Interview Question of the Week #009 – Is GO T-SQL Statement?

I get this question by email more often than I would expect: Is GO a T-SQL statement? The answer is no. SSMS and tools such as sqlcmd recognize GO as a signal to send the preceding batch to SQL Server. The engine does not receive the word GO.

This short SSMS script makes the client behavior visible:

SELECT N'This batch is submitted again by the client.' AS BatchMessage;
GO 3

The number after GO tells a supporting client to repeat the preceding batch. It does not copy and paste the statement into your script. That distinction matters if the batch changes data: GO 3 would run the change three times.

Two practical rules answer most follow-up questions. Put GO on its own line, with only an optional comment beside it, and do not add a T-SQL semicolon after it. Also, do not send a script containing GO as one command through an application driver. An ODBC or OLE DB application needs to send separate batches or use a script-aware runner. Local variables also stop at a batch boundary.

SSMS lets you change its batch-separator word, another reminder that this belongs to the client tool. My older explanation of the SQL command GO covers the same distinction. For an interview, the one-sentence answer is enough: GO ends a client-side batch; it is not T-SQL sent to SQL Server.

The client chooses the separator

Published by Pinal Dave on SQLAuthority. More of my work at pinaldave.com.