Reserved Keywords (Transact-SQL)

Article
12/03/2008

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 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	EXISTS	PRIMARY
ALL	EXIT	PRINT
ALTER	EXTERNAL	PROC
AND	FETCH	PROCEDURE
ANY	FILE	PUBLIC
AS	FILLFACTOR	RAISERROR
ASC	FOR	READ
AUTHORIZATION	FOREIGN	READTEXT
BACKUP	FREETEXT	RECONFIGURE
BEGIN	FREETEXTTABLE	REFERENCES
BETWEEN	FROM	REPLICATION
BREAK	FULL	RESTORE
BROWSE	FUNCTION	RESTRICT
BULK	GOTO	RETURN
BY	GRANT	REVERT
CASCADE	GROUP	REVOKE
CASE	HAVING	RIGHT
CHECK	HOLDLOCK	ROLLBACK
CHECKPOINT	IDENTITY	ROWCOUNT
CLOSE	IDENTITY_INSERT	ROWGUIDCOL
CLUSTERED	IDENTITYCOL	RULE
COALESCE	IF	SAVE
COLLATE	IN	SCHEMA
COLUMN	INDEX	SECURITYAUDIT
COMMIT	INNER	SELECT
COMPUTE	INSERT	SESSION_USER
CONSTRAINT	INTERSECT	SET
CONTAINS	INTO	SETUSER
CONTAINSTABLE	IS	SHUTDOWN
CONTINUE	JOIN	SOME
CONVERT	KEY	STATISTICS
CREATE	KILL	SYSTEM_USER
CROSS	LEFT	TABLE
CURRENT	LIKE	TABLESAMPLE
CURRENT_DATE	LINENO	TEXTSIZE
CURRENT_TIME	LOAD	THEN
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP	NATIONAL	TO
CURRENT_USER	NOCHECK	TOP
CURSOR	NONCLUSTERED	TRAN
DATABASE	NOT	TRANSACTION
DBCC	NULL	TRIGGER
DEALLOCATE	NULLIF	TRUNCATE
DECLARE	OF	TSEQUAL
DEFAULT	OFF	UNION
DELETE	OFFSETS	UNIQUE
DENY	ON	UNPIVOT
DESC	OPEN	UPDATE
DISK	OPENDATASOURCE	UPDATETEXT
DISTINCT	OPENQUERY	USE
DISTRIBUTED	OPENROWSET	USER
DOUBLE	OPENXML	VALUES
DROP	OPTION	VARYING
DUMP	OR	VIEW
ELSE	ORDER	WAITFOR
END	OUTER	WHEN
ERRLVL	OVER	WHERE
ESCAPE	PERCENT	WHILE
EXCEPT	PIVOT	WITH
EXEC	PLAN	WRITETEXT
EXECUTE	PRECISION

Additionally, the SQL-2003 standard defines a list of reserved keywords. Avoid using SQL-2003 reserved keywords for object names and identifiers. The ODBC reserved keyword list, shown in the following table, is the same as the SQL-2003 reserved keyword list.

Note

The SQL-2003 reserved keywords list sometimes can be more restrictive than SQL Server and at other times less restrictive. For example, the SQL-2003 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. For more information, see Using Identifiers As Object Names.

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	FREE	PRESERVE
ACTION	FULLTEXTTABLE	PRIOR
ADMIN	GENERAL	PRIVILEGES
AFTER	GET	READS
AGGREGATE	GLOBAL	REAL
ALIAS	GO	RECURSIVE
ALLOCATE	GROUPING	REF
ARE	HOST	REFERENCING
ARRAY	HOUR	RELATIVE
ASSERTION	IGNORE	RESULT
AT	IMMEDIATE	RETURNS
BEFORE	INDICATOR	ROLE
BINARY	INITIALIZE	ROLLUP
BIT	INITIALLY	ROUTINE
BLOB	INOUT	ROW
BOOLEAN	INPUT	ROWS
BOTH	INT	SAVEPOINT
BREADTH	INTEGER	SCROLL
CALL	INTERVAL	SCOPE
CASCADED	ISOLATION	SEARCH
CAST	ITERATE	SECOND
CATALOG	LANGUAGE	SECTION
CHAR	LARGE	SEQUENCE
CHARACTER	LAST	SESSION
CLASS	LATERAL	SETS
CLOB	LEADING	SIZE
COLLATION	LESS	SMALLINT
COMPLETION	LEVEL	SPACE
CONNECT	LIMIT	SPECIFIC
CONNECTION	LOCAL	SPECIFICTYPE
CONSTRAINTS	LOCALTIME	SQL
CONSTRUCTOR	LOCALTIMESTAMP	SQLEXCEPTION
CORRESPONDING	LOCATOR	SQLSTATE
CUBE	MAP	SQLWARNING
CURRENT_PATH	MATCH	START
CURRENT_ROLE	MINUTE	STATE
CYCLE	MODIFIES	STATEMENT
DATA	MODIFY	STATIC
DATE	MODULE	STRUCTURE
DAY	MONTH	TEMPORARY
DEC	NAMES	TERMINATE
DECIMAL	NATURAL	THAN
DEFERRABLE	NCHAR	TIME
DEFERRED	NCLOB	TIMESTAMP
DEPTH	NEW	TIMEZONE_HOUR
DEREF	NEXT	TIMEZONE_MINUTE
DESCRIBE	NO	TRAILING
DESCRIPTOR	NONE	TRANSLATION
DESTROY	NUMERIC	TREAT
DESTRUCTOR	OBJECT	TRUE
DETERMINISTIC	OLD	UNDER
DICTIONARY	ONLY	UNKNOWN
DIAGNOSTICS	OPERATION	UNNEST
DISCONNECT	ORDINALITY	USAGE
DOMAIN	OUT	USING
DYNAMIC	OUTPUT	VALUE
EACH	PAD	VARCHAR
END-EXEC	PARAMETER	VARIABLE
EQUALS	PARAMETERS	WHENEVER
EVERY	PARTIAL	WITHOUT
EXCEPTION	PATH	WORK
FALSE	POSTFIX	WRITE
FIRST	PREFIX	YEAR
FLOAT	PREORDER	ZONE
FOUND	PREPARE

Change History

Release	History
17 July 2006	New content: Added EXTERNAL, PIVOT, REVERT, TABLESAMPLE, SECURITYAUDIT, and UNPIVOT to the list of reserved words.

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Reserved Keywords (Transact-SQL)

ODBC Reserved Keywords

Future Keywords

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