Can I loop through a table variable in T-SQL?

Question

Is there anyway to loop through a table variable in T-SQL?

DECLARE @table1 TABLE ( col1 int )  
INSERT into @table1 SELECT col1 FROM table2

I use cursors as well, but cursors seem less flexible than table variables.

DECLARE cursor1 CURSOR  
    FOR SELECT col1 FROM table2  
OPEN cursor1  
FETCH NEXT FROM cursor1

I would like to be able to use a table variable in the same manner as a cursor. That way I could execute some query on the table variable in one part of the procedure, and then later execute some code for each row in the table variable.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Add an identity to your table variable, and do an easy loop from 1 to the @@ROWCOUNT of the INSERT-SELECT.

Try this:

DECLARE @RowsToProcess  int
DECLARE @CurrentRow     int
DECLARE @SelectCol1     int

DECLARE @table1 TABLE (RowID int not null primary key identity(1,1), col1 int )  
INSERT into @table1 (col1) SELECT col1 FROM table2
SET @RowsToProcess=@@ROWCOUNT

SET @CurrentRow=0
WHILE @CurrentRow<@RowsToProcess
BEGIN
    SET @CurrentRow=@CurrentRow+1
    SELECT 
        @SelectCol1=col1
        FROM @table1
        WHERE RowID=@CurrentRow

    --do your thing here--

END