SQL Server PRINT SELECT (Print a select query result)?

Question

I am trying to print a selected value, is this possible?

Example:

PRINT 
    SELECT SUM(Amount) FROM Expense

Solution 1

You know, there might be an easier way but the first thing that pops to mind is:

Declare @SumVal int;
Select @SumVal=Sum(Amount) From Expense;
Print @SumVal;

You can, of course, print any number of fields from the table in this way. Of course, if you want to print all of the results from a query that returns multiple rows, you'd just direct your output appropriately (e.g. to Text).

Solution 2

If you're OK with viewing it as XML:

DECLARE @xmltmp xml = (SELECT * FROM table FOR XML AUTO)
PRINT CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX), @xmltmp)

While the OP's question as asked doesn't necessarily require this, it's useful if you got here looking to print multiple rows/columns (within reason).

Solution 3

If you want to print multiple rows, you can iterate through the result by using a cursor. e.g. print all names from sys.database_principals

DECLARE @name nvarchar(128)

DECLARE cur CURSOR FOR
SELECT name FROM sys.database_principals

OPEN cur

FETCH NEXT FROM cur INTO @name;
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN   
PRINT @name
FETCH NEXT FROM cur INTO @name;
END

CLOSE cur;
DEALLOCATE cur;

Solution 4

set @n = (select sum(Amount) from Expense)
print 'n=' + @n

Solution 5

I wrote this SP to do just what you want, however, you need to use dynamic sql.

This worked for me on SQL Server 2008 R2

ALTER procedure [dbo].[PrintSQLResults] 
    @query nvarchar(MAX),
    @numberToDisplay int = 10,
    @padding int = 20
as

SET NOCOUNT ON;
SET ANSI_WARNINGS ON;

declare @cols nvarchar(MAX), 
        @displayCols nvarchar(MAX), 
        @sql nvarchar(MAX), 
        @printableResults nvarchar(MAX),
        @NewLineChar AS char(2) = char(13) + char(10),
        @Tab AS char(9) = char(9);

if exists (select * from tempdb.sys.tables where name = '##PrintSQLResultsTempTable') drop table ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable

set @query = REPLACE(@query, 'from', ' into ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable from');
--print @query
exec(@query);
select ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (select Null)) AS ID12345XYZ, * into #PrintSQLResultsTempTable 
from ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable
drop table ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable

select name
into #PrintSQLResultsTempTableColumns
from tempdb.sys.columns where object_id =
object_id('tempdb..#PrintSQLResultsTempTable');

select @cols =
stuff((
    (select ' + space(1) + (LEFT( (CAST([' + name + '] as nvarchar(max)) + space('+ CAST(@padding as nvarchar(4)) +')), '+CAST(@padding as nvarchar(4))+')) ' as [text()]
    FROM #PrintSQLResultsTempTableColumns
    where name != 'ID12345XYZ'
    FOR XML PATH(''), root('str'), type ).value('/str[1]','nvarchar(max)'))
,1,0,'''''');

select @displayCols =
stuff((
    (select space(1) + LEFT(name + space(@padding), @padding) as [text()]
    FROM #PrintSQLResultsTempTableColumns
    where name != 'ID12345XYZ'
    FOR XML PATH(''), root('str'), type ).value('/str[1]','nvarchar(max)'))
,1,0,'');

DECLARE 
    @tableCount int = (select count(*) from #PrintSQLResultsTempTable);
DECLARE 
    @i int = 1, 
    @ii int = case when @tableCount < @numberToDisplay then @tableCount else @numberToDisplay end;

print @displayCols -- header
While @i <= @ii
BEGIN
    set @sql = N'select @printableResults = ' + @cols + ' + @NewLineChar from #PrintSQLResultsTempTable where ID12345XYZ = ' + CAST(@i as varchar(3)) + '; print @printableResults;'
    --print @sql
    execute sp_executesql @sql, N'@NewLineChar char(2), @printableResults nvarchar(max) output', @NewLineChar = @NewLineChar, @printableResults = @printableResults output
    print @printableResults
    SET @i += 1;
END

This worked for me on SQL Server 2012

ALTER procedure [dbo].[PrintSQLResults] 
    @query nvarchar(MAX),
    @numberToDisplay int = 10,
    @padding int = 20
as

SET NOCOUNT ON;
SET ANSI_WARNINGS ON;

declare @cols nvarchar(MAX), 
        @displayCols nvarchar(MAX), 
        @sql nvarchar(MAX), 
        @printableResults nvarchar(MAX),
        @NewLineChar AS char(2) = char(13) + char(10),
        @Tab AS char(9) = char(9);

if exists (select * from tempdb.sys.tables where name = '##PrintSQLResultsTempTable') drop table ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable

set @query = REPLACE(@query, 'from', ' into ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable from');
--print @query
exec(@query);
select ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (select Null)) AS ID12345XYZ, * into #PrintSQLResultsTempTable 
from ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable
drop table ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable

select name
into #PrintSQLResultsTempTableColumns
from tempdb.sys.columns where object_id =
object_id('tempdb..#PrintSQLResultsTempTable');

select @cols =
stuff((
    (select ' + space(1) + LEFT(CAST([' + name + '] as nvarchar('+CAST(@padding as nvarchar(4))+')) + space('+ CAST(@padding as nvarchar(4)) +'), '+CAST(@padding as nvarchar(4))+') ' as [text()]
    FROM #PrintSQLResultsTempTableColumns
    where name != 'ID12345XYZ'
    FOR XML PATH(''), root('str'), type ).value('/str[1]','nvarchar(max)'))
,1,0,'''''');

select @displayCols =
stuff((
    (select space(1) + LEFT(name + space(@padding), @padding) as [text()]
    FROM #PrintSQLResultsTempTableColumns
    where name != 'ID12345XYZ'
    FOR XML PATH(''), root('str'), type ).value('/str[1]','nvarchar(max)'))
,1,0,'');

