sys.messages (Transact-SQL)

Contains a row for each message_id or language_id of the error messages in the system, for both system-defined and user-defined messages. For more information, see sp_addmessage (Transact-SQL).

Column name Data type Description

message_id

int

ID of the message. Is unique across server. Message IDs less than 50000 are system messages.

language_id

smallint

Language ID for which the text in text is used, as defined in syslanguages. This is unique for a specified message_id.

severity

tinyint

Severity level of the message, between 1 and 25. This is the same for all message languages within a message_id.

is_event_logged

bit

1 = Message is event-logged when an error is raised. This is the same for all message languages within a message_id.

text

nvarchar(2048)

Text of the message used when the corresponding language_id is active.

See Also

Reference

Catalog Views (Transact-SQL)
Messages (for Errors) Catalog Views (Transact-SQL)

Other Resources

Exception Message Box Programming
SQL Server Error Messages
Database Engine Events and Errors

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance