question

As it stands no. Using `INSERT INTO ... EXEC` the result sets must be compatible with the columns in the table. One way around this maybe is to define the table columns with a datatype that will (taking the first column as an example) accept both column a and column x. This would put both result sets into the table, and then maybe you can query over that to return the data that is just the first result set e.g. `[column c] is not null` Also you cannot use a table variable as the target of an `INSERT ... EXEC`, it must be a #temp table or a permanent table. [***CORRECTION* I should have said a table-valued parameter, not a table variable**]

> Is there a way to return just one result set Yes, but not in pure T-SQL. You can create a SQLCLR stored procedure or function that creates a `SqlConnection` and executes `SqlCommand.ExecuteReader()`. The behavior of ExecuteReader is to cycle through one result set at a time. So if you never call `SqlDataReader.NextResult()`, then you will have only retrieved the first result set. Along these same lines, if you only want result set #2, you can start by issuing `SqlDataReader.NextResult()` to skip the first result set and then iterate through `SqlDataReader.Read()`. **EDIT:** Please keep in mind if choosing to do this via a SQLCLR Stored Procedure: taking the short-cut of passing the `SqlDataReader` to `SqlContext.Pipe.Send()` in order to avoid having to write out the full iteration over each row and calling `SqlContext.Pipe.SendResultsRow()` is _not_ an option. The reason is that, even though you can skip any number of result sets by calling `SqlDataReader.NextResult()` prior to calling `SqlContext.Pipe.Send()`, it will automatically call `SqlDataReader.NextResult()` and hence return any remaining result sets. This is fine if you want to only return the last 1 (or more) result sets out of two or more, but does not help when wanting to limit the number of result sets that will be returned (which is what this question is asking to do). --- Also, regarding @Kev's statement of: > Also you cannot use a table variable as the target of an INSERT ... EXEC, it must be a #temp table or a permanent table. That is not true as of SQL Server 2005. You can definitely do an INSERT...EXEC into a table variable: CREATE PROCEDURE #Proc AS SET NOCOUNT ON; SELECT 1 AS [b]; GO DECLARE @Table TABLE (Col1 INT); INSERT INTO @Table (Col1) EXEC #Proc; SELECT * FROM @Table;