You can use T-SQL to return a list of trigger events in a database in SQL Server.

You can do this using sys.trigger_events. This system catalog view returns a row for each event or event group on which a trigger can fire.

Example 1 – Basic Usage

Here’s an example to demonstrate.

USE Test;
SELECT 
  object_id,
  OBJECT_NAME(object_id) AS [Trigger Name],
  type_desc
FROM sys.trigger_events;

Result:

+-------------+-------------------+-------------+
| object_id   | Trigger Name      | type_desc   |
|-------------+-------------------+-------------|
| 286624064   | t1_insert_trigger | INSERT      |
| 2034106287  | t6ins             | INSERT      |
+-------------+-------------------+-------------+

In this case I’m using the OBJECT_NAME() function to get each trigger’s name from its object_id.

Example 2 – Narrow it to a Specific Trigger

You can also use OBJECT_NAME() to filter the results to a specific trigger name using a WHERE clause.

SELECT 
  object_id,
  OBJECT_NAME(object_id) AS [Trigger Name],
  type_desc
FROM sys.trigger_events
WHERE OBJECT_NAME(object_id) = 't1_insert_trigger';

Result:

+-------------+-------------------+-------------+
| object_id   | Trigger Name      | type_desc   |
|-------------+-------------------+-------------|
| 286624064   | t1_insert_trigger | INSERT      |
+-------------+-------------------+-------------+

Example 3 – Return All Columns

This example returns all columns from this view.

SELECT * 
FROM sys.trigger_events
WHERE OBJECT_NAME(object_id) = 't1_insert_trigger';

Result (using vertical output):

object_id             | 286624064
type                  | 1
type_desc             | INSERT
is_first              | 0
is_last               | 0
event_group_type      | NULL
event_group_type_desc | NULL
is_trigger_event      | 1

In this example I presented the results using vertical output so that you aren’t forced scroll horizontally.

Getting All Trigger Event Types

You can query the sys.trigger_event_types catalog view to get a list of all trigger event types. These are the events or event groups on which a trigger can fire.

You can also run a query that lists them hierarchically.