DECLARE 
    @tableCount int = (select count(*) from #PrintSQLResultsTempTable);
DECLARE 
    @i int = 1, 
    @ii int = case when @tableCount < @numberToDisplay then @tableCount else @numberToDisplay end;

print @displayCols -- header
While @i <= @ii
BEGIN
    set @sql = N'select @printableResults = ' + @cols + ' + @NewLineChar   from #PrintSQLResultsTempTable where ID12345XYZ = ' + CAST(@i as varchar(3)) + ' '
    --print @sql
    execute sp_executesql @sql, N'@NewLineChar char(2), @printableResults nvarchar(max) output', @NewLineChar = @NewLineChar, @printableResults = @printableResults output
    print @printableResults
    SET @i += 1;
END

This worked for me on SQL Server 2014

ALTER procedure [dbo].[PrintSQLResults] 
    @query nvarchar(MAX),
    @numberToDisplay int = 10,
    @padding int = 20
as

SET NOCOUNT ON;
SET ANSI_WARNINGS ON;

declare @cols nvarchar(MAX), 
        @displayCols nvarchar(MAX), 
        @sql nvarchar(MAX), 
        @printableResults nvarchar(MAX),
        @NewLineChar AS char(2) = char(13) + char(10),
        @Tab AS char(9) = char(9);

if exists (select * from tempdb.sys.tables where name = '##PrintSQLResultsTempTable') drop table ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable

set @query = REPLACE(@query, 'from', ' into ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable from');
--print @query
exec(@query);
select ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (select Null)) AS ID12345XYZ, * into #PrintSQLResultsTempTable 
from ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable
drop table ##PrintSQLResultsTempTable

select name
into #PrintSQLResultsTempTableColumns
from tempdb.sys.columns where object_id =
object_id('tempdb..#PrintSQLResultsTempTable');

select @cols =
stuff((
    (select ' , space(1) + LEFT(CAST([' + name + '] as nvarchar('+CAST(@padding as nvarchar(4))+')) + space('+ CAST(@padding as nvarchar(4)) +'), '+CAST(@padding as nvarchar(4))+') ' as [text()]
    FROM #PrintSQLResultsTempTableColumns
    where name != 'ID12345XYZ'
    FOR XML PATH(''), root('str'), type ).value('/str[1]','nvarchar(max)'))
,1,0,'''''');

select @displayCols =
stuff((
    (select space(1) + LEFT(name + space(@padding), @padding) as [text()]
    FROM #PrintSQLResultsTempTableColumns
    where name != 'ID12345XYZ'
    FOR XML PATH(''), root('str'), type ).value('/str[1]','nvarchar(max)'))
,1,0,'');

DECLARE 
    @tableCount int = (select count(*) from #PrintSQLResultsTempTable);
DECLARE 
    @i int = 1, 
    @ii int = case when @tableCount < @numberToDisplay then @tableCount else @numberToDisplay end;

print @displayCols -- header
While @i <= @ii
BEGIN
    set @sql = N'select @printableResults = concat(@printableResults, ' + @cols + ', @NewLineChar) from #PrintSQLResultsTempTable where ID12345XYZ = ' + CAST(@i as varchar(3))
    --print @sql
    execute sp_executesql @sql, N'@NewLineChar char(2), @printableResults nvarchar(max) output', @NewLineChar = @NewLineChar, @printableResults = @printableResults output
    print @printableResults
    SET @printableResults = null;
    SET @i += 1;
END

Example:

exec [dbo].[PrintSQLResults] n'select * from MyTable'

View more solutions

Comments

[Ali Umair]

This SP is not working, whatever query i give it's says incorrect syntax near near 'my query'

[Jason Foglia]

This works for me on SQL server 2014. Testing other versions now.

[Jason Foglia]

Updated the post to include working versions on 2008 R2, 2012, and 2014.

[Ali Umair]

Thanks for the update, working fine now. but in one table i got this error Msg 529, Level 16, State 2, Line 1 Explicit conversion from data type timestamp to nvarchar is not allowed. i'll try to fix this conversion issue

[irag10]

This is amazing! There's so many cases where you'd want to use PRINT to dump out results and adding a custom proc for it is too much hard work. Great solution.

[irag10]

This is usually the best way, but for a nice solution when you have lots of rows & columns that you want to dump out with print see @DanFields answer below - stackoverflow.com/a/36729681/8479

[Dan Field]

Yeah, I've used this in SSMS where adding a SELECT * FROM would cause problems for other applications/users.

[richard]

On older versions of SQL Server you need DECLARE @xmltmp xml; SELECT @xmltmp = (SELECT * FROM table FOR XML AUTO); PRINT CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX), @xmltmp)

[Dan Field]

Thanks @richard - FWIW though, if you're on anything older than SQL 2008R2, you're outside of MSFT's (extended) support window and should look to update. Of course, that might not stop your workplace from continuing to use 2005 or whatever anyway...

[Moiz Tankiwala]

Is there an online utility that can take the XML and show the data in a tabular form - online in the browser?

[rominator007]

that does not quite answer the question but does work for me. => upvote

[djk]

To add line breaks in the output for easier reading, use PRINT REPLACE(CONVERT(NVARCHAR(MAX), @xmltmp), '><', '>' + CHAR(10) + '<').