---
title: "= (Assignment Operator) (Transact-SQL) | Microsoft Docs"
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ms.date: "03/14/2017"
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  - "operators [Transact-SQL], assignment"
  - "assignment operators [Transact-SQL]"
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  - "relationships [SQL Server], assignment operators"
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---

# = (Assignment Operator) (Transact-SQL)
[!INCLUDE[tsql-appliesto-ss2012-all_md](../../includes/tsql-appliesto-ss2012-all-md.md)]

  The equal sign (=) is the only [!INCLUDE[tsql](../../includes/tsql-md.md)] assignment operator. In the following example, the `@MyCounter` variable is created, and then the assignment operator sets `@MyCounter` to a value returned by an expression.  
  
```  
DECLARE @MyCounter INT;  
SET @MyCounter = 1;  
```  
  
 The assignment operator can also be used to establish the relationship between a column heading and the expression that defines the values for the column. The following example displays the column headings `FirstColumnHeading` and `SecondColumnHeading`. The string `xyz` is displayed in the `FirstColumnHeading` column heading for all rows. Then, each product ID from the `Product` table is listed in the `SecondColumnHeading` column heading.  
  
```  
-- Uses AdventureWorks  
  
SELECT FirstColumnHeading = 'xyz',  
       SecondColumnHeading = ProductID  
FROM Production.Product;  
GO  
```  
  
## See Also  
 [Operators (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/language-elements/operators-transact-sql.md)   
 [Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/language-elements/compound-operators-transact-sql.md)   
 [Expressions (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/language-elements/expressions-transact-sql.md)