SQL Server Error 105

Error number

105

Severity

15 (user-correctable error)

State

1

Product

Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine

Versions

All supported SQL Server versions (2016 to 2025), Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance

Category

Syntax & Object Resolution

Last reviewed

23 October 2026

What it means

Error 105 means a string literal was opened with a single quote and never closed, so the parser reached the end of the batch while still inside the string.

In T-SQL a string literal starts at a single quote and ends at the next single quote that is not doubled. If the closing quote is missing, everything after the opening quote, including the rest of the line, later lines and the semicolon, becomes part of the string. When the parser reaches the end of the batch still inside that string, it raises 105 at severity 15 and the batch does not run. The text in quotes in the message is the unterminated string, which is why it can span several lines and contain your ORDER BY or semicolon.

The parser normally adds error 102 (incorrect syntax) for the same statement. The order tells you something: when 105 comes first, a closing quote is missing; when 102 comes first and names a word such as Brien, an apostrophe inside a value (O'Brien) closed the string early and the stray quote after it opened a new one. Inside dynamic SQL the line number is relative to the generated statement, not your script.

Common causes

• A closing quote missing at the end of a literal, often in a WHERE clause or VALUES list.
• An apostrophe inside a value (O'Brien, Don't) that was not doubled to two single quotes.
• Dynamic SQL built by concatenation where the code appends an opening quote but not the closing one.
• Hand-escaped dynamic SQL where one of the doubled quotes ('') is a single quote instead.
• A query copied from a document or chat that cut off the end of a string.

Diagnose it

Read-only These queries only read metadata and dynamic management views. They do not change data, permissions or configuration, so they are safe to run first.

DECLARE @name NVARCHAR(100) = N'Smith';
DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX) =
    N'SELECT id FROM dbo.Customers WHERE name = ''' + @name;
PRINT @sql;

DECLARE @name NVARCHAR(100) = N'Smith';
DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX) =
    N'SELECT id FROM dbo.Customers WHERE name = ''' + @name;
SELECT LEN(@sql) - LEN(REPLACE(@sql, N'''', N'')) AS quote_count;

EXEC sp_describe_first_result_set
     N'SELECT id FROM dbo.Customers WHERE name = ''O''''Brien'';';

How to fix it

Each fix is labelled with what it changes. Try read-only checks and the least invasive fix first, and test changes outside production.

SELECT id
FROM dbo.Customers
WHERE name = 'Smith'
ORDER BY id;

SELECT id
FROM dbo.Customers
WHERE name = N'O''Brien';

DECLARE @name NVARCHAR(100) = N'O''Brien';
EXEC sp_executesql
     N'UPDATE dbo.Customers SET city = N''Leeds'' WHERE name = @name;',
     N'@name NVARCHAR(100)',
     @name = @name;

Examples

A missing closing quote swallows the rest of the query

CREATE TABLE dbo.Customers (id INT PRIMARY KEY, name NVARCHAR(100));

SELECT id
FROM dbo.Customers
WHERE name = 'Smith
ORDER BY id;

Msg 105, Level 15, State 1, Line 5
Unclosed quotation mark after the character string 'Smith
ORDER BY id;
'.
Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 5
Incorrect syntax near 'Smith
ORDER BY id;
'.

Hand-escaped dynamic SQL with one quote too few

CREATE TABLE dbo.Customers (id INT PRIMARY KEY, name NVARCHAR(100), city NVARCHAR(50));

EXEC (N'SELECT id FROM dbo.Customers WHERE name = ''Smith'' AND city = ''Leeds');

Msg 105, Level 15, State 1, Line 1
Unclosed quotation mark after the character string 'Leeds'.
Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 1
Incorrect syntax near 'Leeds'.

Concatenated dynamic SQL that never appends the closing quote

CREATE TABLE dbo.Customers (id INT PRIMARY KEY, name NVARCHAR(100), city NVARCHAR(50));

DECLARE @name NVARCHAR(100) = N'Smith';
DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX) =
    N'UPDATE dbo.Customers SET city = N''Leeds'' WHERE name = ''' + @name;
EXEC (@sql);

Msg 105, Level 15, State 1, Line 1
Unclosed quotation mark after the character string 'Smith'.
Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 1
Incorrect syntax near 'Smith'.

How to prevent it

Avoid building SQL text from values. Parameterised queries (sp_executesql parameters, or the parameters of your data access library) remove the whole class of quoting errors and close the door on SQL injection. See SQL injection explained.

When dynamic SQL is unavoidable, for example for object names, wrap identifiers with QUOTENAME, PRINT the statement while developing, and keep values as parameters.

Common questions

Learn more on CodeWithSQL

• SQL syntax guide
• SQL injection explained and how to prevent it
• Common SQL mistakes

Official documentation

• Constants (Transact-SQL): character strings
• sp_executesql (Transact-SQL)
• QUOTENAME (Transact-SQL)
• Database engine events and errors (0 to 999)

Last technically reviewed 23 October 2026; examples and diagnostics run on SQL Server 2025 (17.0.1145.4). Message text checked against the engine's sys.messages catalogue.