What is the proper syntax in SQL Server for addressing tables?

Question

This seems like a fairly obvious question, but I haven\'t been able to think of the proper term for what I am trying to ask, so coming up with reference material for this ha

Answer 1

In most cases i would always advise to use the full address just to be safe

    [databasename].[dbo].[some_table].[sometimesacolumngoeshere]

However, this is only really needed when you have multiple databases. I only ever encountered one or two issues selecting databases and this is usually fixed by selecting the correct one in sql server.

Once you are actually inside a query and you have given the table a shortened alias then there really is no need to include the full address because this is already referenced.

E.G

   FROM [databasename].[dbo].[some_table].[sometimesacolumngoeshere] SOME

   SELECT SOME.Name