You can use SQL stored pro­ce­dures to save fre­quent­ly used queries and pro­ce­dures as code blocks that can be easily retrieved later. They can save you time and ensure that you don’t have to type up SQL state­ments anew each time you use them.

What are SQL stored pro­ce­dures?

In your work with SQL, there are sure to be state­ments that you use over and over again. Entering complex state­ments from scratch every time you need them can cost you time and increase the pos­si­bil­i­ty of errors. SQL stored pro­ce­dures make it easier to work with regular, complex queries. You can use it to store and retrieve blocks of code that you use fre­quent­ly. That way you can automate recurring pro­ce­dures and make your data man­age­ment more efficient.

One advantage of SQL stored pro­ce­dures is that you can store pretty much any kind of statement con­tain­ing SQL functions, SQL commands or SQL operators and execute pretty much any kind of task. You can create stored pro­ce­dures for the action in question and invoke them by inserting the PROCEDURE name into regular state­ments like SQL UPDATE and SQL SELECT. The functions you can automate with SQL stored pro­ce­dures include updates, queries, deleting data and out­putting values.

Tip

Learn the basics of SQL! Our SQL in­tro­duc­tion with examples gives you a quick overview of the most important functions and rules in the language.

What is the syntax of SQL stored pro­ce­dures?

The syntax of any par­tic­u­lar stored procedure will depend on the code block that you want to save and might be more or less complex.

Here’s the syntax for a simple stored procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE Procedure_name (Parameter1 file_type, Parameter2 file_type, …)
AS
BEGIN
(Code block you want to save)
END;
sql

Depending on which database man­age­ment system you use, the syntax might also look as follows:

CREATE PROCEDURE Procedure_name (Parameter1 file_type, Parameter2 file_type, …)
AS
(Code block you want to save)
GO;
sql

These are the pa­ra­me­ters involved:

  • CREATE PROCEDURE: Define the name of your procedure here. This is the name you’ll use to execute the code or insert it into another statement. Pa­ra­me­ters include the different data needed for the code block, including their file type.
  • AS: Marks the beginning of the code block that you want to save as a stored procedure.
  • BEGIN + END: Mark the beginning and end of the code block you want to save.
  • GO: Marks the end of the code block (has the same function as END).

You can execute a stored procedure using this code:

EXEC Procedure_name;
sql

What are the ad­van­tages and use cases of SQL stored pro­ce­dures?

With SQL stored pro­ce­dures, you can store pretty much any SQL statement and retrieve it later. The ad­van­tages of stored pro­ce­dures include:

  • Reuse code: There are certain SQL commands and functions that you’ll use over and over again with your database. Storing simple and complex state­ments allows you to use them re­peat­ed­ly without having to enter the code every time.
  • Sim­pli­fied work with databases: When it comes to complex tasks, stored pro­ce­dures break up large, complex op­er­a­tions into several smaller pro­ce­dures. Code blocks are treated like modules that can be in­cor­po­rat­ed into the statement you’re working on.
  • More ef­fi­cien­cy, better per­for­mance: Storing code blocks makes it easier to create SQL state­ments and improve the per­for­mance of large databases.
  • More security: Assigning per­mis­sions to stored pro­ce­dures ensures that sensitive data can only be retrieved or accessed with au­tho­riza­tion.

Some practical use cases for SQL stored pro­ce­dures from various in­dus­tries include:

  • Au­tomat­ing order processes and updating customer data
  • Mon­i­tor­ing and checking sus­pi­cious financial trans­ac­tions or cal­cu­lat­ing interest rates
  • Au­to­mat­i­cal­ly creating offers based on customer data, purchase behavior, order volume and region
  • Cal­cu­lat­ing employee com­mis­sions based on per­for­mance
  • Creating finance reports and posting trans­ac­tions
  • Tracking, mon­i­tor­ing and syncing inventory and incoming orders
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Examples of SQL stored pro­ce­dures

We’ll now turn to two examples of SQL stored pro­ce­dures.

Re­triev­ing all customers

Let’s say you want to retrieve all the customer data from a table called “Customers”. That would look like this:

CREATE PROCEDURE SelectAllCustomers
AS
BEGIN
SELECT * FROM Customers
END;
sql

Selecting orders from one city

Now let’s say you want to retrieve all the orders from one city from a table called “Orders”:

CREATE PROCEDURE SelectAllOrdersChicago
AS
BEGIN
SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE City = 'Chicago'
END;
sql

Are there al­ter­na­tives to SQL stored pro­ce­dures?

There are several al­ter­na­tives to SQL stored pro­ce­dures with a similar function. They include:

  • UDF (User Defined Function): UDFs allow you to create and save your own functions using the keyword CREATE FUNCTION. That enables you to integrate complex queries into SQL state­ments as pre­de­fined functions, without needing to type in the entire block of code.
  • VIEWS: VIEWS enables you to create empty, virtual tables for analyzing records with pre-defined pa­ra­me­ters. Like UDFs and stored pro­ce­dures, you can insert VIEWS as an element in SQL state­ments.
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