DISABLE TRIGGER (Transact-SQL)

Disables a trigger.

Topic link iconTransact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

DISABLE TRIGGER { [ schema_name . ] trigger_name [ ,...n ] | ALL }
ON { object_name | DATABASE | ALL SERVER } [ ; ]

Arguments

  • schema_name
    Is the name of the schema to which the trigger belongs. schema_name cannot be specified for DDL or logon triggers.

  • trigger_name
    Is the name of the trigger to be disabled.

  • ALL
    Indicates that all triggers defined at the scope of the ON clause are disabled.

    Warning

    SQL Server creates triggers in databases that are published for merge replication. Specifying ALL in published databases disables these triggers, which disrupts replication. Verify that the current database is not published for merge replication before specifying ALL.

  • object_name
    Is the name of the table or view on which the DML trigger trigger_name was created to execute.

  • DATABASE
    For a DDL trigger, indicates that trigger_name was created or modified to execute with database scope.

  • ALL SERVER
    For a DDL trigger, indicates that trigger_name was created or modified to execute with server scope. ALL SERVER also applies to logon triggers.

Remarks

Triggers are enabled by default when they are created. Disabling a trigger does not drop it. The trigger still exists as an object in the current database. However, the trigger does not fire when any Transact-SQL statements on which it was programmed are executed. Triggers can be re-enabled by using ENABLE TRIGGER. DML triggers defined on tables can be also be disabled or enabled by using ALTER TABLE.

Permissions

To disable a DML trigger, at a minimum, a user must have ALTER permission on the table or view on which the trigger was created.

To disable a DDL trigger with server scope (ON ALL SERVER) or a logon trigger, a user must have CONTROL SERVER permission on the server. To disable a DDL trigger with database scope (ON DATABASE), at a minimum, a user must have ALTER ANY DATABASE DDL TRIGGER permission in the current database.

Examples

A. Disabling a DML trigger on a table

The following example disables trigger uAddress that was created on table Address.

USE AdventureWorks;
GO
DISABLE TRIGGER Person.uAddress ON Person.Address;
GO

B. Disabling a DDL trigger

The following example creates a DDL trigger safety with database scope, and then disables it.

IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.triggers
    WHERE parent_class = 0 AND name = 'safety')
DROP TRIGGER safety ON DATABASE;
GO
CREATE TRIGGER safety 
ON DATABASE 
FOR DROP_TABLE, ALTER_TABLE 
AS 
   PRINT 'You must disable Trigger "safety" to drop or alter tables!' 
   ROLLBACK;
GO
DISABLE TRIGGER safety ON DATABASE;
GO

C. Disabling all triggers that were defined with the same scope

The following example disables all DDL triggers that were created at the server scope.

USE AdventureWorks;
GO
DISABLE Trigger ALL ON ALL SERVER;
GO