Question

DECLARE @command = 'SELECT  CASE WHEN ( SELECT  COUNT(*)
                    FROM    [table] WITH ( NOLOCK )
                    WHERE   DATEDIFF(minute, systemupdatedtimestamp, GETDATE()) < 10
                  ) > 0 THEN 0
             ELSE 1
        END'

Now I need to get the ‘return value’ of the above command (0 or 1).

EXEC(@commnad)

How do I get the return value from the above?

I tried

SET @ReturnValue = EXEC(@command)

but no luck.

Answer 1

use sp_executesql

in your case it is something like:

declare @myOut bit
declare @SQLString nvarchar(500)
set @SQLString = N'SELECT @myOutValue = CASE WHEN ( SELECT  COUNT(*)
                    FROM    [table] WITH ( NOLOCK )
                    WHERE   DATEDIFF(minute, systemupdatedtimestamp, GETDATE()) < 10
                  ) > 0 THEN 0
             ELSE 1
        END'

declare @ParmDefinition nvarchar(500)
set @ParmDefinition = N'@myOutValue bit OUTPUT'


EXECUTE sp_executesql @SQLString, @ParmDefinition, @myOutValue = @myOut OUTPUT
select @myOut

Update:

To follow up on you comment. If you do not want to modify the original string containing your sql command (e.g. it is used in other places etc) you can wrap that command inside a new string something like:

@SQLString = 'select @myOutValue = (' + @yourOrigSqlCommand + ')' 

And call sp_executesql in the same way as above.