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col-name-transact-sql.md

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title COL_NAME (Transact-SQL)
description COL_NAME (Transact-SQL)
author markingmyname
ms.author maghan
ms.reviewer randolphwest
ms.date 08/07/2025
ms.service sql
ms.subservice t-sql
ms.topic reference
ms.custom
ignite-2025
f1_keywords
COL_NAME
COL_NAME_TSQL
helpviewer_keywords
column properties [SQL Server]
COL_NAME function
column names [SQL Server]
names [SQL Server], columns
dev_langs
TSQL
monikerRange >=aps-pdw-2016 || =azuresqldb-current || =azure-sqldw-latest || >=sql-server-2016 || >=sql-server-linux-2017 || =azuresqldb-mi-current || =fabric-sqldb

COL_NAME (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw-fabricsqldb]

This function returns the name of a table column, based on the table identification number and column identification number values of that table column.

:::image type="icon" source="../../includes/media/topic-link-icon.svg" border="false"::: Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

COL_NAME ( table_id , column_id )

Arguments

table_id

The identification number of the table containing that column. The table_id argument has an int data type.

column_id

The identification number of the column. The column_id argument has an int data type.

Return types

sysname

Exceptions

Returns NULL on error, or if a caller doesn't have the correct permission to view the object.

A user can only view the metadata of securables that the user owns, or on which the user is granted permission. This means that metadata-emitting, built-in functions such as COL_NAME might return NULL, if the user doesn't have correct permissions on the object. For more information, see Metadata visibility configuration.

Remarks

The table_id and column_id parameters together produce a column name string.

For more information about obtaining table and column identification numbers, see OBJECT_ID.

Examples

[!INCLUDE article-uses-adventureworks]

A. Return names of first two columns in a table

This example returns the name of the first two columns in the Person.Person table.

USE AdventureWorks2022;
GO

SELECT COL_NAME(OBJECT_ID('Person.Person'), 1) AS FirstColumnName,
       COL_NAME(OBJECT_ID('Person.Person'), 2) AS SecondColumnName;

[!INCLUDE ssResult]

FirstColumnName    SecondColumnName
-----------------  -----------------
BusinessEntityID    PersonType

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