THROW (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
Raises an exception and transfers execution to a CATCH
block of a TRY...CATCH construct.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
THROW [ { error_number | @local_variable }
, { message | @local_variable }
, { state | @local_variable } ]
[ ; ]
Note
To view Transact-SQL syntax for SQL Server 2014 (12.x) and earlier versions, see Previous versions documentation.
Arguments
error_number
A constant or variable that represents the exception. The error_number argument is int, and must be greater than or equal to 50,000, and less than or equal to 2,147,483,647.
message
A string or variable that describes the exception. The message argument is nvarchar(2048).
state
A constant or variable between 0 and 255 that indicates the state to associate with the message. The state argument is tinyint.
Remarks
Use state to help you identify the source of an error in your stored procedure, trigger, or statement batch. For example, if you use the same message in multiple places, a unique state value can help you locate where the error occurred.
The statement before the THROW
statement must be followed by the semicolon (;
) statement terminator.
If a TRY...CATCH
construct isn't available, the statement batch is terminated. The line number and procedure where the exception is raised are set. The severity is set to 16
.
If the THROW
statement is specified without parameters, it must appear inside a CATCH
block. This causes the caught exception to be raised. Any error that occurs in a THROW
statement causes the statement batch to be terminated.
%
is a reserved character in the message text of a THROW
statement and must be escaped. Double the %
character to return %
as part of the message text, for example 'The increase exceeded 15%% of the original value'
.
Differences between RAISERROR and THROW
The following table lists differences between the RAISERROR and THROW
statements.
RAISERROR statement | THROW statement |
---|---|
If a msg_id is passed to RAISERROR , the ID must be defined in sys.messages . |
The error_number parameter doesn't have to be defined in sys.messages . |
The msg_str parameter can contain printf formatting styles. |
The message parameter doesn't accept printf style formatting. |
The severity parameter specifies the severity of the exception. | There's no severity parameter. When THROW is used to initiate the exception, the severity is always set to 16 . However, when THROW is used to rethrow an existing exception, the severity is set to that exception's severity level. |
Doesn't honor SET XACT_ABORT. | Transactions are rolled back if SET XACT_ABORT is ON . |
Examples
A. Use THROW to raise an exception
The following example shows how to use the THROW
statement to raise an exception.
THROW 51000, 'The record does not exist.', 1;
Here is the result set.
Msg 51000, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
The record does not exist.
B. Use THROW to raise an exception again
The following example shows how to use the THROW
statement to raise the last thrown exception again.
USE tempdb;
GO
CREATE TABLE dbo.TestRethrow
( ID INT PRIMARY KEY
);
BEGIN TRY
INSERT dbo.TestRethrow(ID) VALUES(1);
-- Force error 2627, Violation of PRIMARY KEY constraint to be raised.
INSERT dbo.TestRethrow(ID) VALUES(1);
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
PRINT 'In catch block.';
THROW;
END CATCH;
Here is the result set.
In catch block.
Msg 2627, Level 14, State 1, Line 1
Violation of PRIMARY KEY constraint 'PK__TestReth__3214EC272E3BD7D3'. Cannot insert duplicate key in object 'dbo.TestRethrow'.
The statement has been terminated.
C. Use FORMATMESSAGE with THROW
The following example shows how to use the FORMATMESSAGE function with THROW
to throw a customized error message. The example first creates a user-defined error message by using sp_addmessage
. Because the THROW
statement doesn't allow for substitution parameters in the message parameter in the way that RAISERROR
does, the FORMATMESSAGE
function is used to pass the three parameter values expected by error message 60000
.
EXEC sys.sp_addmessage
@msgnum = 60000,
@severity = 16,
@msgtext = N'This is a test message with one numeric parameter (%d), one string parameter (%s), and another string parameter (%s).',
@lang = 'us_english';
GO
DECLARE @msg NVARCHAR(2048) = FORMATMESSAGE(60000, 500, N'First string', N'second string');
THROW 60000, @msg, 1;
Here is the result set.
Msg 60000, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
This is a test message with one numeric parameter (`500`), one string parameter (First string), and another string parameter (second string).