProcTestDefaults DEFAULT, @p3 = 'Local', @p2 = 'E';
-- Using the DEFAULT keyword for the first and third parameters.
EXECUTE dbo.ProcTestDefaults DEFAULT, 'H', DEFAULT;
EXECUTE dbo.ProcTestDefaults DEFAULT, 'I', @p3 = DEFAULT;

G. Using EXECUTE with AT linked_server_name

The following example passes a command string to a remote server. It creates a linked server SeattleSales that
points to another instance of SQL Server and executes a DDL statement ( CREATE TABLE ) against that linked server.
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2016.|

EXEC sp_addlinkedserver 'SeattleSales', 'SQL Server'

GO
EXECUTE ( 'CREATE TABLE AdventureWorks2012.dbo.SalesTbl
(SalesID int, SalesName varchar(10)) ; ' ) AT SeattleSales;
GO

H. Using EXECUTE WITH RECOMPILE

The following example executes the Proc Test \ Defaults stored procedure and forces a new query plan to be
compiled, used, and discarded after the module is executed.

EXECUTE dbo.Proc_Test_Defaults @p2 = 'A' WITH RECOMPILE;

GO

I. Using EXECUTE with a user-defined function

The following example executes the ufnGetSalesOrderStatusText scalar user-defined function in the
AdventureWorks2012 database. It uses the variable @returnstatus to store the value returned by the function.
The function expects one input parameter, @Status . This is defined as a tinyint data type.

DECLARE @returnstatus nvarchar(15);

SET @returnstatus = NULL;
EXEC @returnstatus = dbo.ufnGetSalesOrderStatusText @Status = 2;
PRINT @returnstatus;
GO

J. Using EXECUTE to query an Oracle database on a linked server

The following example executes several SELECT statements at the remote Oracle server. The example begins by
adding the Oracle server as a linked server and creating linked server login.
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2016.|
 -- Setup the linked server.
EXEC sp_addlinkedserver
@server='ORACLE',
@srvproduct='Oracle',
@provider='OraOLEDB.Oracle',
@datasrc='ORACLE10';

EXEC sp_addlinkedsrvlogin
@rmtsrvname='ORACLE',
@useself='false',
@locallogin=null,
@rmtuser='scott',
@rmtpassword='tiger';

EXEC sp_serveroption 'ORACLE', 'rpc out', true;

GO

-- Execute several statements on the linked Oracle server.

EXEC ( 'SELECT * FROM scott.emp') AT ORACLE;
GO
EXEC ( 'SELECT * FROM scott.emp WHERE MGR = ?', 7902) AT ORACLE;
GO
DECLARE @v INT;
SET @v = 7902;
EXEC ( 'SELECT * FROM scott.emp WHERE MGR = ?', @v) AT ORACLE;
GO

K. Using EXECUTE AS USER to switch context to another user

The following example executes a Transact-SQL string that creates a table and specifies the AS USER clause to
switch the execution context of the statement from the caller to User1 . The Database Engine will check the
permissions of User1 when the statement is run. User1 must exist as a user in the database and must have
permission to create tables in the Sales schema, or the statement fails.

EXECUTE ('CREATE TABLE Sales.SalesTable (SalesID int, SalesName varchar(10));')

AS USER = 'User1';
GO

L. Using a parameter with EXECUTE and AT linked_server_name

The following example passes a command string to a remote server by using a question mark ( ? ) placeholder for
a parameter. The example creates a linked server SeattleSales that points to another instance of SQL Server and
executes a SELECT statement against that linked server. The SELECT statement uses the question mark as a place
holder for the ProductID parameter ( 952 ), which is provided after the statement.
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2016.|

-- Setup the linked server.

EXEC sp_addlinkedserver 'SeattleSales', 'SQL Server'
GO
-- Execute the SELECT statement.
EXECUTE ('SELECT ProductID, Name
FROM AdventureWorks2012.Production.Product
WHERE ProductID = ? ', 952) AT SeattleSales;
GO

M. Using EXECUTE to redefine a single result set

Some of the previous examples executed EXEC dbo.uspGetEmployeeManagers 6; which returned 7 columns. The
following example demonstrates using the WITH RESULT SET syntax to change the names and data types of the
returning result set.
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server 2012 through SQL Server 2016, Azure SQL Database.|

EXEC uspGetEmployeeManagers 16
WITH RESULT SETS
(
([Reporting Level] int NOT NULL,
[ID of Employee] int NOT NULL,
[Employee First Name] nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
[Employee Last Name] nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
[Employee ID of Manager] nvarchar(max) NOT NULL,
[Manager First Name] nvarchar(50) NOT NULL,
[Manager Last Name] nvarchar(50) NOT NULL )
);

N. Using EXECUTE to redefine a two result sets

When executing a statement that returns more than one result set, define each expected result set. The following
example in AdventureWorks2012 creates a procedure that returns two result sets. Then the procedure is
executed using the WITH RESULT SETS clause, and specifying two result set definitions.
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server 2012 through SQL Server 2016, Azure SQL Database.|

--Create the procedure

CREATE PROC Production.ProductList @ProdName nvarchar(50)
AS
-- First result set
SELECT ProductID, Name, ListPrice
FROM Production.Product
WHERE Name LIKE @ProdName;
-- Second result set
SELECT Name, COUNT(S.ProductID) AS NumberOfOrders
FROM Production.Product AS P
JOIN Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS S
ON P.ProductID = S.ProductID
WHERE Name LIKE @ProdName
GROUP BY Name;
GO

-- Execute the procedure

EXEC Production.ProductList '%tire%'
WITH RESULT SETS
(
(ProductID int, -- first result set definition starts here
Name Name,
ListPrice money)
, -- comma separates result set definitions
(Name Name, -- second result set definition starts here
NumberOfOrders int)
);

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

Example O: Basic Procedure Execution
Executing a stored procedure:
 EXEC proc1;

Calling a stored procedure with name determined at runtime:

EXEC ('EXEC ' + @var);

Calling a stored procedure from within a stored procedure:

CREATE sp_first AS EXEC sp_second; EXEC sp_third;

Example P: Executing Strings

Executing a SQL string:

EXEC ('SELECT * FROM sys.types');

Executing a nested string:

EXEC ('EXEC (''SELECT * FROM sys.types'')');

Executing a string variable:

DECLARE @stringVar nvarchar(100);

SET @stringVar = N'SELECT name FROM' + ' sys.sql_logins';
EXEC (@stringVar);

Example Q: Procedures with Parameters

The following example creates a procedure with parameters and demonstrates 3 ways to execute the procedure:

-- Uses AdventureWorks

CREATE PROC ProcWithParameters

@name nvarchar(50),
@color nvarchar (15)
AS
SELECT ProductKey, EnglishProductName, Color FROM [dbo].[DimProduct]
WHERE EnglishProductName LIKE @name
AND Color = @color;
GO

