Answer by Larnu for Goodbye, Prettify. Hello highlight.js! Swapping out our Syntax Highlighter

SQL Formatting issues

As I almost exclusively stick to SQL Server related tags, I've picked up on a few issues/features with the sql language formatting.

Hash character incorrectly interpreted as comment character in SQL

In the below example, on the first line, everything after the # in VIN# is a coloured as a comment. On the third line, everyting after the # in #TempTable is. This doesn't, however, occur within the literal string, does within brackets ([]) (used by T-SQL as a delimit identifier), and doesn't within double quotes (") (the ANSI SQL delimit identifier).

SELECT VIN#, NTT.fID, GETDATE(),       SYSDATETIME()FROM #TempTable TT     JOIN dbo.NonTempTable NTT ON TT.ID = NTT.fIDWHERE Description = 'Hello#there' AND NTT.Val = 3  AND [VIN#] > 7   OR "VIN#" < -12;--This is an actual single line comment/* This is aMultilineComment*/

# isn't even a comment character in SQL. Single line comments are defined with -- and multiple with /* ... */.

This is actually quite a problem, especially when temporary objects start with a #, and are used frequently with DDL and DML examples.

Further edit

Brackets ([]) not treated as delimit identifier

In T-SQL (as stated above) Brackets ([]) are the default delimit identifier, rather that double quotes ("), which are the ANSI delimit Identifier.

If a key work is within brackets, it is highlighted incorrectly. For example:

SELECT [name]FROM dbo.[Table] T     JOIN dbo."VIEW" V ON T.ID = V.IDl

I did decide to check, and there isn't a T-SQL variant option:

SELECT [name]FROM dbo.[Table] T     JOIN dbo."VIEW" V ON T.ID = V.IDl

Another edit:

The @ character isn't recognised as a variable identifier

Variable names aren't highlighted, or "immune" to other highlighting. Variable names are prefixed with an @ in SQL. For example:

DECLARE @variable varchar(10),        @Table table (ID int),        @Date datetime2(0),        @1 int,        @NonReservedWord sysname;

Notice that all the variable names, apart from NonReservedWord, receive incorrect syntax highlighting.