SET FMTONLY (Transact-SQL)

Returns only metadata to the client. Can be used to test the format of the response without actually running the query.

Topic link iconTransact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

SET FMTONLY { ON | OFF } 

Remarks

No rows are processed or sent to the client because of the request when SET FMTONLY is turned ON.

The setting of SET FMTONLY is set at execute or run time and not at parse time.

Permissions

Requires membership in the public role.

Examples

The following example changes the SET FMTONLY setting to ON and executes a SELECT statement. The setting causes the statement to return the column information only; no rows of data are returned.

USE AdventureWorks;
GO
SET FMTONLY ON;
GO
SELECT * 
FROM HumanResources.Employee;
GO
SET FMTONLY OFF;
GO

See Also

Reference

SET (Transact-SQL)

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance

Change History

Release History

17 July 2006

Changed content:
  • Corrected the placement of USE AdventureWorks in the code example.