How to add “IF NOT EXISTS” to create trigger statement

Question

I am using sql server 2008 R2. More specifically, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (RTM) - 10.50.1600.1 (X64) Apr 2 2010 15:48:46 Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation Stan

Answer 1

Certain statements like CREATE TRIGGER needs to be the first in a batch (as in, group of statements separated by GO ).

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175502.aspx

Alternatively you could do this

IF NOT EXISTS ( SELECT  *
            FROM    sys.objects
            WHERE   type = 'TR'
                    AND name = 'Insert_WithdrawalCodes' ) 
BEGIN
    EXEC ('CREATE TRIGGER Insert_WithdrawalCodes ON ...');
END;