Sleep Command in T-SQL?

Look at the WAITFOR command.

E.g.

-- wait for 1 minuteWAITFOR DELAY '00:01'-- wait for 1 secondWAITFOR DELAY '00:00:01'

This command allows you a high degree of precision but is only accurate within 10ms - 16ms on a typical machine as it relies on GetTickCount. So, for example, the call WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:00:001' is likely to result in no wait at all.

WAITFOR DELAY 'HH:MM:SS'

I believe the maximum time this can wait for is 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds.

Here's a Scalar-valued function to show it's use; the below function will take an integer parameter of seconds, which it then translates into HH:MM:SS and executes it using the EXEC sp_executesql @sqlcode command to query. Below function is for demonstration only, i know it's not fit for purpose really as a scalar-valued function! :-)

    CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[ufn_DelayFor_MaxTimeIs24Hours]    (    @sec int    )    RETURNS    nvarchar(4)    AS    BEGIN    declare @hours int = @sec / 60 / 60    declare @mins int = (@sec / 60) - (@hours * 60)    declare @secs int = (@sec - ((@hours * 60) * 60)) - (@mins * 60)    IF @hours > 23     BEGIN    select @hours = 23    select @mins = 59    select @secs = 59    -- 'maximum wait time is 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds.'    END    declare @sql nvarchar(24) = 'WAITFOR DELAY '+char(39)+cast(@hours as nvarchar(2))+':'+CAST(@mins as nvarchar(2))+':'+CAST(@secs as nvarchar(2))+char(39)    exec sp_executesql @sql    return ''    END

IF you wish to delay longer than 24 hours, I suggest you use a @Days parameter to go for a number of days and wrap the function executable inside a loop... e.g..

    Declare @Days int = 5    Declare @CurrentDay int = 1    WHILE @CurrentDay <= @Days    BEGIN    --24 hours, function will run for 23 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds per run.    [ufn_DelayFor_MaxTimeIs24Hours] 86400    SELECT @CurrentDay = @CurrentDay + 1    END

You can also "WAITFOR" a "TIME":

    RAISERROR('Im about to wait for a certain time...', 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT    WAITFOR TIME '16:43:30.000'    RAISERROR('I waited!', 0, 1) WITH NOWAIT