Return value of SQLCMD

Question

I need to check the exit status (success/failure) of a query run through SQLCMD utility. For example, the server I am connecting doesn\'t have a database name

Answer 1

You need to use the -V option

Note: That's a capital -V, not a lowercase -v.

Example:

> SQLCMD.EXE -S whatever -E -V16 -Q "USE does_not_exist"
  Msg 911, Level 16, State 1, ...
  Could not locate entry ...
> echo %ERRORLEVEL%
  16

Update: Alternatively, you can use the -b option, which has different semantics to the execution (the whole batch stops on the first error). YMMV.

Example:

> SQLCMD.EXE -S whatever -E -b -Q "USE does_not_exist"
  Msg 911, Level 16, State 1, ...
  Could not locate entry ...
> echo %ERRORLEVEL%
  1

You can also combine -b and -V.