Can I loop through a table variable in T-SQL?

You can loop through the table variable or you can cursor through it. This is what we usually call a RBAR - pronounced Reebar and means Row-By-Agonizing-Row.

I would suggest finding a SET-BASED answer to your question (we can help with that) and move away from rbars as much as possible.


My two cents.. From KM.'s answer, if you want to drop one variable, you can do a countdown on @RowsToProcess instead of counting up.

DECLARE @RowsToProcess  int;

DECLARE @table1 TABLE (RowID int not null primary key identity(1,1), col1 int )  
INSERT into @table1 (col1) SELECT col1 FROM table2
SET @RowsToProcess = @@ROWCOUNT 

WHILE @RowsToProcess > 0 -- Countdown
BEGIN
    SELECT *
        FROM @table1
        WHERE RowID=@RowsToProcess

    --do your thing here--

    SET @RowsToProcess = @RowsToProcess - 1; -- Countdown
END

Add an identity to your table variable, and do an easy loop from 1 to the @@ROWCOUNT of the INSERT-SELECT.

Try this:

DECLARE @RowsToProcess  int
DECLARE @CurrentRow     int
DECLARE @SelectCol1     int

DECLARE @table1 TABLE (RowID int not null primary key identity(1,1), col1 int )  
INSERT into @table1 (col1) SELECT col1 FROM table2
SET @RowsToProcess=@@ROWCOUNT

SET @CurrentRow=0
WHILE @CurrentRow<@RowsToProcess
BEGIN
    SET @CurrentRow=@CurrentRow+1
    SELECT 
        @SelectCol1=col1
        FROM @table1
        WHERE RowID=@CurrentRow

    --do your thing here--

END

DECLARE @table1 TABLE (
    idx int identity(1,1),
    col1 int )

DECLARE @counter int

SET @counter = 1

WHILE(@counter < SELECT MAX(idx) FROM @table1)
BEGIN
    DECLARE @colVar INT

    SELECT @colVar = col1 FROM @table1 WHERE idx = @counter

    -- Do your work here

    SET @counter = @counter + 1
END

Believe it or not, this is actually more efficient and performant than using a cursor.