sys.default_constraints (Transact-SQL)

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW) Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric

Contains a row for each object that is a default definition (created as part of a CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE statement instead of a CREATE DEFAULT statement), with sys.objects.type = D.

Column name	Data type	Description
<Columns inherited from sys.objects>		For a list of columns that this view inherits, see sys.objects (Transact-SQL).
parent_column_id	int	ID of the column in parent_object_id to which this default belongs.
definition	nvarchar(max)	SQL expression that defines this default.
is_system_named	bit	1 = Name was generated by system. 0 = Name was supplied by the user.

Permissions

The visibility of the metadata in catalog views is limited to securables that a user either owns, or on which the user was granted some permission. For more information, see Metadata Visibility Configuration.

Examples

The following example returns the definition of the DEFAULT constraint that is applied to the VacationHours column of the HumanResources.Employee table.

USE AdventureWorks2022;  
GO  
SELECT d.definition   
FROM sys.default_constraints AS d  
INNER JOIN sys.columns AS c  
ON d.parent_object_id = c.object_id
AND d.parent_column_id = c.column_id  
WHERE d.parent_object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'HumanResources.Employee', N'U')  
AND c.name = 'VacationHours';  

See Also

Object Catalog Views (Transact-SQL)
Catalog Views (Transact-SQL)
Querying the SQL Server System Catalog FAQ