-- Executing using positional parameters

EXEC ProcWithParameters N'%arm%', N'Black';
-- Executing using named parameters in order
EXEC ProcWithParameters @name = N'%arm%', @color = N'Black';
-- Executing using named parameters out of order
EXEC ProcWithParameters @color = N'Black', @name = N'%arm%';
GO

See Also
@@NESTLEVEL (Transact-SQL)
DECLARE @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
EXECUTE AS Clause (Transact-SQL)
osql Utility
Principals (Database Engine)
REVERT (Transact-SQL)
sp_addlinkedserver (Transact-SQL)
sqlcmd Utility
SUSER_NAME (Transact-SQL)
sys.database_principals (Transact-SQL)
sys.server_principals (Transact-SQL)
USER_NAME (Transact-SQL)
OPENDATASOURCE (Transact-SQL)
Scalar User-Defined Functions for In-Memory OLTP
 PRINT-Transact-SQL
3/24/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Returns a user-defined message to the client.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

PRINT msg_str | @local_variable | string_expr

Arguments
msg_str
Is a character string or Unicode string constant. For more information, see Constants (Transact-SQL).
@ local_variable
Is a variable of any valid character data type. @local_variable must be char, nchar, varchar, or nvarchar, or it
must be able to be implicitly converted to those data types.
string_expr
Is an expression that returns a string. Can include concatenated literal values, functions, and variables. For more
information, see Expressions (Transact-SQL).

Remarks
A message string can be up to 8,000 characters long if it is a non-Unicode string, and 4,000 characters long if it is a
Unicode string. Longer strings are truncated. The varchar(max) and nvarchar(max) data types are truncated to
data types that are no larger than varchar(8000) and nvarchar(4000).
RAISERROR can also be used to return messages. RAISERROR has these advantages over PRINT:
RAISERROR supports substituting arguments into an error message string using a mechanism modeled on
the printf function of the C language standard library.
RAISERROR can specify a unique error number, a severity, and a state code in addition to the text message.
RAISERROR can be used to return user-defined messages created using the sp_addmessage system stored
procedure.

Examples
A. Conditionally executing print (IF EXISTS )
The following example uses the PRINT statement to conditionally return a message.
 IF @@OPTIONS & 512 <> 0
PRINT N'This user has SET NOCOUNT turned ON.';
ELSE
PRINT N'This user has SET NOCOUNT turned OFF.';
GO

B. Building and displaying a string

The following example converts the results of the GETDATE function to a nvarchar data type and concatenates it
with literal text to be returned by PRINT .

-- Build the message text by concatenating

-- strings and expressions.
PRINT N'This message was printed on '
+ RTRIM(CAST(GETDATE() AS nvarchar(30)))
+ N'.';
GO
-- This example shows building the message text
-- in a variable and then passing it to PRINT.
-- This was required in SQL Server 7.0 or earlier.
DECLARE @PrintMessage nvarchar(50);
SET @PrintMessage = N'This message was printed on '
+ RTRIM(CAST(GETDATE() AS nvarchar(30)))
+ N'.';
PRINT @PrintMessage;
GO

Examples: Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

C. Conditionally executing print
The following example uses the PRINT statement to conditionally return a message.

IF DB_ID() = 1
PRINT N'The current database is master.';
ELSE
PRINT N'The current database is not master.';
GO

D. Building and displaying a string

The following example converts the results of the GETDATE function to a nvarchar data type and concatenates it
with literal text to be returned by PRINT .

-- Build the message text by concatenating

-- strings and expressions.
PRINT N'This message was printed on '
+ RTRIM(CAST(GETDATE() AS nvarchar(30)))
+ N'.';
GO
-- This example shows building the message text
-- in a variable and then passing it to PRINT.
DECLARE @PrintMessage nvarchar(50);
SET @PrintMessage = N'This message was printed on '
+ RTRIM(CAST(GETDATE() AS nvarchar(30)))
+ N'.';
PRINT @PrintMessage;
GO
See Also
Data Types (Transact-SQL)
DECLARE @local_variable (Transact-SQL)
RAISERROR (Transact-SQL)
 RAISERROR-Transact-SQL
4/6/2017 • 12 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Generates an error message and initiates error processing for the session. RAISERROR can either reference a
user-defined message stored in the sys.messages catalog view or build a message dynamically. The message is
returned as a server error message to the calling application or to an associated CATCH block of a TRY…CATCH
construct. New applications should use THROW instead.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

RAISERROR ( { msg_id | msg_str | @local_variable }

{ ,severity ,state }
[ ,argument [ ,...n ] ] )
[ WITH option [ ,...n ] ]

-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

RAISERROR ( { msg_str | @local_variable }

{ ,severity ,state }
[ ,argument [ ,...n ] ] )
[ WITH option [ ,...n ] ]

Arguments
msg_id
Is a user-defined error message number stored in the sys.messages catalog view using sp_addmessage. Error
numbers for user-defined error messages should be greater than 50000. When msg_id is not specified,
RAISERROR raises an error message with an error number of 50000.
msg_str
Is a user-defined message with formatting similar to the printf function in the C standard library. The error
message can have a maximum of 2,047 characters. If the message contains 2,048 or more characters, only the
first 2,044 are displayed and an ellipsis is added to indicate that the message has been truncated. Note that
substitution parameters consume more characters than the output shows because of internal storage behavior.
For example, the substitution parameter of %d with an assigned value of 2 actually produces one character in the
message string but also internally takes up three additional characters of storage. This storage requirement
decreases the number of available characters for message output.
When msg_str is specified, RAISERROR raises an error message with an error number of 50000.
msg_str is a string of characters with optional embedded conversion specifications. Each conversion specification
defines how a value in the argument list is formatted and placed into a field at the location of the conversion
specification in msg_str. Conversion specifications have this format:
% [[flag] [width] [. precision] [{h | l}]] type
The parameters that can be used in msg_str are:
flag
Is a code that determines the spacing and justification of the substituted value.

CODE PREFIX OR JUSTIFICATION DESCRIPTION

- (minus) Left-justified Left-justify the argument value within

the given field width.

+ (plus) Sign prefix Preface the argument value with a plus

(+) or minus (-) if the value is of a
signed type.

0 (zero) Zero padding Preface the output with zeros until the
minimum width is reached. When 0 and
the minus sign (-) appear, 0 is ignored.

# (number) 0x prefix for hexadecimal type of x or X When used with the o, x, or X format,
the number sign (#) flag prefaces any
nonzero value with 0, 0x, or 0X,
respectively. When d, i, or u are
prefaced by the number sign (#) flag,
the flag is ignored.

' ' (blank) Space padding Preface the output value with blank
spaces if the value is signed and
positive. This is ignored when included
with the plus sign (+) flag.

width
Is an integer that defines the minimum width for the field into which the argument value is placed. If the length of
the argument value is equal to or longer than width, the value is printed with no padding. If the value is shorter
than width, the value is padded to the length specified in width.
An asterisk (*) means that the width is specified by the associated argument in the argument list, which must be
an integer value.
precision
Is the maximum number of characters taken from the argument value for string values. For example, if a string
has five characters and precision is 3, only the first three characters of the string value are used.
For integer values, precision is the minimum number of digits printed.
An asterisk (*) means that the precision is specified by the associated argument in the argument list, which must
be an integer value.
{h | l} type
Is used with character types d, i, o, s, x, X, or u, and creates shortint (h) or longint (l) values.

