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table (Transact-SQL)

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Is a special data type that can be used to store a result set for processing at a later time. table is primarily used for temporary storage of a set of rows returned as the result set of a table-valued function. Functions and variables can be declared to be of type table. table variables can be used in functions, stored procedures, and batches. To declare variables of type table, use DECLARE @local\_variable.

Topic link icon Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

table_type_definition ::= 
    TABLE ( { <column_definition> | <table_constraint> } [ ,...n ] ) 

<column_definition> ::= 
    column_name scalar_data_type 
    [ COLLATE <collation_definition> ] 
    [ [ DEFAULT constant_expression ] | IDENTITY [ ( seed , increment ) ] ] 
    [ ROWGUIDCOL ] 
    [ column_constraint ] [ ...n ] 

<column_constraint> ::= 
    { [ NULL | NOT NULL ] 
    | [ PRIMARY KEY | UNIQUE ] 
    | CHECK ( logical_expression ) 
    } 

<table_constraint> ::= 
     { { PRIMARY KEY | UNIQUE } ( column_name [ ,...n ] )
     | CHECK ( logical_expression ) 
     }

Arguments

  • table_type_definition
    Is the same subset of information that is used to define a table in CREATE TABLE. The table declaration includes column definitions, names, data types, and constraints. The only constraint types allowed are PRIMARY KEY, UNIQUE KEY, and NULL.

    For more information about the syntax, see CREATE TABLE (Transact-SQL), CREATE FUNCTION (Transact-SQL), and DECLARE @local\_variable (Transact-SQL).

  • collation_definition
    Is the collation of the column that is made up of a Microsoft Windows locale and a comparison style, a Windows locale and the binary notation, or a Microsoft SQL Server collation. If collation_definition is not specified, the column inherits the collation of the current database. Or if the column is defined as a common language runtime (CLR) user-defined type, the column inherits the collation of the user-defined type.

General Remarks

table variables can be referenced by name in the FROM clause of a batch, as shown the following example:

SELECT Employee_ID, Department_ID FROM @MyTableVar;

Outside a FROM clause, table variables must be referenced by using an alias, as shown in the following example:

SELECT EmployeeID, DepartmentID 
FROM @MyTableVar m
JOIN Employee on (m.EmployeeID =Employee.EmployeeID AND
   m.DepartmentID = Employee.DepartmentID);

table variables provide the following benefits for small-scale queries that have query plans that do not change and when recompilation concerns are dominant:

  • A table variable behaves like a local variable. It has a well-defined scope. This is the function, stored procedure, or batch that it is declared in.

    Within its scope, a table variable can be used like a regular table. It may be applied anywhere a table or table expression is used in SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements. However, table cannot be used in the following statement:

    SELECT select_list INTO table_variable;

    table variables are automatically cleaned up at the end of the function, stored procedure, or batch in which they are defined.

  • table variables used in stored procedures cause fewer recompilations of the stored procedures than when temporary tables are used when there are no cost-based choices that affect performance.

  • Transactions involving table variables last only for the duration of an update on the table variable. Therefore, table variables require less locking and logging resources.

Limitations and Restrictions

Table variables does not have distribution statistics, theywill not trigger recompiles. Therefore, in many cases, the optimizer will build a query plan on the assumption that the table variable has no rows. For this reason, you should be cautious about using a table variable if you expect a larger number of rows (greater than 100). Temp tables may be a better solution in this case. Alternatively, for queries that join the table variable with other tables, use the RECOMPILE hint, which will cause the optimizer to use the correct cardinatlity for the table variable.

table variables are not supported in the SQL Server optimizer's cost-based reasoning model. Therefore, they should not be used when cost-based choices are required to achieve an efficient query plan. Temporary tables are preferred when cost-based choices are required. This typically includes queries with joins, parallelism decisions, and index selection choices.

Queries that modify table variables do not generate parallel query execution plans. Performance can be affected when very large table variables, or table variables in complex queries, are modified. In these situations, consider using temporary tables instead. For more information, see CREATE TABLE (Transact-SQL). Queries that read table variables without modifying them can still be parallelized.

Indexes cannot be created explicitly on table variables, and no statistics are kept on table variables. In some cases, performance may improve by using temporary tables instead, which support indexes and statistics. For more information about temporary tables, see CREATE TABLE (Transact-SQL).

CHECK constraints, DEFAULT values and computed columns in the table type declaration cannot call user-defined functions.

Assignment operation between table variables is not supported.

Because table variables have limited scope and are not part of the persistent database, they are not affected by transaction rollbacks.

Table variables cannot be altered after creation.

Examples

A. 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,
    ModifiedDate = GETDATE() 
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.
SELECT TOP (10) BusinessEntityID, VacationHours, ModifiedDate
FROM HumanResources.Employee;
GO

B. Creating an inline table-valued function

The following example returns an inline table-valued function. It returns three columns ProductID, Name and the aggregate of year-to-date totals by store as YTD Total for each product sold to the store.

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
IF OBJECT_ID (N'Sales.ufn_SalesByStore', N'IF') IS NOT NULL
    DROP FUNCTION Sales.ufn_SalesByStore;
GO
CREATE FUNCTION Sales.ufn_SalesByStore (@storeid int)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN 
(
    SELECT P.ProductID, P.Name, SUM(SD.LineTotal) AS 'Total'
    FROM Production.Product AS P 
    JOIN Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS SD ON SD.ProductID = P.ProductID
    JOIN Sales.SalesOrderHeader AS SH ON SH.SalesOrderID = SD.SalesOrderID
    JOIN Sales.Customer AS C ON SH.CustomerID = C.CustomerID
    WHERE C.StoreID = @storeid
    GROUP BY P.ProductID, P.Name
);
GO

To invoke the function, run this query.

SELECT * FROM Sales.ufn_SalesByStore (602);

See Also

Reference

COLLATE (Transact-SQL)

CREATE FUNCTION (Transact-SQL)

CREATE TABLE (Transact-SQL)

DECLARE @local\_variable (Transact-SQL)

Query Hints (Transact-SQL)

Concepts

User-Defined Functions

Use Table-Valued Parameters (Database Engine)