messages-for-errors-catalog-views-sys-messages.md

title	sys.messages (Transact-SQL)
description	The sys.messages view contains a row for each message_id or language_id of the error messages in the system, for both system-defined and user-defined messages.
author	rwestMSFT
ms.author	randolphwest
ms.date	08/28/2025
ms.service	sql
ms.subservice	system-objects
ms.topic	reference
f1_keywords	messages_TSQL sys.messages_TSQL sys.messages messages
helpviewer_keywords	error messages [SQL Server] sys.messages catalog view error numbers [SQL Server]
dev_langs	TSQL

Messages (for errors) catalog views - sys.messages

[!INCLUDE SQL Server]

Contains a row for each message_id or language_id of the error messages in the system, for both system-defined and user-defined messages. For more information, see sp_addmessage.

Column name	Data type	Description
message_id	int	ID of the message. Is unique across server. Message IDs less than 50,000 are system messages.
language_id	smallint	Language ID for which the text in text is used, as defined in sys.languages. This value is unique for a specified message_id.
severity	tinyint	Severity level of the message, between 0 and 25. This value is the same for all message languages within a message_id.
is_event_logged	bit	1 = Message is event-logged when an error is raised. This value is the same for all message languages within a message_id.
text	nvarchar(2048)	Text of the message used when the corresponding language_id is active.

Permissions

Requires membership in the public role. For more information, see Metadata visibility configuration.

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