TYPE SPECIFICATION REPRESENTS

d or i Signed integer

o Unsigned octal
 TYPE SPECIFICATION REPRESENTS

s String

u Unsigned integer

x or X Unsigned hexadecimal

NOTE
These type specifications are based on the ones originally defined for the printf function in the C standard library. The type
specifications used in RAISERROR message strings map to Transact-SQL data types, while the specifications used in printf
map to C language data types. Type specifications used in printf are not supported by RAISERROR when Transact-SQL does
not have a data type similar to the associated C data type. For example, the %p specification for pointers is not supported in
RAISERROR because Transact-SQL does not have a pointer data type.

NOTE
To convert a value to the Transact-SQLbigint data type, specify %I64d.

@ local_variable
Is a variable of any valid character data type that contains a string formatted in the same manner as msg_str.
@local_variable must be char or varchar, or be able to be implicitly converted to these data types.
severity
Is the user-defined severity level associated with this message. When using msg_id to raise a user-defined
message created using sp_addmessage, the severity specified on RAISERROR overrides the severity specified in
sp_addmessage.
Severity levels from 0 through 18 can be specified by any user. Severity levels from 19 through 25 can only be
specified by members of the sysadmin fixed server role or users with ALTER TRACE permissions. For severity
levels from 19 through 25, the WITH LOG option is required. Severity levels less than 0 are interpreted as 0.
Severity levels greater than 25 are interpreted as 25.
Cau t i on

Severity levels from 20 through 25 are considered fatal. If a fatal severity level is encountered, the client
connection is terminated after receiving the message, and the error is logged in the error and application logs.
You can specify -1 to return the severity value associated with the error as shown in the following example.

RAISERROR (15600,-1,-1, 'mysp_CreateCustomer');

Here is the result set.

Msg 15600, Level 15, State 1, Line 1
An invalid parameter or option was specified for procedure 'mysp_CreateCustomer'.

state
Is an integer from 0 through 255. Negative values default to 1. Values larger than 255 should not be used.
If the same user-defined error is raised at multiple locations, using a unique state number for each location can
help find which section of code is raising the errors.
argument
Are the parameters used in the substitution for variables defined in msg_str or the message corresponding to
msg_id. There can be 0 or more substitution parameters, but the total number of substitution parameters cannot
exceed 20. Each substitution parameter can be a local variable or any of these data types: tinyint, smallint, int,
char, varchar, nchar, nvarchar, binary, or varbinary. No other data types are supported.
option
Is a custom option for the error and can be one of the values in the following table.

VALUE DESCRIPTION

LOG Logs the error in the error log and the application log for the
instance of the Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine. Errors
logged in the error log are currently limited to a maximum of
440 bytes. Only a member of the sysadmin fixed server role
or a user with ALTER TRACE permissions can specify WITH
LOG.

Applies to: SQL Server, SQL Database

NOWAIT Sends messages immediately to the client.

Applies to: SQL Server, SQL Database

SETERROR Sets the @@ERROR and ERROR_NUMBER values to msg_id

or 50000, regardless of the severity level.

Applies to: SQL Server, SQL Database

Remarks
The errors generated by RAISERROR operate the same as errors generated by the Database Engine code. The
values specified by RAISERROR are reported by the ERROR_LINE, ERROR_MESSAGE, ERROR_NUMBER,
ERROR_PROCEDURE, ERROR_SEVERITY, ERROR_STATE, and @@ERROR system functions. When RAISERROR is
run with a severity of 11 or higher in a TRY block, it transfers control to the associated CATCH block. The error is
returned to the caller if RAISERROR is run:
Outside the scope of any TRY block.
With a severity of 10 or lower in a TRY block.
With a severity of 20 or higher that terminates the database connection.
CATCH blocks can use RAISERROR to rethrow the error that invoked the CATCH block by using system
functions such as ERROR_NUMBER and ERROR_MESSAGE to retrieve the original error information.
@@ERROR is set to 0 by default for messages with a severity from 1 through 10.
When msg_id specifies a user-defined message available from the sys.messages catalog view, RAISERROR
processes the message from the text column using the same rules as are applied to the text of a user-
defined message specified using msg_str. The user-defined message text can contain conversion
specifications, and RAISERROR will map argument values into the conversion specifications. Use
sp_addmessage to add user-defined error messages and sp_dropmessage to delete user-defined error
messages.
RAISERROR can be used as an alternative to PRINT to return messages to calling applications. RAISERROR
supports character substitution similar to the functionality of the printf function in the C standard library,
while the Transact-SQL PRINT statement does not. The PRINT statement is not affected by TRY blocks, while
a RAISERROR run with a severity of 11 to 19 in a TRY block transfers control to the associated CATCH
 block. Specify a severity of 10 or lower to use RAISERROR to return a message from a TRY block without
invoking the CATCH block.
Typically, successive arguments replace successive conversion specifications; the first argument replaces
the first conversion specification, the second argument replaces the second conversion specification, and so
on. For example, in the following RAISERROR statement, the first argument of N'number' replaces the first
conversion specification of %s ; and the second argument of 5 replaces the second conversion
specification of %d.

RAISERROR (N'This is message %s %d.', -- Message text.

10, -- Severity,
1, -- State,
N'number', -- First argument.
5); -- Second argument.
-- The message text returned is: This is message number 5.
GO

If an asterisk (*) is specified for either the width or precision of a conversion specification, the value to be used for
the width or precision is specified as an integer argument value. In this case, one conversion specification can use
up to three arguments, one each for the width, precision, and substitution value.
For example, both of the following RAISERROR statements return the same string. One specifies the width and
precision values in the argument list; the other specifies them in the conversion specification.

RAISERROR (N'<\<%*.*s>>', -- Message text.

10, -- Severity,
1, -- State,
7, -- First argument used for width.
3, -- Second argument used for precision.
N'abcde'); -- Third argument supplies the string.
-- The message text returned is: << abc>>.
GO
RAISERROR (N'<\<%7.3s>>', -- Message text.
10, -- Severity,
1, -- State,
N'abcde'); -- First argument supplies the string.
-- The message text returned is: << abc>>.
GO

Examples
A. Returning error information from a CATCH block
The following code example shows how to use RAISERROR inside a TRY block to cause execution to jump to the
associated CATCH block. It also shows how to use RAISERROR to return information about the error that invoked
the CATCH block.

