PRINT (Transact-SQL)
Applies to:
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
Analytics Platform System (PDW)
SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric
Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
Returns a user-defined message to the client. For example, in SQL Server Management Studio, PRINT
outputs to the Messages tab of the query results window.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
PRINT msg_str | @local_variable | string_expr
Note
To view Transact-SQL syntax for SQL Server 2014 (12.x) and earlier versions, see Previous versions documentation.
Arguments
msg_str
A character string or Unicode string constant. For more information, see Constants.
@local_variable
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
An expression that returns a string. Can include concatenated literal values, functions, and variables. For more information, see Expressions.
Remarks
A message string can be up to 8,000 characters long if it's a non-Unicode string, and 4,000 characters long if it's 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 (Transact-SQL) 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. Build and display a string
The following example converts the results of the GETDATE function to a nvarchar data type, and concatenates it with literal text, which is returned by PRINT
.
PRINT N'This message was printed on ' + RTRIM(CAST(GETDATE() AS NVARCHAR(30))) + N'.';
GO
The following example shows building the message text in a variable.
DECLARE @PrintMessage NVARCHAR(50);
SET @PrintMessage = N'This message was printed on ' + RTRIM(CAST(GETDATE() AS NVARCHAR(30))) + N'.';
PRINT @PrintMessage;
GO
Examples: Azure Synapse Analytics and Analytics Platform System (PDW)
C. Conditionally execute 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