Question

I’m quite new to SQL and I’m not sure why the following code is producing the error in title:

CREATE PROCEDURE Truncate (@table varchar(50))
AS
BEGIN
    SET NOCOUNT ON;
    EXEC ('TRUNCATE TABLE ' + @table);
END

Answer 1

Since Truncate is a reserved word, you cannot use it in the procedure name unquoted. You can do this:

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.[Truncate] (@table varchar(50)) 
AS BEGIN     
  SET NOCOUNT ON;     
  EXEC ('TRUNCATE TABLE ' + @table); 
END 

But when you run it, you’ll have to say

dbo.[Truncate] 'tablename'

Alternatively change the name of the procedure to TruncateTable:

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.TruncateTable (@table varchar(50)) 
AS BEGIN     
  SET NOCOUNT ON;     
  EXEC ('TRUNCATE TABLE ' + @table); 
END 

then you can call it as

EXEC TruncateTable 'tablename'