NOTE
RAISERROR only generates errors with state from 1 through 127. Because the Database Engine may raise errors with state
0, we recommend that you check the error state returned by ERROR_STATE before passing it as a value to the state
parameter of RAISERROR.
 BEGIN TRY
-- RAISERROR with severity 11-19 will cause execution to
-- jump to the CATCH block.
RAISERROR ('Error raised in TRY block.', -- Message text.
16, -- Severity.
1 -- State.
);
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
DECLARE @ErrorMessage NVARCHAR(4000);
DECLARE @ErrorSeverity INT;
DECLARE @ErrorState INT;

SELECT
@ErrorMessage = ERROR_MESSAGE(),
@ErrorSeverity = ERROR_SEVERITY(),
@ErrorState = ERROR_STATE();

-- Use RAISERROR inside the CATCH block to return error

-- information about the original error that caused
-- execution to jump to the CATCH block.
RAISERROR (@ErrorMessage, -- Message text.
@ErrorSeverity, -- Severity.
@ErrorState -- State.
);
END CATCH;

B. Creating an ad hoc message in sys.messages

The following example shows how to raise a message stored in the sys.messages catalog view. The message was
added to the sys.messages catalog view by using the sp_addmessage system stored procedure as message
number 50005 .

sp_addmessage @msgnum = 50005,

@severity = 10,
@msgtext = N'<\<%7.3s>>';
GO
RAISERROR (50005, -- Message id.
10, -- Severity,
1, -- State,
N'abcde'); -- First argument supplies the string.
-- The message text returned is: << abc>>.
GO
sp_dropmessage @msgnum = 50005;
GO

C. Using a local variable to supply the message text

The following code example shows how to use a local variable to supply the message text for a RAISERROR
statement.

DECLARE @StringVariable NVARCHAR(50);

SET @StringVariable = N'<\<%7.3s>>';

RAISERROR (@StringVariable, -- Message text.

10, -- Severity,
1, -- State,
N'abcde'); -- First argument supplies the string.
-- The message text returned is: << abc>>.
GO
Examples: SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse
D. Returning error information from a CATCH block
The following code example shows how to use RAISERROR inside a TRY block to cause execution to jump to the
associated CATCH block. It also shows how to use RAISERROR to return information about the error that invoked
the CATCH block.

NOTE
RAISERROR only generates errors with state from 1 through 18. Because the PDW engine may raise errors with state 0, we
recommend that you check the error state returned by ERROR_STATE before passing it as a value to the state parameter of
RAISERROR.

BEGIN TRY
-- RAISERROR with severity 11-18 will cause execution to
-- jump to the CATCH block.
RAISERROR ('Error raised in TRY block.', -- Message text.
16, -- Severity.
1 -- State.
);
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
DECLARE @ErrorMessage NVARCHAR(4000);
DECLARE @ErrorSeverity INT;
DECLARE @ErrorState INT;

SET @ErrorMessage = ERROR_MESSAGE();

SET @ErrorSeverity = ERROR_SEVERITY();
SET @ErrorState = ERROR_STATE();

-- Use RAISERROR inside the CATCH block to return error

-- information about the original error that caused
-- execution to jump to the CATCH block.
RAISERROR (@ErrorMessage, -- Message text.
@ErrorSeverity, -- Severity.
@ErrorState -- State.
);
END CATCH;

E. Using a local variable to supply the message text

The following code example shows how to use a local variable to supply the message text for a RAISERROR
statement.

DECLARE @StringVariable NVARCHAR(50);

SET @StringVariable = N'<\<%7.3s>>';

RAISERROR (@StringVariable, -- Message text.

10, -- Severity,
1, -- State,
N'abcde'); -- First argument supplies the string.
-- The message text returned is: << abc>>.
GO

See Also
DECLARE @local_variable (Transact-SQL) Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
PRINT (Transact-SQL)
sp_addmessage (Transact-SQL)
sp_dropmessage (Transact-SQL)
sys.messages (Transact-SQL)
xp_logevent (Transact-SQL)
@@ERROR (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_LINE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_MESSAGE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_NUMBER (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_PROCEDURE (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_SEVERITY (Transact-SQL)
ERROR_STATE (Transact-SQL)
TRY...CATCH (Transact-SQL)
 CHECKPOINT (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Generates a manual checkpoint in the SQL Server database to which you are currently connected.

NOTE
For information about different types of database checkpoints and checkpoint operation in general, see Database
Checkpoints (SQL Server).

||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server ( SQL Server 2008 through current version).|
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
CHECKPOINT [ checkpoint_duration ]

Arguments
checkpoint_duration
Specifies the requested amount of time, in seconds, for the manual checkpoint to complete. When
checkpoint_duration is specified, the SQL Server Database Engine attempts to perform the checkpoint within the
requested duration. The checkpoint_duration must be an expression of type int and must be greater than zero.
When this parameter is omitted, the Database Engine adjusts the checkpoint duration to minimize the performance
impact on database applications. checkpoint_duration is an advanced option.

Factors Affecting the Duration of Checkpoint Operations

In general, the amount time required for a checkpoint operation increases with the number of dirty pages that the
operation must write. By default, to minimize the performance impact on other applications, SQL Server adjusts the
frequency of writes that a checkpoint operation performs. Decreasing the write frequency increases the time the
checkpoint operation requires to complete. SQL Server uses this strategy for a manual checkpoint unless a
checkpoint_duration value is specified in the CHECKPOINT command.
The performance impact of using checkpoint_duration depends on the number of dirty pages, the activity on the
system, and the actual duration specified. For example, if the checkpoint would normally complete in 120 seconds,
specifying a checkpoint_duration of 45 seconds causes SQL Server to devote more resources to the checkpoint
than would be assigned by default. In contrast, specifying a checkpoint_duration of 180 seconds would cause SQL
Server to assign fewer resources than would be assigned by default. In general, a short checkpoint_duration will
increase the resources devoted to the checkpoint, while a long checkpoint_duration will reduce the resources
devoted to the checkpoint. SQL Server always completes a checkpoint if possible, and the CHECKPOINT statement
returns immediately when a checkpoint completes. Therefore, in some cases, a checkpoint may complete sooner
than the specified duration or may run longer than the specified duration.
Security
Permissions
CHECKPOINT permissions default to members of the sysadmin fixed server role and the db_owner and
db_backupoperator fixed database roles, and are not transferable.

