What is SYSNAME data type in SQL Server?
sysname is a built in datatype limited to 128 Unicode characters that, IIRC, is used primarily to store object names when creating scripts. Its value cannot be NULL
It is basically the same as using nvarchar(128) NOT NULL
EDIT
As mentioned by @Jim in the comments, I don't think there is really a business case where you would use sysname to be honest. It is mainly used by Microsoft when building the internal sys tables and stored procedures etc within SQL Server.
For example, by executing Exec sp_help 'sys.tables' you will see that the column name is defined as sysname this is because the value of this is actually an object in itself (a table)
I wouldn't worry too much about it.
It's also worth noting that for those people still using SQL Server 6.5 and lower (are there still people using it?) the built in type of sysname is the equivalent of varchar(30)
Documentation
sysname is defined with the documentation for nchar and nvarchar, in the remarks section:
sysname is a system-supplied user-defined data type that is functionally equivalent to nvarchar(128), except that it is not nullable. sysname is used to reference database object names.
To clarify the above remarks, by default sysname is defined as NOT NULL it is certainly possible to define it as nullable. It is also important to note that the exact definition can vary between instances of SQL Server.
Using Special Data Types
The sysname data type is used for table columns, variables, and stored procedure parameters that store object names. The exact definition of sysname is related to the rules for identifiers. Therefore, it can vary between instances of SQL Server. sysname is functionally the same as nvarchar(128) except that, by default, sysname is NOT NULL. In earlier versions of SQL Server, sysname is defined as varchar(30).
Some further information about sysname allowing or disallowing NULL values can be found here https://stackoverflow.com/a/52290792/300863
Just because it is the default (to be NOT NULL) does not guarantee that it will be!
Is there use case you can provide?
If you ever have the need for creating some dynamic sql it is appropriate to use sysname as data type for variables holding table names, column names and server names.
Just as an FYI....
select * from sys.types where system_type_id = 231 gives you two rows.
(i'm not sure what this means yet but i'm 100% sure it's messing up my code right now)
edit: i guess what it means is that you should join by the user_type_id in this situation (my situation) or possibly both the user_type_id and the system_type_id
name system_type_id user_type_id schema_id principal_id max_length precision scale collation_name is_nullable is_user_defined is_assembly_type default_object_id rule_object_id
nvarchar 231 231 4 NULL 8000 0 0 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 1 0 0 0 0
sysname 231 256 4 NULL 256 0 0 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 0 0 0 0 0
create procedure dbo.yyy_test (
@col_one nvarchar(max),
@col_two nvarchar(max) = 'default',
@col_three nvarchar(1),
@col_four nvarchar(1) = 'default',
@col_five nvarchar(128),
@col_six nvarchar(128) = 'default',
@col_seven sysname
)
as begin
select 1
end
This query:
select parm.name AS Parameter,
parm.max_length,
parm.parameter_id
from sys.procedures sp
join sys.parameters parm ON sp.object_id = parm.object_id
where sp.name = 'yyy_test'
order by parm.parameter_id
Yields:
parameter max_length parameter_id
@col_one -1 1
@col_two -1 2
@col_three 2 3
@col_four 2 4
@col_five 256 5
@col_six 256 6
@col_seven 256 7
And This:
select parm.name as parameter,
parm.max_length,
parm.parameter_id,
typ.name as data_type,
typ.system_type_id,
typ.user_type_id,
typ.collation_name,
typ.is_nullable
from sys.procedures sp
join sys.parameters parm ON sp.object_id = parm.object_id
join sys.types typ ON parm.system_type_id = typ.system_type_id
where sp.name = 'yyy_test'
order by parm.parameter_id
Gives You This:
parameter max_length parameter_id data_type system_type_id user_type_id collation_name is_nullable
@col_one -1 1 nvarchar 231 231 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 1
@col_one -1 1 sysname 231 256 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 0
@col_two -1 2 nvarchar 231 231 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 1
@col_two -1 2 sysname 231 256 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 0
@col_three 2 3 nvarchar 231 231 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 1
@col_three 2 3 sysname 231 256 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 0
@col_four 2 4 nvarchar 231 231 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 1
@col_four 2 4 sysname 231 256 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 0
@col_five 256 5 nvarchar 231 231 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 1
@col_five 256 5 sysname 231 256 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 0
@col_six 256 6 nvarchar 231 231 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 1
@col_six 256 6 sysname 231 256 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 0
@col_seven 256 7 nvarchar 231 231 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 1
@col_seven 256 7 sysname 231 256 SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS 0