SQL Server Error Msg 133 – A GOTO statement references the label ‘%.*ls’ but the label has not been declared.

In this blog post, let’s learn about the error message “133 – A GOTO statement references the label ‘%.*ls’ but the label has not been declared.” in Microsoft SQL Server, the reason why it appears and the solution to fix it.

SQL Server Error Message

133 – A GOTO statement references the label ‘%.*ls’ but the label has not been declared.

Reason for the Error

SQL Server Error Msg 133 occurs when a GOTO statement references a label that has not been declared in the batch or stored procedure. A label is a user-defined identifier used to mark a location within a T-SQL script or stored procedure.

Here’s an example that demonstrates this error:

BEGIN
    DECLARE @counter INT = 0;
    my_label:
    IF @counter < 5
    BEGIN
        SET @counter = @counter + 1;
        PRINT @counter;
        GOTO my_other_label;
    END
END

In this example, the code block declares a label called my_label. However, the GOTO statement attempts to jump to a label called my_other_label, which has not been declared. This will result in SQL Server throwing an error message similar to the following:

Solution

To resolve this error, ensure that all label references in GOTO statements correspond to correctly declared labels within the code block.