What is the meaning of the return value and error message?

Question

Hello everyone I create the following table [Code] create table ABC (a varchar unique); [/Code] then create the following store procedure [Code] CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[prc_AddABC] AS BEGIN INSERT INTO [dbo].[ABC] values ('a'); SELECT @@ERROR AS ABCERROR; END -- end of store procedure [/Code] After execute the procedure twice which will cause insert duplicate value 'a' on unique column a error. What I got from Management Studio is ABCERROR 2627 return value -4 My question is why @@error is not the same as return value? what does the message and return value mean? Where could I find related documents to read their meanings? thanks in advance George

George George · Answer

Thanks John! My confusion is where does the -4 come from? regards George

John Penn · Answer

The help documentation that come with SQL Server should provide what you're looking for. You can lookup error codes in the system table sys.messages . You can add a statement such as RETURN 200 to your proc and your query will return 200 or whatever value you want. You could even say RETURN @@ERROR to get the error code back to your front end without saving to use a SELECT statement.