Question

I want to use a database which name is stored in a variable. How do I do this?
I first thought this would work but it doesn’t:

exec('use '+@db)

That will not change database context

Suggestions anyone?

Answer 1

Unfortunately I don’t know of a direct solution to this one. The nearest working version is:

DECLARE @db nvarchar(MAX)
SET @db = 'use DBname'
Exec sp_executesql @db

but this only changes the context for the length of the procedure call. However, more statements can be included in that call to make use of the context:

DECLARE @sql nvarchar(MAX)
SET @sql = 'use DBName SELECT * FROM Table1'
Exec sp_executesql @sql