Question

What do the brackets do in a sql statement?

For example, in the statement:

insert into table1 ([columnname1], columnname2) values (val1, val2)

Also, what does it do if the table name is in brackets?

Answer 1

The [] marks the delimitation of a identifier, so if you have a column whose name contains spaces like Order Qty you need to enclose it with [] like:

select [Order qty] from [Client sales] 

They are also to escape reserved keywords used as identifiers