Question

What is difference between tran and transaction in SQL Server 2005 ?

Following are two statements

Begin Tran
Begin
   .........
   .........
End
Rollback

OR

Begin Transaction
Begin 
   ......
   ......
End
Rollback

Answer 1

There is no difference. TRAN is merely an allowed abbreviation, as can be seen from the documentation:

Syntax

BEGIN { TRAN | TRANSACTION } 
    [ { transaction_name | @tran_name_variable }
      [ WITH MARK [ 'description' ] ]
    ]
[ ; ]

The { | } in this syntax description means ‘pick one of these two alternatives’