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GO statement

  • June 17, 2008 at 6:28 am

    #189258

    Do I even need it? I have seen it used in some example code from my course but I don't understand why it's used... could someone please explain its use?

    Cheers.

  • June 17, 2008 at 6:34 am

    #829707

    GO is a batch delmiter. It shows where 1 batch ends and another begins. There are some SQL statements (CREATE PROCEDURE) that have to be the first statement in the batch.

    One thing to bear in mind is that GO is not a SQL command. It's a command recognised by the SQL client tools (management studio, sqlcmd, etc)

    Books online

    SQL Server utilities interpret GO as a signal that they should send the current batch of Transact-SQL statements to an instance of SQL Server. The current batch of statements is composed of all statements entered since the last GO, or since the start of the ad hoc session or script if this is the first GO.

    Applications based on the ODBC or OLE DB APIs receive a syntax error if they try to execute a GO command. The SQL Server utilities never send a GO command to the server.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

  • June 17, 2008 at 6:40 am

    #829708

    Hey thanks for that. Yeah I've read that on MSDN but I still didn't understand it. So I don't really have to use GO? It's not like transact sql or anything?

  • June 17, 2008 at 6:47 am

    #829719

    It's not T-SQL. You don't ever have to use it. There are many places it's convenient to use.

    As I mentioned, there are statements that need to be the 1st in a batch.

    This will give a syntax error - 'CREATE/ALTER PROCEDURE' must be the first statement in a query batch.

    SELECT GETDATE ()

    CREATE PROCEDURE DoSomething AS

    SELECT GETDATE()

    EXEC DoSomething

    This works, because the GO breaks the statements into 3 batches. 1 that selects the date, one that creates the procedure and one that execs the procedure

    SELECT GETDATE ()

    GO

    CREATE PROCEDURE DoSomething AS

    SELECT GETDATE()

    GO -- ends the create procedure

    EXEC DoSomething

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass

  • June 17, 2008 at 6:57 am

    #829731

    Thanks heaps for that. 🙂

  • June 17, 2008 at 7:30 am

    #829773

    I often use GO between logical parts of a long script, to help me keep track of which parts are which. Even if it's not technically necessary, it can help break something up for better readability.

    GO can also be used to execute a script multiple times.

    select 1

    go 10

    Will select "1" 10 times (10 separate result sets). Not terribly useful with just a Select command, but can be useful with a proc or function you want to run a bunch of times for some reason, perhaps for performance testing or block/deadlock testing.

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  • June 17, 2008 at 7:54 am

    #829783

    Oh, ok. Don't think I'll be needing that just yet haha.

  • June 19, 2008 at 12:57 am

    #830920

    I am using GO to separate statements in long scripts and then my C# application is able to display how much (%) of the script is already processed.

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