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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-11T16:37:20+00:00

When running SQLCMD.exe and providing command-line arguments for scripting variables, I expect that the

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When running SQLCMD.exe and providing command-line arguments for scripting variables, I expect that the values provided on the command-line will override those defined in the SQL script file.

e.g.

Given the following SQL Script:

:setvar XXX "SQL script"
print '$(XXX)'

And the command line:

sqlcmd.exe -S <Server> -d <Database> -E -b -i <Script> -v XXX="Batch script"

I expect the output to be:

Batch script

However the output is:

SQL script

Is this the intention, or must the :setvar statements in the SQL script be removed?

I provided the :setvar statements in script, so I can edit/test the script in SQL Management Studio with SQLCMD mode, but run the scripts from the command-line in my test and production environments.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    This appears to be by design; somebody has already raised a change request on Connect:
    http://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=382007

    The only way around the issue I can see would be to comment out (or otherwise remove) the :setvar commands on release.

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