assignment-operator-transact-sql.md

title	= (Assignment Operator) (Transact-SQL)
description	= (Assignment Operator) (Transact-SQL)
author	rwestMSFT
ms.author	randolphwest
ms.date	03/14/2017
ms.service	sql
ms.subservice	t-sql
ms.topic	reference
ms.custom	ignite-2025
helpviewer_keywords	operators [Transact-SQL], assignment assignment operators [Transact-SQL] headings [SQL Server columns] relationships [SQL Server], assignment operators column headings [SQL Server]
dev_langs	TSQL
monikerRange	>=aps-pdw-2016 || =azuresqldb-current || =azure-sqldw-latest || >=sql-server-2016 || >=sql-server-linux-2017 || =azuresqldb-mi-current || =fabric || =fabric-sqldb

= (Assignment Operator) (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Parallel Data Warehouse fabricse FabricDW FabricSQLDB]

The equal sign (=) is the only [!INCLUDEtsql] assignment operator. In the following example, the @MyCounter variable is created, and then the assignment operator sets @MyCounter to a value returned by an expression.

DECLARE @MyCounter INT;  
SET @MyCounter = 1;  

The assignment operator can also be used to establish the relationship between a column heading and the expression that defines the values for the column. The following example displays the column headings FirstColumnHeading and SecondColumnHeading. The string xyz is displayed in the FirstColumnHeading column heading for all rows. Then, each product ID from the Product table is listed in the SecondColumnHeading column heading.

-- Uses AdventureWorks  
  
SELECT FirstColumnHeading = 'xyz',  
       SecondColumnHeading = ProductID  
FROM Production.Product;  
GO  

See Also

Operators (Transact-SQL)
Compound Operators (Transact-SQL)
Expressions (Transact-SQL)