How to get sp_executesql result into a variable?

Question

I have a piece of dynamic SQL I need to execute, I then need to store the result into a variable.

I know I can use sp_executesql but can\'t find clear e

Answer 1

Return values are generally not used to "return" a result but to return success (0) or an error number (1-65K). The above all seem to indicate that sp_executesql does not return a value, which is not correct. sp_executesql will return 0 for success and any other number for failure.

In the below, @i will return 2727

DECLARE @s NVARCHAR(500)
DECLARE @i INT;
SET @s = 'USE [Blah]; UPDATE STATISTICS [dbo].[TableName] [NonExistantStatisticsName];';
EXEC @i = sys.sp_executesql @s
SELECT @i AS 'Blah'

SSMS will show this Msg 2727, Level 11, State 1, Line 1 Cannot find index 'NonExistantStaticsName'.

Answer 2

This was a long time ago, so not sure if this is still needed, but you could use @@ROWCOUNT variable to see how many rows were affected with the previous sql statement.

This is helpful when for example you construct a dynamic Update statement and run it with exec. @@ROWCOUNT would show how many rows were updated.

Here is the definition

Answer 3

Here's something you can try

DECLARE  @SqlStatement  NVARCHAR(MAX) = ''
       ,@result     XML
       ,@DatabaseName  VARCHAR(100)
       ,@SchemaName    VARCHAR(10)
       ,@ObjectName    VARCHAR(200);

SELECT   @DatabaseName = 'some database'
       ,@SchemaName   = 'some schema'
       ,@ObjectName   = 'some object (Table/View)'

SET @SqlStatement = '
                    SELECT @result = CONVERT(XML,
                                            STUFF( ( SELECT *
                                                     FROM 
                                                       (
                                                          SELECT TOP(100) 
                                                          * 
                                                          FROM ' + QUOTENAME(@DatabaseName) +'.'+ QUOTENAME(@SchemaName) +'.' + QUOTENAME(@ObjectName) + '
                                                       ) AS A1 
                                                    FOR XML PATH(''row''), ELEMENTS, ROOT(''recordset'')
                                                 ), 1, 0, '''')
                                       )
                ';

EXEC sp_executesql @SqlStatement,N'@result XML OUTPUT', @result = @result OUTPUT;

SELECT DISTINCT
    QUOTENAME(r.value('fn:local-name(.)', 'VARCHAR(200)')) AS ColumnName
FROM @result.nodes('//recordset/*/*') AS records(r)
ORDER BY ColumnName

Answer 4

DECLARE @tab AS TABLE (col1 VARCHAR(10), col2 varchar(10)) 
INSERT into @tab EXECUTE  sp_executesql N'
SELECT 1 AS col1, 2 AS col2
UNION ALL
SELECT 1 AS col1, 2 AS col2
UNION ALL
SELECT 1 AS col1, 2 AS col2'

SELECT * FROM @tab