What's the difference between a temp table and table variable in SQL Server?

Question

In SQL Server 2005, we can create temp tables one of two ways:

declare @tmp table (Col1 int, Col2 int);

or

create table #tm         


        

Answer 1

Consider also that you can often replace both with derived tables which may be faster as well. As with all performance tuning, though, only actual tests against your actual data can tell you the best approach for your particular query.