See Also
ALTER DATABASE (Transact-SQL)
Database Checkpoints (SQL Server)
Configure the recovery interval Server Configuration Option
SHUTDOWN (Transact-SQL)
 KILL (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 5 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Terminates a user process that is based on the session ID or unit of work (UOW). If the specified session ID or UOW
has a lot of work to undo, the KILL statement may take some time to complete, particularly when it involves rolling
back a long transaction.
KILL can be used to terminate a normal connection, which internally terminates the transactions that are associated
with the specified session ID. The statement can also be used to terminate orphaned and in-doubt distributed
transactions when Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) is in use.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
-- Syntax for SQL Server

KILL { session ID | UOW } [ WITH STATUSONLY ]

-- Syntax for Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

KILL 'session_id'
[;]

Arguments
session ID
Is the session ID of the process to terminate. session ID is a unique integer (int) that is assigned to each user
connection when the connection is made. The session ID value is tied to the connection for the duration of the
connection. When the connection ends, the integer value is released and can be reassigned to a new connection.
Use KILL session ID to terminate regular nondistributed and distributed transactions that are associated with a
specified session ID.
UOW
||
|-|
|Applies to: ( SQL Server 2008 through SQL Server 2016.|
Identifies the Unit of Work ID (UOW) of distributed transactions. UOW is a GUID that may be obtained from the
request_owner_guid column of the sys.dm_tran_locks dynamic management view. UOW also can be obtained from
the error log or through the MS DTC monitor. For more information about monitoring distributed transactions, see
the MS DTC documentation.
Use KILL UOW to terminate orphaned distributed transactions. These transactions are not associated with any real
session ID, but instead are associated artificially with session ID = '-2'. This session ID makes it easier to identify
orphaned transactions by querying the session ID column in sys.dm_tran_locks, sys.dm_exec_sessions, or
sys.dm_exec_requests dynamic management views.
WITH STATUSONLY
Generates a progress report about a specified session ID or UOW that is being rolled back due to an earlier KILL
statement. KILL WITH STATUSONLY does not terminate or roll back the session ID or UOW; the command only
displays the current progress of the rollback.

Remarks
KILL is commonly used to terminate a process that is blocking other important processes with locks, or a process
that is executing a query that is using necessary system resources. System processes and processes running an
extended stored procedure cannot be terminated.
Use KILL very carefully, especially when critical processes are running. You cannot kill your own process. Other
processes you should not kill include the following:
AWAITING COMMAND
CHECKPOINT SLEEP
LAZY WRITER
LOCK MONITOR
SIGNAL HANDLER
Use @@SPID to display the session ID value for the current session.
To obtain a report of active session ID values, you can query the session_id column of the sys.dm_tran_locks,
sys.dm_exec_sessions, and sys.dm_exec_requests dynamic management views. You can also view the SPID
column that is returned by the sp_who system stored procedure. If a rollback is in progress for a specific
SPID, the cmd column in the sp_who result set for that SPID will indicate KILLED/ROLLBACK.
When a particular connection has a lock on a database resource and blocks the progress of another
connection, the session ID of the blocking connection shows up in the blocking_session_id column of
sys.dm_exec_requests or the blk column returned by sp_who.
The KILL command can be used to resolve in-doubt distributed transactions. These transactions are
unresolved distributed transactions that occur because of unplanned restarts of the database server or MS
DTC coordinator. For more information about in-doubt transactions, see the "Two-Phase Commit" section in
Use Marked Transactions to Recover Related Databases Consistently (Full Recovery Model).

Using WITH STATUSONLY

KILL WITH STATUSONLY generates a report only if the session ID or UOW is currently being rolled back because of
a previous KILL session ID|UOW statement. The progress report states the amount of rollback completed (in
percent) and the estimated length of time left (in seconds), in the following form:
Spid|UOW <xxx>: Transaction rollback in progress. Estimated rollback completion: <yy>% Estimated time left: <zz>
seconds

If the rollback of the session ID or UOW has finished when the KILL session ID|UOW WITH STATUSONLY statement
is executed, or if no session ID or UOW is being rolled back, KILL session ID|UOW WITH STATUSONLY will return
the following error:
"Msg 6120, Level 16, State 1, Line 1"

"Status report cannot be obtained. Rollback operation for Process ID <session ID> is not in progress."

The same status report can be obtained by repeating the same KILL session ID|UOW statement without using the
WITH STATUSONLY option; however, we do not recommend doing this. Repeating a KILL session ID statement
might terminate a new process if the rollback had finished and the session ID was reassigned to a new task before
the new KILL statement is run. Specifying WITH STATUSONLY prevents this from happening.

Permissions
SQL Server: Requires the ALTER ANY CONNECTION permission. ALTER ANY CONNECTION is included with
membership in the sysadmin or processadmin fixed server roles.
SQL Database: Requires the KILL DATABASE CONNECTION permission. The server-level principal login has the
KILL DATABASE CONNECTION.

Examples
A. Using KILL to terminate a session
The following example shows how to terminate session ID 53 .

KILL 53;
GO

B. Using KILL session ID WITH STATUSONLY to obtain a progress report

The following example generates a status of the rollback process for the specific session ID.

KILL 54;
KILL 54 WITH STATUSONLY;
GO

--This is the progress report.

spid 54: Transaction rollback in progress. Estimated rollback completion: 80% Estimated time left: 10 seconds.

C. Using KILL to terminate an orphaned distributed transaction

The following example shows how to terminate an orphaned distributed transaction (session ID = -2) with a UOW
of D5499C66-E398-45CA-BF7E-DC9C194B48CF .

KILL 'D5499C66-E398-45CA-BF7E-DC9C194B48CF';

Examples: SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse

D. Using KILL to terminate a session
The following example shows how to terminate session ID SID535 .

KILL 'SID535';

See Also
KILL STATS JOB (Transact-SQL)
KILL QUERY NOTIFICATION SUBSCRIPTION (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
SHUTDOWN (Transact-SQL)
@@SPID (Transact-SQL)
sys.dm_exec_requests (Transact-SQL)
sys.dm_exec_sessions (Transact-SQL)
sys.dm_tran_locks (Transact-SQL)
sp_lock (Transact-SQL)
sp_who (Transact-SQL)
 KILL QUERY NOTIFICATION SUBSCRIPTION
(Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Removes query notification subscriptions from the instance. This statement can remove a specific subscription or
all subscriptions.
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server ( SQL Server 2008 through current version).|
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
KILL QUERY NOTIFICATION SUBSCRIPTION
{ ALL | subscription_id }

Arguments
ALL
Removes all subscriptions in the instance.
subscription_id
Removes the subscription with the subscription id subscription_id.

Remarks
The KILL QUERY NOTIFICATION SUBSCRIPTION statement removes query notification subscriptions without
producing a notification message.
subscription_id is the id for the subscription as shown in the dynamic management view sys.dm_qn_subscriptions
(Transact-SQL).
If the specified subscription id does not exist, the statement produces an error.

Permissions
Permission to execute this statement is restricted to members of the sysadmin fixed server role.

Examples
A. Removing all query notification subscriptions in the instance
The following example removes all query notification subscriptions in the instance.
 KILL QUERY NOTIFICATION SUBSCRIPTION ALL ;

B. Removing a single query notification subscription

The following example removes the query notification subscription with the id 73 .

KILL QUERY NOTIFICATION SUBSCRIPTION 73 ;

See Also
sys.dm_qn_subscriptions (Transact-SQL)
 KILL STATS JOB (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Terminates an asynchronous statistics update job in SQL Server.
||
|-|
|Applies to: SQL Server ( SQL Server 2008 through current version).|
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
KILL STATS JOB job_id

Arguments
job_id
Is the job_id field returned by the sys.dm_exec_background_job_queue dynamic management view for the job.

