Reserved Keywords (Setup)

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 uses reserved keywords for defining, manipulating, and accessing databases. Reserved keywords are part of the grammar of Transact-SQL that is used by SQL Server to parse and understand Transact-SQL statements and batches.

SQL Server instance names cannot match a reserved keyword. Doing so will cause a setup error. Use the following table to ensure that reserved keywords are not used in SQL Server 2005 instance names.

ADD	EXCEPT	PERCENT
ALL	EXEC	PLAN
ALTER	EXECUTE	PRECISION
AND	EXISTS	PRIMARY
ANY	EXIT	PRINT
AS	FETCH	PROC
ASC	FILE	PROCEDURE
AUTHORIZATION	FILLFACTOR	PUBLIC
BACKUP	FOR	RAISERROR
BEGIN	FOREIGN	READ
BETWEEN	FREETEXT	READTEXT
BREAK	FREETEXTTABLE	RECONFIGURE
BROWSE	FROM	REFERENCES
BULK	FULL	REPLICATION
BY	FUNCTION	RESTORE
CASCADE	GOTO	RESTRICT
CASE	GRANT	RETURN
CHECK	GROUP	REVOKE
CHECKPOINT	HAVING	RIGHT
CLOSE	HOLDLOCK	ROLLBACK
CLUSTERED	IDENTITY	ROWCOUNT
COALESCE	IDENTITY_INSERT	ROWGUIDCOL
COLLATE	IDENTITYCOL	RULE
COLUMN	IF	SAVE
COMMIT	IN	SCHEMA
COMPUTE	INDEX	SELECT
CONSTRAINT	INNER	SESSION_USER
CONTAINS	INSERT	SET
CONTAINSTABLE	INTERSECT	SETUSER
CONTINUE	INTO	SHUTDOWN
CONVERT	IS	SOME
CREATE	JOIN	STATISTICS
CROSS	KEY	SYSTEM_USER
CURRENT	KILL	TABLE
CURRENT_DATE	LEFT	TEXTSIZE
CURRENT_TIME	LIKE	THEN
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP	LINENO	TO
CURRENT_USER	LOAD	TOP
CURSOR	NATIONAL	TRAN
DATABASE	NOCHECK	TRANSACTION
DBCC	NONCLUSTERED	TRIGGER
DEALLOCATE	NOT	TRUNCATE
DECLARE	NULL	TSEQUAL
DEFAULT	NULLIF	UNION
DELETE	OF	UNIQUE
DENY	OFF	UPDATE
DESC	OFFSETS	UPDATETEXT
DISK	ON	USE
DISTINCT	OPEN	USER
DISTRIBUTED	OPENDATASOURCE	VALUES
DOUBLE	OPENQUERY	VARYING
DROP	OPENROWSET	VIEW
DUMMY	OPENXML	WAITFOR
DUMP	OPTION	WHEN
ELSE	OR	WHERE
END	ORDER	WHILE
ERRLVL	OUTER	WITH
ESCAPE	OVER	WRITETEXT

Additionally, the SQL-2003 standard defines a list of reserved keywords. Avoid using SQL-2003 reserved keywords for object names and identifiers. The ODBC reserved keyword list, shown in the following table, is the same as the SQL-2003 reserved keyword list.

Note

The SQL-2003 reserved keywords list sometimes can be more restrictive than SQL Server and at other times less restrictive. For example, the SQL-2003 reserved keywords list contains INT. SQL Server does not treat INT as a reserved keyword.

ODBC Reserved Keywords

The following words are reserved for use in ODBC function calls. These words do not constrain the minimum SQL grammar; however, to ensure compatibility with drivers that support the core SQL grammar, avoid using these keywords in SQL Server instance names.

