asked on

SELECT clause identifiers...

Regular identifiers:
- OrderAmount

Irregular identifiers: <-- Q1: Is use of the word irregular correct here?
- Order Amount <-- has space
- 2ndAddress <-- starts with a number
- !TheReason <-- starts with sign other than (_, @, or #)
- TheReason! <-- it contains sign other than (_, @, or #)
- From <-- it is a T-SQL reserved word.

Q2: Are the SELECT clauses bellow correct?

SELECT "Order Amount", "2ndAddress", "!TheReason", "TheReason!", "From" FROM SomeTable

or

SELECT [Order Amount], [2ndAddress], [!TheReason], [TheReason!], [From] FROM SomeTable

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Steve Wales

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Mike Eghtebas

ASKER

[ ] is T-SQL specific and like Oracle (and any other databases I would guess) because it follows standard SQL also use " ".

Thanks,

Mike

Steve Wales

Ah, you're right, I didn't read the delimiters part of the documentation completely :) I've just always used [ ] when needed, had never seen " " used in T-SQL.

You learn something new everyday.

Mike Eghtebas

ASKER

With emphases on the bold portions, do you think the query will run okay?

SELECT "Order Amount", "2ndAddress", "!TheReason", "TheReason!", "From" FROM SomeTable;

Steve Wales

When in doubt, test it out!

Create table SomeTable ("Order Amount" char(2), "2ndAddress" char(2), "!TheReason" char(2),
                        "TheReason!" char(2), "From" char(2))
go

Command(s) completed successfully.

insert into SomeTable values ('A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E')
go
(1 row(s) affected)

SELECT "Order Amount", "2ndAddress", "!TheReason", "TheReason!", "From" FROM SomeTable
go

Order Amount 2ndAddress !TheReason TheReason! From
------------ ---------- ---------- ---------- ----
A            B          C          D          E

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In general, avoid irregular object names like the plague. They just cause more problems than they are worth, in my opinion. If not now, down the road when someone else has to deal with them.

Mike Eghtebas

ASKER

I agree with you on staying away from irregular identifiers. Also, I didn't have access to SQL Server to test this. Furthermore, I had an earlier okay from you on this. I just wanted to double check it.

Thank you for the test.

Mike

PortletPaul

>>"I didn't have access to SQL Server to test this. "

then try http://sqlfidde.com
there is a drop down to choose dbms type; it supplies both mssql 2008 and 2012

Mike Eghtebas

ASKER

Is this paid service?

PortletPaul

No. It is limited by 8000 characters of ddl including inserts. So its great for small tests but not for anything needing large amounts of data

Mike Eghtebas

ASKER

Thank you.