Remarks
The job_id is unrelated to session_id or unit of work used in other forms of the KILL statement.

Permissions
User must have VIEW SERVER STATE permission to access information from the
sys.dm_exec_background_job_queue dynamic management view.
KILL STATS JOB permissions default to the members of the sysadmin and processadmin fixed database roles and
are not transferable.

Examples
The following example shows how to terminate the statistics update associated with a job where the job_id = 53 .

KILL STATS JOB 53;

GO

See Also
KILL (Transact-SQL)
KILL QUERY NOTIFICATION SUBSCRIPTION (Transact-SQL)
sys.dm_exec_background_job_queue (Transact-SQL)
Statistics
 RECONFIGURE (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 2 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse
Parallel Data Warehouse
Updates the currently configured value (the config_value column in the sp_configure result set) of a
configuration option changed with the sp_configure system stored procedure. Because some configuration
options require a server stop and restart to update the currently running value, RECONFIGURE does not always
update the currently running value (the run_value column in the sp_configure result set) for a changed
configuration value.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
RECONFIGURE [ WITH OVERRIDE ]

Arguments
RECONFIGURE
Specifies that if the configuration setting does not require a server stop and restart, the currently running value
should be updated. RECONFIGURE also checks the new configuration values for either values that are not valid (for
example, a sort order value that does not exist in syscharsets) or nonrecommended values. With those
configuration options not requiring a server stop and restart, the currently running value and the currently
configured values for the configuration option should be the same value after RECONFIGURE is specified.
WITH OVERRIDE
Disables the configuration value checking (for values that are not valid or for nonrecommended values) for the
recovery interval advanced configuration option.
Almost any configuration option can be reconfigured by using the WITH OVERRIDE option, however some fatal
errors are still prevented. For example, the min server memory configuration option cannot be configured with a
value greater than the value specified in the max server memory configuration option.

Remarks
sp_configure does not accept new configuration option values out of the documented valid ranges for each
configuration option.
RECONFIGURE is not allowed in an explicit or implicit transaction. When you reconfigure several options at the
same time, if any of the reconfigure operations fail, none of the reconfigure operations will take effect.
When reconfiguring the resource governor, see the RECONFIGURE option of ALTER RESOURCE GOVERNOR
(Transact-SQL).

Permissions
RECONFIGURE permissions default to grantees of the ALTER SETTINGS permission. The sysadmin and
serveradmin fixed server roles implicitly hold this permission.
Examples
The following example sets the upper limit for the recovery interval configuration option to 75 minutes and uses
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE to install it. Recovery intervals greater than 60 minutes are not recommended and
disallowed by default. However, because the WITH OVERRIDE option is specified, SQL Server does not check whether
the value specified ( 90 ) is a valid value for the recovery interval configuration option.

EXEC sp_configure 'recovery interval', 75'

RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE;
GO

See Also
Server Configuration Options (SQL Server)
sp_configure (Transact-SQL)
 SHUTDOWN (Transact-SQL)
3/24/2017 • 1 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Immediately stops SQL Server.
Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax
SHUTDOWN [ WITH NOWAIT ]

Arguments
WITH NOWAIT
Optional. Shuts down SQL Server without performing checkpoints in every database. SQL Server exits after
attempting to terminate all user processes. When the server restarts, a rollback operation occurs for uncompleted
transactions.

Remarks
Unless the WITHNOWAIT option is used, SHUTDOWN shuts down SQL Server by:
1. Disabling logins (except for members of the sysadmin and serveradmin fixed server roles).

NOTE
To display a list of all current users, run sp_who.

2. Waiting for currently running Transact-SQL statements or stored procedures to finish. To display a list of all
active processes and locks, run sp_who and sp_lock, respectively.
3. Inserting a checkpoint in every database.
Using the SHUTDOWN statement minimizes the amount of automatic recovery work needed when
members of the sysadmin fixed server role restart SQL Server.
Other tools and methods can also be used to stop SQL Server. Each of these issues a checkpoint in all
databases. You can flush committed data from the data cache and stop the server:
By using SQL Server Configuration Manager.
By running net stop mssqlserver from a command prompt for a default instance, or by running net stop
mssql$instancename from a command prompt for a named instance.
By using Services in Control Panel.
If sqlservr.exe was started from the command prompt, pressing CTRL+C shuts down SQL Server. However,
pressing CTRL+C does not insert a checkpoint.
 NOTE
Using any of these methods to stop SQL Server sends the SERVICE_CONTROL_STOP message to SQL Server.

Permissions
SHUTDOWN permissions are assigned to members of the sysadmin and serveradmin fixed server roles, and
they are not transferable.

See Also
CHECKPOINT (Transact-SQL)
sp_lock (Transact-SQL)
sp_who (Transact-SQL)
sqlservr Application
Start, Stop, Pause, Resume, Restart the Database Engine, SQL Server Agent, or SQL Server Browser Service
 Reserved Keywords-Transact-SQL
3/24/2017 • 4 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data
Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
Microsoft SQL Server uses reserved keywords for defining, manipulating, and accessing databases. Reserved
keywords are part of the grammar of the Transact-SQL language that is used by SQL Server to parse and
understand Transact-SQL statements and batches. Although it is syntactically possible to use SQL Server reserved
keywords as identifiers and object names in Transact-SQL scripts, you can do this only by using delimited
identifiers.
The following table lists SQL Server reserved keywords.