ABSOLUTE	EXEC	OVERLAPS
ACTION	EXECUTE	PAD
ADA	EXISTS	PARTIAL
ADD	EXTERNAL	PASCAL
ALL	EXTRACT	POSITION
ALLOCATE	FALSE	PRECISION
ALTER	FETCH	PREPARE
AND	FIRST	PRESERVE
ANY	FLOAT	PRIMARY
ARE	FOR	PRIOR
AS	FOREIGN	PRIVILEGES
ASC	FORTRAN	PROCEDURE
ASSERTION	FOUND	PUBLIC
AT	FROM	READ
AUTHORIZATION	FULL	REAL
AVG	GET	REFERENCES
BEGIN	GLOBAL	RELATIVE
BETWEEN	GO	RESTRICT
BIT	GOTO	REVOKE
BIT_LENGTH	GRANT	RIGHT
BOTH	GROUP	ROLLBACK
BY	HAVING	ROWS
CASCADE	HOUR	SCHEMA
CASCADED	IDENTITY	SCROLL
CASE	IMMEDIATE	SECOND
CAST	IN	SECTION
CATALOG	INCLUDE	SELECT
CHAR	INDEX	SESSION
CHAR_LENGTH	INDICATOR	SESSION_USER
CHARACTER	INITIALLY	SET
CHARACTER_LENGTH	INNER	SIZE
CHECK	INPUT	SMALLINT
CLOSE	INSENSITIVE	SOME
COALESCE	INSERT	SPACE
COLLATE	INT	SQL
COLLATION	INTEGER	SQLCA
COLUMN	INTERSECT	SQLCODE
COMMIT	INTERVAL	SQLERROR
CONNECT	INTO	SQLSTATE
CONNECTION	IS	SQLWARNING
CONSTRAINT	ISOLATION	SUBSTRING
CONSTRAINTS	JOIN	SUM
CONTINUE	KEY	SYSTEM_USER
CONVERT	LANGUAGE	TABLE
CORRESPONDING	LAST	TEMPORARY
COUNT	LEADING	THEN
CREATE	LEFT	TIME
CROSS	LEVEL	TIMESTAMP
CURRENT	LIKE	TIMEZONE_HOUR
CURRENT_DATE	LOCAL	TIMEZONE_MINUTE
CURRENT_TIME	LOWER	TO
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP	MATCH	TRAILING
CURRENT_USER	MAX	TRANSACTION
CURSOR	MIN	TRANSLATE
DATE	MINUTE	TRANSLATION
DAY	MODULE	TRIM
DEALLOCATE	MONTH	TRUE
DEC	NAMES	UNION
DECIMAL	NATIONAL	UNIQUE
DECLARE	NATURAL	UNKNOWN
DEFAULT	NCHAR	UPDATE
DEFERRABLE	NEXT	UPPER
DEFERRED	NO	USAGE
DELETE	NONE	USER
DESC	NOT	USING
DESCRIBE	NULL	VALUE
DESCRIPTOR	NULLIF	VALUES
DIAGNOSTICS	NUMERIC	VARCHAR
DISCONNECT	OCTET_LENGTH	VARYING
DISTINCT	OF	VIEW
DOMAIN	ON	WHEN
DOUBLE	ONLY	WHENEVER
DROP	OPEN	WHERE
ELSE	OPTION	WITH
END	OR	WORK
END-EXEC	ORDER	WRITE
ESCAPE	OUTER	YEAR
EXCEPT	OUTPUT	ZONE
EXCEPTION

Future Keywords

The following keywords could be reserved in future releases of SQL Server as new features are implemented. Consider avoiding the use of these words in SQL Server instance names.

ABSOLUTE	FOUND	PREPARE
ACTION	FREE	PRESERVE
ADMIN	FULLTEXTTABLE	PRIOR
AFTER	GENERAL	PRIVILEGES
AGGREGATE	GET	READS
ALIAS	GLOBAL	REAL
ALLOCATE	GO	RECURSIVE
ARE	GROUPING	REF
ARRAY	HOST	REFERENCING
ASSERTION	HOUR	RELATIVE
AT	IGNORE	RESULT
BEFORE	IMMEDIATE	RETURNS
BINARY	INDICATOR	ROLE
BIT	INITIALIZE	ROLLUP
BLOB	INITIALLY	ROUTINE
BOOLEAN	INOUT	ROW
BOTH	INPUT	ROWS
BREADTH	INT	SAVEPOINT
CALL	INTEGER	SCROLL
CASCADED	INTERVAL	SCOPE
CAST	ISOLATION	SEARCH
CATALOG	ITERATE	SECOND
CHAR	LANGUAGE	SECTION
CHARACTER	LARGE	SEQUENCE
CLASS	LAST	SESSION
CLOB	LATERAL	SETS
COLLATION	LEADING	SIZE
COMPLETION	LESS	SMALLINT
CONNECT	LEVEL	SPACE
CONNECTION	LIMIT	SPECIFIC
CONSTRAINTS	LOCAL	SPECIFICTYPE
CONSTRUCTOR	LOCALTIME	SQL
CORRESPONDING	LOCALTIMESTAMP	SQLEXCEPTION
CUBE	LOCATOR	SQLSTATE
CURRENT_PATH	MAP	SQLWARNING
CURRENT_ROLE	MATCH	START
CYCLE	MINUTE	STATE
DATA	MODIFIES	STATEMENT
DATE	MODIFY	STATIC
DAY	MODULE	STRUCTURE
DEC	MONTH	TEMPORARY
DECIMAL	NAMES	TERMINATE
DEFERRABLE	NATURAL	THAN
DEFERRED	NCHAR	TIME
DEPTH	NCLOB	TIMESTAMP
DEREF	NEW	TIMEZONE_HOUR
DESCRIBE	NEXT	TIMEZONE_MINUTE
DESCRIPTOR	NO	TRAILING
DESTROY	NONE	TRANSLATION
DESTRUCTOR	NUMERIC	TREAT
DETERMINISTIC	OBJECT	TRUE
DICTIONARY	OLD	UNDER
DIAGNOSTICS	ONLY	UNKNOWN
DISCONNECT	OPERATION	UNNEST
DOMAIN	ORDINALITY	USAGE
DYNAMIC	OUT	USING
EACH	OUTPUT	VALUE
END-EXEC	PAD	VARCHAR
EQUALS	PARAMETER	VARIABLE
EVERY	PARAMETERS	WHENEVER
EXCEPTION	PARTIAL	WITHOUT
EXTERNAL	PATH	WORK
FALSE	POSTFIX	WRITE
FIRST	PREFIX	YEAR
FLOAT	PREORDER	ZONE

See Also

Tasks

How to: Install SQL Server 2005 (Setup)

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance