Sleep Command in T-SQL?

sql-server tsql asynchronous sleep
skb picture skb · Mar 20, 2009 · Viewed 221.4k times · Source

Is there to way write a T-SQL command to just make it sleep for a period of time? I am writing a web service asynchronously and I want to be able to run some tests to see if the asynchronous pattern is really going to make it more scalable. In order to "mock" an external service that is slow, I want to be able to call a SQL server with a script that runs slowly, but isn't actually processing a ton of stuff.

Answer

Sam Saffron picture Sam Saffron · Mar 20, 2009

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.

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