String Literals as Column Aliases are Deprecated

Something that’s still found in SQL scripts in enterprise environment, even with newly written scripts is the use of string literals as column aliases.

SELECT record_id AS ID, account_number AS 'Account Number'
FROM RequestTable

Although this feature has been deprecated since 2012, old habits die hard.

So what’s the right way to write it?

You can either use alias without a whitespace or use a double quote character. Either of these examples below is acceptable.

SELECT record_id AS ID, account_number AS Account_Number
FROM RequestTable

OR

SELECT record_id AS ID, account_number AS "Account Number"
FROM RequestTable

You can read more about this deprecated feature from the links below.

Further Reading

SQL Server, Deprecated Features Object
DEP021: String literals as column aliases are deprecated
SQL Prompt code analysis: avoid non-standard column aliases (ST002 and DEP021)
Format SQL Using Redgate SQL Prompt