Question

For testing purposes I’m wondering if the following two selects could ever be combined:

begin transaction

select  x
from    example_table

update  example_table
set     x = 'new value'

select  x
from    example_table

rollback transaction

Essentially, I’d like to see a result output like:

Column Name, Updated Column Name

Answer 1

If I understand you correctly you can do in using OUTPUT clause (SQL Server 2005 +)

use tempdb
go

create table #tbl (i int)

insert into #tbl values (10),(20),(30),(40)

update #tbl
set i=i+1
output deleted.i i_old,inserted.i  i_updated

drop table #tbl

From Books OnLine

OUTPUT Clause returns information from, or expressions based on, each
row affected by an INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, or MERGE statement.

…

DELETED is a column prefix that specifies the value deleted by the
update or delete operation. Columns prefixed with DELETED reflect the
value before the UPDATE, DELETE, or MERGE statement is completed.

…

INSERTED is a column prefix that specifies the value added by the
insert or update operation. Columns prefixed with INSERTED reflect the
value after the UPDATE, INSERT, or MERGE statement is completed but
before triggers are executed.

EDITED

begin transaction

update  example_table
set     x = 'new value'
output deleted.x old_value, inserted.x new_value

rollback transaction