ADD EXTERNAL PROCEDURE

ALL FETCH PUBLIC

ALTER FILE RAISERROR

AND FILLFACTOR READ

ANY FOR READTEXT

AS FOREIGN RECONFIGURE

ASC FREETEXT REFERENCES

AUTHORIZATION FREETEXTTABLE REPLICATION

BACKUP FROM RESTORE

BEGIN FULL RESTRICT

BETWEEN FUNCTION RETURN

BREAK GOTO REVERT

BROWSE GRANT REVOKE

BULK GROUP RIGHT

BY HAVING ROLLBACK

CASCADE HOLDLOCK ROWCOUNT

CASE IDENTITY ROWGUIDCOL

CHECK IDENTITY_INSERT RULE

CHECKPOINT IDENTITYCOL SAVE

CLOSE IF SCHEMA

CLUSTERED IN SECURITYAUDIT

COALESCE INDEX SELECT

COLLATE INNER SEMANTICKEYPHRASETABLE

COLUMN INSERT SEMANTICSIMILARITYDETAILSTABLE

COMMIT INTERSECT SEMANTICSIMILARITYTABLE

COMPUTE INTO SESSION_USER

CONSTRAINT IS SET

CONTAINS JOIN SETUSER

CONTAINSTABLE KEY SHUTDOWN

CONTINUE KILL SOME

CONVERT LEFT STATISTICS

CREATE LIKE SYSTEM_USER

CROSS LINENO TABLE

CURRENT LOAD TABLESAMPLE

CURRENT_DATE MERGE TEXTSIZE

CURRENT_TIME NATIONAL THEN

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP NOCHECK TO

CURRENT_USER NONCLUSTERED TOP

CURSOR NOT TRAN

DATABASE NULL TRANSACTION

DBCC NULLIF TRIGGER

DEALLOCATE OF TRUNCATE

DECLARE OFF TRY_CONVERT

DEFAULT OFFSETS TSEQUAL

 DELETE ON UNION

DENY OPEN UNIQUE

DESC OPENDATASOURCE UNPIVOT

DISK OPENQUERY UPDATE

DISTINCT OPENROWSET UPDATETEXT

DISTRIBUTED OPENXML USE

DOUBLE OPTION USER

DROP OR VALUES

DUMP ORDER VARYING

ELSE OUTER VIEW

END OVER WAITFOR

ERRLVL PERCENT WHEN

ESCAPE PIVOT WHERE

EXCEPT PLAN WHILE

EXEC PRECISION WITH

EXECUTE PRIMARY WITHIN GROUP

EXISTS PRINT WRITETEXT

EXIT PROC

Additionally, the ISO standard defines a list of reserved keywords. Avoid using ISO reserved keywords for object
names and identifiers. The ODBC reserved keyword list, shown in the following table, is the same as the ISO
reserved keyword list.

NOTE
The ISO standards reserved keywords list sometimes can be more restrictive than SQL Server and at other times less
restrictive. For example, the ISO reserved keywords list contains INT. SQL Server does not have to distinguish this as a
reserved keyword.

Transact-SQL reserved keywords can be used as identifiers or names of databases or database objects, such as
tables, columns, views, and so on. Use either quoted identifiers or delimited identifiers. Using reserved keywords as
the names of variables and stored procedure parameters is not restricted.

ODBC Reserved Keywords

The following words are reserved for use in ODBC function calls. These words do not constrain the minimum SQL
grammar; however, to ensure compatibility with drivers that support the core SQL grammar, applications should
avoid using these keywords.
This is the current list of ODBC reserved keywords.

ABSOLUTE EXEC OVERLAPS

ACTION EXECUTE PAD

ADA EXISTS PARTIAL

ADD EXTERNAL PASCAL

ALL EXTRACT POSITION

ALLOCATE FALSE PRECISION

ALTER FETCH PREPARE

AND FIRST PRESERVE

ANY FLOAT PRIMARY

ARE FOR PRIOR

AS FOREIGN PRIVILEGES

ASC FORTRAN PROCEDURE

ASSERTION FOUND PUBLIC

AT FROM READ

AUTHORIZATION FULL REAL

AVG GET REFERENCES

BEGIN GLOBAL RELATIVE

BETWEEN GO RESTRICT

BIT GOTO REVOKE

BIT_LENGTH GRANT RIGHT

BOTH GROUP ROLLBACK

BY HAVING ROWS

CASCADE HOUR SCHEMA

CASCADED IDENTITY SCROLL

CASE IMMEDIATE SECOND

CAST IN SECTION

CATALOG INCLUDE SELECT

CHAR INDEX SESSION

CHAR_LENGTH INDICATOR SESSION_USER

CHARACTER INITIALLY SET

CHARACTER_LENGTH INNER SIZE

CHECK INPUT SMALLINT

CLOSE INSENSITIVE SOME

COALESCE INSERT SPACE

COLLATE INT SQL

COLLATION INTEGER SQLCA

COLUMN INTERSECT SQLCODE

COMMIT INTERVAL SQLERROR

CONNECT INTO SQLSTATE

CONNECTION IS SQLWARNING

CONSTRAINT ISOLATION SUBSTRING

CONSTRAINTS JOIN SUM

CONTINUE KEY SYSTEM_USER

CONVERT LANGUAGE TABLE

CORRESPONDING LAST TEMPORARY

COUNT LEADING THEN

CREATE LEFT TIME

CROSS LEVEL TIMESTAMP

CURRENT LIKE TIMEZONE_HOUR

CURRENT_DATE LOCAL TIMEZONE_MINUTE

CURRENT_TIME LOWER TO

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP MATCH TRAILING

CURRENT_USER MAX TRANSACTION

CURSOR MIN TRANSLATE

DATE MINUTE TRANSLATION

DAY MODULE TRIM

DEALLOCATE MONTH TRUE

DEC NAMES UNION

DECIMAL NATIONAL UNIQUE

DECLARE NATURAL UNKNOWN

DEFAULT NCHAR UPDATE

DEFERRABLE NEXT UPPER

DEFERRED NO USAGE

DELETE NONE USER

DESC NOT USING

DESCRIBE NULL VALUE

DESCRIPTOR NULLIF VALUES

DIAGNOSTICS NUMERIC VARCHAR

DISCONNECT OCTET_LENGTH VARYING

DISTINCT OF VIEW

DOMAIN ON WHEN

DOUBLE ONLY WHENEVER

DROP OPEN WHERE

ELSE OPTION WITH

END OR WORK
 END-EXEC ORDER WRITE

ESCAPE OUTER YEAR

EXCEPT OUTPUT ZONE

EXCEPTION

Future Keywords
The following keywords could be reserved in future releases of SQL Server as new features are implemented.
Consider avoiding the use of these words as identifiers.

