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This topic gives the basics about how to find and use the Microsoft Transact-SQL (T-SQL) reference topics. T-SQL is central to using Microsoft SQL products and services. All tools and applications that communicate with a SQL database do so by sending T-SQL commands.
Some of the Microsoft tools that issue T-SQL commands are:
To find T-SQL topics, use search at the top right of this page, or use the table of contents on the left side of the page. You can also type a T-SQL key word in the Management Studio Query Editor window, and press F1.
To find the system tables, views, functions, and procedures, see these links which are in the Using relational databases section of the SQL documentation.
The T-SQL reference topics encompass multiple versions of SQL Server, starting with 2008, as well as the other Azure SQL services. Near the top of each topic is a section that indicates which products and services support subject of the topic.
For example, this topic applies to all versions, and has the following label.
Another example, the following label indicates a topic that applies only to Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Parallel Data Warehouse.
In some cases, the topic is used by a product or service, but all of the arguments are not supported. In this case, additional Applies to sections are inserted into the appropriate argument descriptions in the body of the topic.
For online help, see the MSDN Transact-SQL Forum.
The SQL docs include these other language references:
Now that you understand how to find the T-SQL reference topics, you are ready to: