Transact-SQL Desk Reference

2.7. SYSTEM STORED PROCEDURES AND DBCC

System stored procedures and extended procedures are built-in commands that perform a variety of tasks to do database administration and to provide information.

2.7.1. System Stored Procedures

There are hundreds of system stored procedures and extended procedures. Some individual stored procedures will be described as needed throughout the book. You may check the index to see if a given stored procedure is described in the book. A complete list of system stored procedures may be found in Appendix A. Metadata stored procedures are discussed on p. 376. Additional details may be found by looking each up by name in Books Online.

In general, system stored procedure names start with sp_ and return results within ...