col-name-transact-sql.md

title	COL_NAME (Transact-SQL)
description	COL_NAME (Transact-SQL)
author	markingmyname
ms.author	maghan
ms.date	07/24/2017
ms.prod	sql
ms.technology	t-sql
ms.topic	reference
f1_keywords	COL_NAME COL_NAME_TSQL
helpviewer_keywords	column properties [SQL Server] COL_NAME function column names [SQL Server] names [SQL Server], columns
dev_langs	TSQL
monikerRange	>= aps-pdw-2016 || = azuresqldb-current || = azure-sqldw-latest || >= sql-server-2016 || >= sql-server-linux-2017 || = azuresqldb-mi-current

COL_NAME (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw]

This function returns the name of a table column, based on the table identification number and column identification number values of that table column.

Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

COL_NAME ( table_id , column_id )  

[!INCLUDEsql-server-tsql-previous-offline-documentation]

Arguments

table_id
The identification number of the table containing that column. The table_id argument has an int data type.

column_id
The identification number of the column. The column_id argument has an int data type.

Return types

sysname

Exceptions

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

In [!INCLUDEssNoVersion], 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 might return NULL, if the user does not have correct permissions on the object. See Metadata Visibility Configuration for more information.

Remarks

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

See OBJECT_ID (Transact-SQL) for more information about obtaining table and column identification numbers.

Examples

This 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)