goto-transact-sql.md

title	description	author	ms.author	ms.date	ms.service	ms.subservice	ms.topic	f1_keywords	helpviewer_keywords	dev_langs
GOTO (Transact-SQL)	GOTO (Transact-SQL)	rwestMSFT	randolphwest	03/15/2017	sql	t-sql	reference	GOTO GOTO_TSQL	skipping statements Transact-SQL statements, skipping labels [SQL Server] statements [SQL Server], skipping GOTO statement	TSQL

GOTO (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance]

Alters the flow of execution to a label. The [!INCLUDEtsql] statement or statements that follow GOTO are skipped and processing continues at the label. GOTO statements and labels can be used anywhere within a procedure, batch, or statement block. GOTO statements can be nested.

:::image type="icon" source="../../includes/media/topic-link-icon.svg" border="false"::: Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

  
Define the label:   
label:   
Alter the execution:  
GOTO label   

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

Arguments

label
Is the point after which processing starts if a GOTO is targeted to that label. Labels must follow the rules for identifiers. A label can be used as a commenting method whether GOTO is used.

Remarks

GOTO can exist within conditional control-of-flow statements, statement blocks, or procedures, but it cannot go to a label outside the batch. GOTO branching can go to a label defined before or after GOTO.

Permissions

GOTO permissions default to any valid user.

Examples

The following example shows how to use GOTO as a branch mechanism.

DECLARE @Counter int;  
SET @Counter = 1;  
WHILE @Counter < 10  
BEGIN   
    SELECT @Counter  
    SET @Counter = @Counter + 1  
    IF @Counter = 4 GOTO Branch_One --Jumps to the first branch.  
    IF @Counter = 5 GOTO Branch_Two  --This will never execute.  
END  
Branch_One:  
    SELECT 'Jumping To Branch One.'  
    GOTO Branch_Three; --This will prevent Branch_Two from executing.  
Branch_Two:  
    SELECT 'Jumping To Branch Two.'  
Branch_Three:  
    SELECT 'Jumping To Branch Three.';  

See Also

Control-of-Flow Language (Transact-SQL)
BEGIN...END (Transact-SQL)
BREAK (Transact-SQL)
CONTINUE (Transact-SQL)
IF...ELSE (Transact-SQL)
WAITFOR (Transact-SQL)
WHILE (Transact-SQL)