Reset identity seed after deleting records in SQL Server

sql sql-server database sql-server-2008 azure-sql-database
xorpower picture xorpower · Feb 17, 2014 · Viewed 1.1M times · Source

I have inserted records into a SQL Server database table. The table had a primary key defined and the auto increment identity seed is set to “Yes”. This is done primarily because in SQL Azure, each table has to have a primary key and identity defined.

But since I have to delete some records from the table, the identity seed for those tables will be disturbed and the index column (which is auto-generated with an increment of 1) will get disturbed.

How can I reset the identity column after I deleted the records so that the column has sequence in ascending numerical order?

The identity column is not used as a foreign key anywhere in database.

Answer

Petr Abdulin picture Petr Abdulin · Feb 17, 2014

The DBCC CHECKIDENT management command is used to reset identity counter. The command syntax is:

DBCC CHECKIDENT (table_name [, { NORESEED | { RESEED [, new_reseed_value ]}}])
[ WITH NO_INFOMSGS ]

Example:

DBCC CHECKIDENT ('[TestTable]', RESEED, 0);
GO

It was not supported in previous versions of the Azure SQL Database but is supported now.

Thanks to Solomon Rutzky the docs for the command are now fixed.

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