Generate a bounded sequence recursively.
Use a recursive CTE with a recursion limit.
WITH numbers AS (SELECT 1 AS n UNION ALL SELECT n + 1 FROM numbers WHERE n < 3)
SELECT n FROM numbers ORDER BY n OPTION (MAXRECURSION 10);Expected output EXAMPLE
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Details
Requires SQL Server 2022 or later. Run in an empty scratch database in SSMS or sqlcmd. Result rows below use | between columns, without headers; client display formatting may differ. MAXRECURSION adds a guard in addition to the stopping condition. Use a fresh scratch database; the example creates any tables it needs.
Tested on Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS · · SQL Server 16.0.4295.3 · libc6 2.39-0ubuntu8.9; psycopg 3.2.10; pymssql 2.3.8
Test inputs, results and environment
The exact published code ran in a dedicated Linux test container with prepared inputs. Snippet process uid 65534 with a read-only root filesystem and temporary working files. Database services use a private internal Docker network without published ports. Fresh scratch schema/database for each case; test database administrator credentials are confined to these disposable services. Fixtures and output records are isolated from the application database. Testing covers this example and its stated checks, not every input, operating system, or runtime version. The Linux container shares its host's kernel; this is not a native Windows test.
- Architecture / host kernel
- x86_64 / 6.18.54.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
- Snippet identity / locale
- uid=65534, gid=65534 (unprivileged process) / C.UTF-8
- Interpreter invocation
Execute the exact SQL in a fresh database/schema; serialize result rows with | separators- Container image ID
sha256:ec91410a8f6ec3e985830b5e3a0560306d36f8c1c5ccd91a6699abe707123fa3- Code SHA-256
d9abcdd54e5dded15885e2e354c7194ad1dd47f9c897bca5bff73a590a0ac87f- Dependencies
- libc6 2.39-0ubuntu8.9; psycopg 3.2.10; pymssql 2.3.8
Test input setup
These are the prepared inputs used by the test harness. See Details above for the prerequisites and how to run this example.
# No input files required.
Observed standard output
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Exit code: 0. Standard error: empty. Validation: Exact stdout comparison. System-dependent values above are one recorded run.