The SELECT INTO statement cannot have same source and destination tables.

Error Message:
Msg 2770, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
The SELECT INTO statement cannot have same source and destination tables.

Severity level:
16.

Description:
This error message appears when you try to a SELECT INTO statement, but source and destination table of that statement are identical.

Consequences:
The T-SQL statement can be parsed, but causes the error at runtime.

Resolution:
Errors of the Severity Level 16 are generated by the user and can be fixed by the SQL Server user. The statement cannot be executed this way. Since a SELECT INTO statement will create a new table, source and destination must be different.

Versions:
All versions of SQL Server

Example(s):
USE tempdb;
GO
IF OBJECT_ID(‘tempdb..#t’) > 0
 DROP TABLE #t
GO
SELECT EmployeeID, IDENTITY(INT, 10, 1) AS i2
  INTO #t
  FROM #t
 WHERE LastName LIKE ‘B%’

Remarks:
In the above example we try use a SELECT INTO statement which has the table #t as source and destination table. This raises the error.

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