Tag Archives: Sql Function Vs Stored Procedure

Difference between Stored Procedure and User Defined Function in Sql Server

Below are the some of the major differences between User Defined Function and Stored Procedure in Sql Server.

To know more on the User-Defined functions with examples please visit the article: User-Defined function.
To know more on the Stored Procedure with examples please visit the articleStored Procedure.

Sl. No. User Defined function Stored Procedure
1 Function must return a value. Stored procedure may or not return values.
2 Will allow only Select statement, it will not allow us to use DML statements. Can have select statements as well as DML statements such as insert, update, delete
etc
3 It will allow only input parameters, doesn’t support output parameters. It can have both input and output parameters.
4 It will not allow us to use try-catch blocks. For exception handling we can use try catch blocks.
5 Transactions are not allowed within functions. Can use transactions within Stored procefures.
6 We can use only table variables, it will not allow using temporary tables. Can use both table variables aswell as temporary table in it.
7 Stored procedures can’t be called from function. Stored Procedures can call functions.
8 Functions can be called from select statement. Procedures can’t be called from Select/Where/Having etc statements. Execute/Exec
statement can be used to call/execute stored procedure.
9 UDF can be used in join clause as a result set. Procedures can’t be used in Join clause

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