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object-definition-transact-sql.md

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title OBJECT_DEFINITION (Transact-SQL)
description OBJECT_DEFINITION (Transact-SQL)
author VanMSFT
ms.author vanto
ms.date 03/14/2017
ms.service sql
ms.subservice t-sql
ms.topic reference
ms.custom
ignite-2025
f1_keywords
OBJECT_DEFINITION_TSQL
OBJECT_DEFINITION
helpviewer_keywords
viewing source text
source text [SQL Server]
displaying source text
OBJECT_DEFINITION function
dev_langs
TSQL

OBJECT_DEFINITION (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance FabricSQLDB]

Returns the [!INCLUDEtsql] source text of the definition of a specified object.

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

Syntax

OBJECT_DEFINITION ( object_id )

Arguments

object_id
Is the ID of the object to be used. object_id is int, and assumed to represent an object in the current database context.

Return Types

nvarchar(max)

Exceptions

Returns NULL on error or if a caller does not have permission to view the object.

A user can only view the metadata of securables that the user owns or on which the user has been granted permission. This means that metadata-emitting, built-in functions such as OBJECT_DEFINITION may return NULL if the user does not have any permission on the object. For more information, see Metadata Visibility Configuration.

Remarks

The [!INCLUDEssDEnoversion] assumes that object_id is in the current database context. The collation of the object definition always matches that of the calling database context.

OBJECT_DEFINITION applies to the following object types:

  • C = Check constraint

  • D = Default (constraint or stand-alone)

  • P = SQL stored procedure

  • FN = SQL scalar function

  • R = Rule

  • RF = Replication filter procedure

  • TR = SQL trigger (schema-scoped DML trigger, or DDL trigger at either the database or server scope)

  • IF = SQL inline table-valued function

  • TF = SQL table-valued function

  • V = View

Permissions

System object definitions are publicly visible. The definition of user objects is visible to the object owner or grantees that have any one of the following permissions: ALTER, CONTROL, TAKE OWNERSHIP, or VIEW DEFINITION. These permissions are implicitly held by members of the db_owner, db_ddladmin, and db_securityadmin fixed database roles.

Examples

A. Returning the source text of a user-defined object

The following example returns the definition of a user-defined trigger, uAddress, in the Person schema. The built-in function OBJECT_ID is used to return the object ID of the trigger to the OBJECT_DEFINITION statement.

USE AdventureWorks2022;  
GO  
SELECT OBJECT_DEFINITION (OBJECT_ID(N'Person.uAddress')) AS [Trigger Definition];   
GO

B. Returning the source text of a system object

The following example returns the definition of the system stored procedure sys.sp_columns.

USE AdventureWorks2022;  
GO  
SELECT OBJECT_DEFINITION (OBJECT_ID(N'sys.sp_columns')) AS [Object Definition];  
GO

See Also

Metadata Functions (Transact-SQL)
OBJECT_NAME (Transact-SQL)
OBJECT_ID (Transact-SQL)
sp_helptext (Transact-SQL)
sys.sql_modules (Transact-SQL)
sys.server_sql_modules (Transact-SQL)