Sleep Command in T-SQL?
Look at the WAITFOR command.
E.g.
-- wait for 1 minute
WAITFOR DELAY '00:01'
-- wait for 1 second
WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:01'
This command allows you a high degree of precision but is only accurate within 10ms - 16ms on a typical machine as it relies on GetTickCount. So, for example, the call WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:00:001'
is likely to result in no wait at all.
WAITFOR DELAY 'HH:MM:SS'
I believe the maximum time this can wait for is 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds.
Here's a Scalar-valued function to show it's use; the below function will take an integer parameter of seconds, which it then translates into HH:MM:SS and executes it using the EXEC sp_executesql @sqlcode
command to query. Below function is for demonstration only, i know it's not fit for purpose really as a scalar-valued function! :-)
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[ufn_DelayFor_MaxTimeIs24Hours]
(
@sec int
)
RETURNS
nvarchar(4)
AS
BEGIN
declare @hours int = @sec / 60 / 60
declare @mins int = (@sec / 60) - (@hours * 60)
declare @secs int = (@sec - ((@hours * 60) * 60)) - (@mins * 60)
IF @hours > 23
BEGIN
select @hours = 23
select @mins = 59
select @secs = 59
-- 'maximum wait time is 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds.'
END
declare @sql nvarchar(24) = 'WAITFOR DELAY '+char(39)+cast(@hours as nvarchar(2))+':'+CAST(@mins as nvarchar(2))+':'+CAST(@secs as nvarchar(2))+char(39)
exec sp_executesql @sql
return ''
END
IF you wish to delay longer than 24 hours, I suggest you use a @Days parameter to go for a number of days and wrap the function executable inside a loop... e.g..
Declare @Days int = 5
Declare @CurrentDay int = 1
WHILE @CurrentDay <= @Days
BEGIN
--24 hours, function will run for 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds per run.
[ufn_DelayFor_MaxTimeIs24Hours] 86400
SELECT @CurrentDay = @CurrentDay + 1
END
You can also "WAITFOR" a "TIME":
RAISERROR('Im about to wait for a certain time...', 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT
WAITFOR TIME '16:43:30.000'
RAISERROR('I waited!', 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT