Keywords Not Uppercase

There are many debates around case of keywords in TSQL. Some argue that KEYWORDS must be in upper case similar to this:

SELECT column1
FROM tableName;

Where others argue that keywords should be lowercased.

select column1
  from tableName;

Personally I would argue that it doesn’t matter, either way, however you should at least have a standard and stick to it.

I just use a formatting tool and format TSQL to fit my personal standard when working on it, then to format it back to the specific standard that is expected when it needs to be checked in.

Database Health Monitor Technical Debt check for KEYWORDS in TSQL to be uppercased in stored procedures, functions, and other objects.

Do you agree?

If you don’t agree that that keywords should be uppercase, that is just fine, in the Database Health Reports settings dialog you can turn the check. As long as you have coding standards that state one opinion or another then you are doing better than most.

A good coding standard can over-ride many of the items that may be considered as technical debt.