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xp_logevent (Transact-SQL)

  • Article
  • 03/10/2025

Applies to: SQL Server

Logs a user-defined message in the SQL Server log file and in the Windows Event log. xp_logevent can be used to send an alert without sending a message to the client.

Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

xp_logevent { error_number , 'message' } [ , 'severity' ]

Arguments

Important

Arguments for extended stored procedures must be entered in the specific order as described in the Syntax section. If the parameters are entered out of order, an error message occurs.

error_number

A user-defined error number larger than 50000. The maximum value is 2147483647 (2^31 - 1).

'message'

A character string with a maximum of 2048 characters.

'severity'

One of three character strings: INFORMATIONAL, WARNING, or ERROR. severity is optional, with a default of INFORMATIONAL.

Return code values

0 (success) or 1 (failure).

Result set

xp_logevent returns the following error message for the included code example:

The command(s) completed successfully.

Remarks

When you send messages from Transact-SQL procedures, triggers, batches, and so on, use the RAISERROR statement instead of xp_logevent. xp_logevent doesn't call a message handler of a client, or set @@ERROR. To write messages to the Windows Event log and to the SQL Server error log file within an instance of SQL Server, execute the RAISERROR statement.

Permissions

Requires membership in the db_owner fixed database role in the master database, or membership in the sysadmin fixed server role.

Examples

The following example logs the message, with variables passed to the message in the Windows Event Viewer.

DECLARE @@TABNAME VARCHAR(30),
    @@USERNAME VARCHAR(30),
    @@MESSAGE VARCHAR(255);

SET @@TABNAME = 'customers';
SET @@USERNAME = USER_NAME();

SELECT @@MESSAGE = 'The table ' + @@TABNAME + ' is not owned by the user
   ' + @@USERNAME + '.';

USE master;

EXEC xp_logevent 60000, @@MESSAGE, informational;

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