>>The second example shows how to assign a scalar value from a query, similar to what SqlCommand.ExecuteScalar() does in .NET.
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>Oh, so then instead of this:
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>[SELECT [@var1 = CompanyName] FROM Customers WHERE CustomerID = 'ALFKA']
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>it's doing something like this:
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>[SELECT @var1 = [CompanyName FROM Customers WHERE CustomerID = 'ALFKA']]
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>Correct?
Conceptually, yes. Although I don't think the grouping would make a difference to the T-SQL engine in that particular example.
And yes, SELECT does not have to hit a table in SQL. It is the catch-all command.