TSQL - how to execute a query as a variable?

Question

DECLARE @query as varchar(200);
SET @query = 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table';

How can I execute @query, and additionally, is there way to store the query result directly when assigning the variable?

Answer 1

You can use sp_executesql with an output parameter to retrieve the scalar result.

DECLARE @query as nvarchar(200), @count int;
SET @query = N'SELECT @count = COUNT(*)  FROM table';

EXEC sp_executesql @query, 
                   N'@count int OUTPUT', 
                   @count = @count OUTPUT

SELECT @count AS [@count]