Jeremy Simmons: The Blog

It's every so important to read the syntax carefully in computer science. Missing the specifics will get you every time.

Compare these two statements.

DECLARE @sql VARCHAR(8000)
SET @sql = 'SELECT CustomerID FROM Customers'
EXEC @sql

to this

DECLARE @sql VARCHAR(8000)
SET @sql = 'SELECT CustomerID FROM Customers'
EXEC(@sql)

I'm sure you've caught it by now. It's the parenthesis.

Syntax

Execute a stored procedure:

[ [ EXEC [ UTE ] ]
    {
        [ @return_status = ]
            { procedure_name [ ;number ] | @procedure_name_var
    }
    [ [ @parameter = ] { value | @variable [ OUTPUT ] | [ DEFAULT ] ]
        [ ,...n ]
[ WITH RECOMPILE ]

Execute a character string:

EXEC [ UTE ] ( { @string_variable | [ N ] 'tsql_string' } [ + ...n ] )

It's even in bold in the documentation. One would think it might jump out and grab my attention. However sadly, it did not.