Selecting a column whose name is a reserved SQL keyword

Question

Consider the below table "sample_table"

id    name   desc
-------------------------
1     kkt    kkt description
1     skt    skt description

is there anyway I can select the third column without using its name desc?

Trying select desc from mytable throws an error

Please suggest.

Thanks,

Balan

Answer 1

I fail to see why you need this and I would never use it myself.

declare @T table
(
  id int,
  name varchar(10),
  description varchar(25) 
)

insert into @T values
(1,     'kkt',    'kkt description'),
(1,     'skt',    'skt description')

select T2.N.value('*[3]', 'varchar(max)')
from (select *
      from @T
      for xml path('r'), type) as T1(X)
  cross apply T1.X.nodes('/r') as T2(N)

Update

You should do like this instead.

select [desc]
from YourTable

Use [] around column names that is reserved words.

Answer 2

Use standard SQL quoted identifiers around column names that are reserved words e.g.

SELECT "desc" FROM sample_table;