Most people who use SQL Server, know about the convention of adding GO to the end of each batch of T-SQL statements. But perhaps less commonly known, is that you can also add an integer after GO to specify how many times the batch should run.

Example 1 – Basic Usage

Here’s an example of how it works.

SELECT GETDATE() AS DateTime;
GO 3

Result:

+-------------------------+
| DateTime                |
|-------------------------|
| 2020-01-08 09:26:31.663 |
+-------------------------+
Beginning execution loop
+-------------------------+
| DateTime                |
|-------------------------|
| 2020-01-08 09:26:31.663 |
+-------------------------+
Beginning execution loop
+-------------------------+
| DateTime                |
|-------------------------|
| 2020-01-08 09:26:31.663 |
+-------------------------+
Beginning execution loop
Time: 0.578s

I specified GO 3 which resulted in the query running three times. I also got the words “Beginning execution loop” each time the query ran.

I get different results for this query depending on which tool I used to run the query. These are the results I got while using the mssql-cli command line tool. The fractional seconds are all the same. But when I used Azure Data Studio, the fractional seconds incremented.

Example 2 – Print Date/Time

Here’s an example that I ran using Azure Data Studio showing the fractional seconds incrementing.

DECLARE @theTime time(7) = GETDATE();
PRINT @theTime;
GO 5

Result:

Started executing query at Line 4
Beginning execution loop
09:31:40.6100000
09:31:40.6166667
09:31:40.6200000
09:31:40.6233333
09:31:40.6266667
Batch execution completed 5 times...
Total execution time: 00:00:00.022

Example 3 – A Database Example

Here’s an example that inserts data into a database.

CREATE TABLE LoopTest
(
    LoopTestId uniqueidentifier NOT NULL DEFAULT NEWID(),
    InsertDate datetime2(7) NOT NULL DEFAULT GETDATE()
);
GO

INSERT LoopTest (LoopTestId, InsertDate)
VALUES (DEFAULT, DEFAULT);
GO 20

SELECT *
FROM LoopTest;
GO

Result:

+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
| LoopTestId                           | InsertDate                  |
|--------------------------------------+-----------------------------|
| d6eda0a2-710d-467e-a4cf-41602e161851 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.4733333 |
| 0d8b3622-946f-4dce-816e-6123516da4e4 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.4833333 |
| b3ac2482-7304-4846-a258-5dc51b2623f9 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.4866667 |
| 1744836e-6af6-40c8-ab7e-98ca88e8ac1b | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5000000 |
| 91c4858c-0c31-4d99-aba5-3a70424239fd | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5066667 |
| f8b3de8b-7dd1-46c3-a7a8-b1af711d676d | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5133333 |
| 306467d8-2e5b-4046-8102-a33f6906b41d | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5233333 |
| 6cf93d79-5921-498e-ab14-55782284dc12 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5333333 |
| 7bb99e3b-d174-47eb-81b3-46b49982eaad | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5500000 |
| c788d046-0c6c-4a2b-b3f1-3415470bf723 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5566667 |
| 52bb8951-8e71-46ac-ab98-1e261751dc5b | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5600000 |
| 3a061055-0b1e-405c-aa13-480cdde8291c | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5666667 |
| 1cabaf44-ac85-4bcf-8fee-7d349cb56561 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5700000 |
| 0cb3a690-66e9-458d-8c27-b0f44af4211d | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5766667 |
| 19719223-eb9f-4477-82cc-e60995e0dcee | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5800000 |
| 6da2484d-68c7-43f4-8ffc-968545974a42 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5833333 |
| d644bbed-047f-49ac-98c4-e032bdb4add3 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5900000 |
| 2c215900-0fd8-4889-8115-2a904ac72a61 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5933333 |
| 01ccc184-3657-4298-98a7-b31e158a56e8 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.5933333 |
| 9270036f-8821-45c8-aef5-30aec2d4f4b4 | 2020-01-08 09:37:38.6000000 |
+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------+

In this case, both columns are being inserted with DEFAULT, which results in each column being populated with its default value (which I also specify). The first column has a default value of NEWID(), a function that generates a GUID. The second column has a default of GETDATE(), which results in the current date and time.