sys.syscomments (Transact-SQL)
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Contains entries for each view, rule, default, trigger, CHECK constraint, DEFAULT constraint, and stored procedure within the database. The text column contains the original SQL definition statements.
Important
This feature will be removed in a future version of SQL Server. Avoid using this feature in new development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use this feature. We recommend that you use sys.sql_modules instead. For more information, see sys.sql_modules (Transact-SQL).
| Column name | Data type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| id | int | Object ID to which this text applies. |
| number | smallint | Number within procedure grouping, if grouped. 0 = Entries are not procedures. |
| colid | smallint | Row sequence number for object definitions that are longer than 4,000 characters. |
| status | smallint | Identified for informational purposes only. Not supported. Future compatibility is not guaranteed. |
| ctext | varbinary(8000) | The raw bytes of the SQL definition statement. |
| texttype | smallint | 0 = User-supplied comment 1 = System-supplied comment 4 = Encrypted comment |
| language | smallint | Identified for informational purposes only. Not supported. Future compatibility is not guaranteed. |
| encrypted | bit | Indicates whether the procedure definition is obfuscated. 0 = Not obfuscated 1 = Obfuscated ** Important ** To obfuscate stored procedure definitions, use CREATE PROCEDURE with the ENCRYPTION keyword. |
| compressed | bit | Always returns 0. This indicates that the procedure is compressed. |
| text | nvarchar(4000) | Actual text of the SQL definition statement. The semantics of the decoded expression are equivalent to the original text; however, there are no syntactic guarantees. For example, white spaces are removed from the decoded expression. This SQL Server 2000 (8.x)-compatible view obtains information from current SQL Server structures and can return more characters than the nvarchar(4000) definition. sp_help returns nvarchar(4000) as the data type of the text column. When working with syscomments consider using nvarchar(max). For new development work, do not use syscomments. |
See Also
Mapping System Tables to System Views (Transact-SQL)
Compatibility Views (Transact-SQL)