ABSOLUTE HOST RELATIVE

ACTION HOUR RELEASE

ADMIN IGNORE RESULT

AFTER IMMEDIATE RETURNS

AGGREGATE INDICATOR ROLE

ALIAS INITIALIZE ROLLUP

ALLOCATE INITIALLY ROUTINE

ARE INOUT ROW

ARRAY INPUT ROWS

ASENSITIVE INT SAVEPOINT

ASSERTION INTEGER SCROLL

ASYMMETRIC INTERSECTION SCOPE

AT INTERVAL SEARCH

ATOMIC ISOLATION SECOND

BEFORE ITERATE SECTION

BINARY LANGUAGE SENSITIVE

BIT LARGE SEQUENCE

BLOB LAST SESSION

BOOLEAN LATERAL SETS

BOTH LEADING SIMILAR

BREADTH LESS SIZE

CALL LEVEL SMALLINT

CALLED LIKE_REGEX SPACE

CARDINALITY LIMIT SPECIFIC

CASCADED LN SPECIFICTYPE

CAST LOCAL SQL

CATALOG LOCALTIME SQLEXCEPTION

CHAR LOCALTIMESTAMP SQLSTATE

CHARACTER LOCATOR SQLWARNING

CLASS MAP START

CLOB MATCH STATE

COLLATION MEMBER STATEMENT

COLLECT METHOD STATIC

COMPLETION MINUTE STDDEV_POP

CONDITION MOD STDDEV_SAMP

CONNECT MODIFIES STRUCTURE

CONNECTION MODIFY SUBMULTISET

CONSTRAINTS MODULE SUBSTRING_REGEX

CONSTRUCTOR MONTH SYMMETRIC

CORR MULTISET SYSTEM

CORRESPONDING NAMES TEMPORARY

COVAR_POP NATURAL TERMINATE

COVAR_SAMP NCHAR THAN

CUBE NCLOB TIME

CUME_DIST NEW TIMESTAMP

CURRENT_CATALOG NEXT TIMEZONE_HOUR

CURRENT_DEFAULT_TRANSFORM_GRO NO TIMEZONE_MINUTE
UP

CURRENT_PATH NONE TRAILING

CURRENT_ROLE NORMALIZE TRANSLATE_REGEX

CURRENT_SCHEMA NUMERIC TRANSLATION

CURRENT_TRANSFORM_GROUP_FOR_T OBJECT TREAT

YPE

CYCLE OCCURRENCES_REGEX TRUE

DATA OLD UESCAPE

DATE ONLY UNDER

DAY OPERATION UNKNOWN

DEC ORDINALITY UNNEST

DECIMAL OUT USAGE

DEFERRABLE OVERLAY USING

DEFERRED OUTPUT VALUE

DEPTH PAD VAR_POP

DEREF PARAMETER VAR_SAMP

DESCRIBE PARAMETERS VARCHAR

DESCRIPTOR PARTIAL VARIABLE

DESTROY PARTITION WHENEVER

DESTRUCTOR PATH WIDTH_BUCKET

DETERMINISTIC POSTFIX WITHOUT

DICTIONARY PREFIX WINDOW

DIAGNOSTICS PREORDER WITHIN

DISCONNECT PREPARE WORK

 DOMAIN PERCENT_RANK WRITE

DYNAMIC PERCENTILE_CONT XMLAGG

EACH PERCENTILE_DISC XMLATTRIBUTES

ELEMENT POSITION_REGEX XMLBINARY

END-EXEC PRESERVE XMLCAST

EQUALS PRIOR XMLCOMMENT

EVERY PRIVILEGES XMLCONCAT

EXCEPTION RANGE XMLDOCUMENT

FALSE READS XMLELEMENT

FILTER REAL XMLEXISTS

FIRST RECURSIVE XMLFOREST

FLOAT REF XMLITERATE

FOUND REFERENCING XMLNAMESPACES

FREE REGR_AVGX XMLPARSE

FULLTEXTTABLE REGR_AVGY XMLPI

FUSION REGR_COUNT XMLQUERY

GENERAL REGR_INTERCEPT XMLSERIALIZE

GET REGR_R2 XMLTABLE

GLOBAL REGR_SLOPE XMLTEXT

GO REGR_SXX XMLVALIDATE

GROUPING REGR_SXY YEAR

HOLD REGR_SYY ZONE

See Also
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER (Transact-SQL)
ALTER DATABASE Compatibility Level (Transact-SQL)
 Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions-
Transact-SQL
3/24/2017 • 4 min to read • Edit Online

THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (starting with 2008) Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Data Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse
The following table lists and describes conventions that are used in the syntax diagrams in
the Transact-SQL Reference.

CONVENTION USED FOR

UPPERCASE Transact-SQL keywords.

italic User-supplied parameters of Transact-SQL syntax.

bold Database names, table names, column names,

index names, stored procedures, utilities, data
type names, and text that must be typed exactly
as shown.

underline Indicates the default value applied when the

clause that contains the underlined value is
omitted from the statement.

| (vertical bar) Separates syntax items enclosed in brackets or

braces. You can use only one of the items.

[ ] (brackets) Optional syntax items. Do not type the brackets.

{ } (braces) Required syntax items. Do not type the braces.

[,...n] Indicates the preceding item can be repeated n

number of times. The occurrences are separated
by commas.

[...n] Indicates the preceding item can be repeated n

number of times. The occurrences are separated
by blanks.

; Transact-SQL statement terminator.Although the

semicolon is not required for most statements in
this version of SQL Server, it will be required in a
future version.
 CONVENTION USED FOR

<label> ::= The name for a block of syntax. This convention is

used to group and label sections of lengthy
syntax or a unit of syntax that can be used in
more than one location within a statement. Each
location in which the block of syntax can be used
is indicated with the label enclosed in chevrons:
<label>.

A set is a collection of expressions, for example

<grouping set>; and a list is a collection of sets,
for example <composite element list>.

Multipart Names
Unless specified otherwise, all Transact-SQL references to the name of a database object can
be a four-part name in the following form:
server_name .[database_name].[schema_name].object_name
| database_name.[schema_name].object_name
| schema_name.object_name
| object_name
server_name
Specifies a linked server name or remote server name.
database_name
Specifies the name of a SQL Server database when the object resides in a local instance of
SQL Server. When the object is in a linked server, database_name specifies an OLE DB
catalog.
schema_name
Specifies the name of the schema that contains the object if the object is in a SQL Server
database. When the object is in a linked server, schema_name specifies an OLE DB schema
name.
object_name
Refers to the name of the object.
When referencing a specific object, you do not always have to specify the server, database,
and schema for the SQL Server Database Engine to identify the object. However, if the object
cannot be found, an error is returned.

NOTE
To avoid name resolution errors, we recommend specifying the schema name whenever you specify
a schema-scoped object.

To omit intermediate nodes, use periods to indicate these positions. The following table
shows the valid formats of object names.
 OBJECT REFERENCE FORMAT DESCRIPTION

server . database . schema . object Four-part name.

server . database .. object Schema name is omitted.

server .. schema . object Database name is omitted.

server ... object Database and schema name are omitted.

database . schema . object Server name is omitted.

database .. object Server and schema name are omitted.

schema . object Server and database name are omitted.

object Server, database, and schema name are omitted.

Code Example Conventions

Unless stated otherwise, the examples provided in the Transact-SQL Reference were tested
by using SQL Server Management Studio and its default settings for the following options:
ANSI_NULLS
ANSI_NULL_DFLT_ON
ANSI_PADDING
ANSI_WARNINGS
CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL
QUOTED_IDENTIFIER
Most code examples in the Transact-SQL Reference have been tested on servers that
are running a case-sensitive sort order. The test servers were typically running the
ANSI/ISO 1252 code page.
Many code examples prefix Unicode character string constants with the letter N.
Without the N prefix, the string is converted to the default code page of the database.
This default code page may not recognize certain characters.

"Applies to" References

The Transact-SQL reference includes topics related to SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2,
SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2014, Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
Near the top of each topic is a section indicating which products support the subject of the
topic. If a product is omitted, then the feature described by the topic is not available in that
product. For example, availability groups were introduced in SQL Server 2012. The CREATE
AVAILABILTY GROUP topic indicates it applies to SQL Server (SQL Server 2012 through
current version) because it does not apply to SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2, or
Azure SQL Database.
In some cases, the general subject of topic can be used in a product, but all of the arguments
are not supported. For example, contained database users were introduced in SQL Server
2012. The CREATE USER statement can be used in any SQL Server product, however the
WITH PASSWORD syntax cannot be used with older versions. In this case, additional
Applies to sections are inserted into the appropriate argument descriptions in the body of
the topic.

See Also
Transact-SQL Reference (Database Engine)