What does the GO command do in an SQL script?

Question

I have read up about the GO command but I have not seen a clear answer to the following question.

Let's say I run the following set of commands from the SSMS:

INSERT INTO [dbo].[hwr] ([wr_id]) VALUES (990017882)
INSERT INTO [dbo].[hwr] ([wr_id]) VALUES (990017883)
INSERT INTO [dbo].[hwr] ([wr_id]) VALUES (990017884)
INSERT INTO [dbo].[hwr] ([wr_id]) VALUES (990017885)

How does this differ from:

INSERT INTO [dbo].[hwr] ([wr_id]) VALUES (990017882)
GO
INSERT INTO [dbo].[hwr] ([wr_id]) VALUES (990017883)
GO
INSERT INTO [dbo].[hwr] ([wr_id]) VALUES (990017884)
GO
INSERT INTO [dbo].[hwr] ([wr_id]) VALUES (990017885)
GO

In other words, is the 'GO' command actually accomplishing anything in this situation? If so, what?

Many thanks, Matt

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 01 '13 at 19:14

3

The GO command is actually not a SQL command, but an SSMS command. It tells SSMS to send the previous commands as a batch.

So the difference is your first code will send it all at once, while the second will send in four batches.

answered Jul 01 '13 at 19:14

Andrew Barber

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And I think this has been answered here: http://stackoverflow.com/q/2668529/426422 – Mike Cheel Jul 01 '13 at 19:15
Has indeed. @MikeCheel! – Andrew Barber Jul 01 '13 at 19:15
And I didn't know it had a count parameter. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188037(v=sql.105).aspx – Mike Cheel Jul 01 '13 at 19:16
Oh, neither did I, @MikeCheel That's pretty cool! – Andrew Barber Jul 01 '13 at 19:17

SQLMenace · Answer 2 · 2013-07-01T19:22:18.553

GO is a batch separator

Certain operations require it to be the first line in a batch (CREATE PROCEDURE) for example. If you use GO you then can have all the commands in 1 file

Also you can declare the same variable if it is in its own batch

example

declare @i int = 5
select @i
go
declare @i int = 5
select @i
go

Take out the go and it will blow up

You can also add a number after GO and it will execute the batch that many times, example

declare @i int = 5
select @i
go 4

What does the GO command do in an SQL script?

2 Answers2