SQL Server variable scope in a stored procedure

Question

I would like to declare a variable within an if/else statement in a SQL Server stored procedure. I understand that this is fairly impossible because SQL Server doesn\'t do m

Answer 1

No, SQL is pretty funny/weird like that

Declare the variable before the if exists block of code

so

declare @bob int 
set @bob = 2 

if exists(x) 
begin   
    set @bob = 1 
end

Now, take a look at these examples and try to guess what happens

WHILE 1 = 2 --not true of course
BEGIN
  DECLARE @VAR INT;
END
SET @VAR = 1;

SELECT @VAR;

This of course works, but it is not initialized every time

DECLARE @loop INT
SET @loop = 0

WHILE @loop <=6
BEGIN
        DECLARE @VAR INT
        SET @VAR = COALESCE(@VAR,0) + 1
        SET @loop = @loop +1
END

SELECT @VAR