col-name-transact-sql.md

title	COL_NAME (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft Docs
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ms.date	07/24/2017
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f1_keywords	COL_NAME COL_NAME_TSQL
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helpviewer_keywords	column properties [SQL Server] COL_NAME function column names [SQL Server] names [SQL Server], columns
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COL_NAME (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDEtsql-appliesto-ss2008-all_md]

Returns the name of a column from a specified corresponding table identification number and column identification number.

Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse  
  
COL_NAME ( table_id , column_id )  

Arguments

table_id
Is the identification number of the table that contains the column. table_id is of type int.

column_id
Is the identification number of the column. column_id parameter is of type int.

Return types

sysname

Exceptions

Returns NULL on error or if a caller does not have permission to view the object.

A user can only view the metadata of securables that the user owns or on which the user has been granted permission. This means that metadata-emitting, built-in functions such as COL_NAME may return NULL if the user does not have any permission on the object. For more information, see Metadata Visibility Configuration.

Remarks

The table_id and column_id parameters together produce a column name string.

For more information about obtaining table and column identification numbers, see OBJECT_ID (Transact-SQL).

Examples

The following example returns the name of the first column in the Employee table of the AdventureWorks2012 database.

USE AdventureWorks2012;  
GO  
SET NOCOUNT OFF;  
GO  
SELECT COL_NAME(OBJECT_ID('HumanResources.Employee'), 1) AS 'Column Name';  
GO  

[!INCLUDEssResult]

Column Name

------------------

BusinessEntityID

Examples

[!INCLUDEssSDWfull] and [!INCLUDEssPDW]

The following example returns the name of the first column in a sample Employee table.

-- Uses AdventureWorks  
  
SELECT COL_NAME(OBJECT_ID('dbo.FactResellerSales'), 1) AS FirstColumnName,  
COL_NAME(OBJECT_ID('dbo.FactResellerSales'), 2) AS SecondColumnName;  

[!INCLUDEssResult]

ColumnName          
------------   
BusinessEntityID  

See also

Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Metadata Functions (Transact-SQL)
COLUMNPROPERTY (Transact-SQL)
COL_LENGTH (Transact-SQL)