How do I create an index inside a stored procedure?

Question

How do I create an index inside a stored procedure? It complains

Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Procedure createIndexModifiedOn, Line 12
Incorrect syntax near 'PRIMARY'.

But ON [PRIMARY] is what SQL Server itself uses if you create a new index and select Script As New Query.

If I remove ON [PRIMARY] then it gives this error

Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Procedure createIndexModifiedOn, Line 12
Incorrect syntax near ')'.

Here is the procedure:

create proc [dbo].createIndexModifiedOn
    @table char(256)
as begin
    declare @idx char(256)
    set @idx = 'idx_' + SUBSTRING(@table, 7, len(@table)-1) + '_modified_on';
    IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.indexes WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(@table) AND name = @idx)
        DROP INDEX [@idx] ON [@table]

    CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [@idx] ON [@table]
    (
        [modified_on] ASC
    ) ON [PRIMARY]
go

This ended up being the full query:

create proc [dbo].createIndexModifiedOn
    @table varchar(256)
as 
    declare @idx varchar(256);
    declare @sql nvarchar(999);
    set @idx = 'idx_' + SUBSTRING(@table, 8, len(@table)-8) + '_modified_on';
    set @sql = '
    IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.indexes WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(''' + @table + ''') AND name = ''' + @idx + ''')
        DROP INDEX [' + @idx + '] ON ' + @table + '

    CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [' + @idx + '] ON ' + @table + '
    (
        [modified_on] ASC
    ) ON [PRIMARY] 
    ';
    print @table + ', ' + @idx;
    BEGIN TRY
        EXEC sp_executesql @sql;
    END TRY
    BEGIN CATCH
        PRINT 'errno: ' + ltrim(str(error_number()))
        PRINT 'errmsg: ' + error_message()
    END CATCH
GO

EXEC sp_MSforeachtable 'exec createIndexModifiedOn "?"'

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 21 '13 at 19:12

You can't use variables in the CREATE INDEX statement as you have. To do this, you will need to generate a SQL string and execute it with sp_executesql.

Freehand example:

DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(1024);
SET @sql = 'CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [' + @idx + '] ON [' + @table + ']
(
    [modified_on] ASC
) ON [PRIMARY];';
EXEC sp_executesql @sql;

How do I create an index inside a stored procedure?

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