Is the SQL WHERE clause short-circuit evaluated?

Question

Are boolean expressions in SQL WHERE clauses short-circuit evaluated ?

For example:

SELECT * 
FROM Table t 
WHERE @key IS NULL OR (@key IS NOT NULL          


        

Answer 1

For SQL Server, I think it depends on the version but my experience with SQL Server 2000 is that it still evaluates @key = t.Key even when @key is null. In other words, it does not do efficient short circuiting when evaluating the WHERE clause.

I've seen people recommending a structure like your example as a way of doing a flexible query where the user can enter or not enter various criteria. My observation is that Key is still involved in the query plan when @key is null and if Key is indexed then it does not use the index efficiently.

This sort of flexible query with varying criteria is probably one case where dynamically created SQL is really the best way to go. If @key is null then you simply don't include it in the query at all.