How to view the stored procedure code in SQL Server Management Studio

I am new to SQL Server. I am logged into my database through SQL Server Management Studio.

I have a list of stored procedures. How do I view the stored procedure code?

Right clicking on the stored procedure does not have any option like view contents of stored procedure.

Thanks.

I guess this is a better way to view a stored procedure's code:

sp_helptext <name of your sp>

Right click on the stored procedure and select Script Stored Procedure as | CREATE To | New Query Editor Window / Clipboard / File.

You can also do Modify when you right click on the stored procedure.

For multiple procedures at once, click on the Stored Procedures folder, hit F7 to open the Object Explorer Details pane, hold Ctrl and click to select all the ones that you want, and then right click and select Script Stored Procedure as | CREATE To.

The option is called Modify:

This will show you the T-SQL code for your stored procedure in a new query window, with an ALTER PROCEDURE ... lead-in, so you can easily change or amend your procedure and update it

This is another way of viewing definition of stored procedure

SELECT OBJECT_DEFINITION (OBJECT_ID(N'Your_SP'))

Use this query:

SELECT object_definition(object_id) AS [Proc Definition]
FROM sys.objects 
WHERE type='P'

exec sp_helptext 'your_sp_name' -- don't forget the quotes

In management studio by default results come in grid view. If you would like to see it in text view go to:

Query --> Results to --> Results to Text

or CTRL + T and then Execute.

The other answers that recommend using the object explorer and scripting the stored procedure to a new query editor window and the other queries are solid options.

I personally like using the below query to retrieve the stored procedure definition/code in a single row (I'm using Microsoft SQL Server 2014, but looks like this should work with SQL Server 2008 and up)

SELECT definition 
FROM sys.sql_modules 
WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID('yourSchemaName.yourStoredProcedureName')

More info on sys.sql_modules:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/system-catalog-views/sys-sql-modules-transact-sql

You can view all the objects code stored in the database with this query:

    USE [test] --Database Name
SELECT
	sch.name+'.'+ob.name AS       [Object], 
	ob.create_date, 
	ob.modify_date, 
	ob.type_desc, 
	mod.definition
FROM 
	 sys.objects AS ob
	 LEFT JOIN sys.schemas AS sch ON
			sch.schema_id = ob.schema_id
	 LEFT JOIN sys.sql_modules AS mod ON
			mod.object_id = ob.object_id
WHERE mod.definition IS NOT NULL --Selects only objects with the definition (code)

In case you don't have permission to 'Modify', you can install a free tool called "SQL Search" (by Redgate). I use it to search for keywords that I know will be in the SP and it returns a preview of the SP code with the keywords highlighted.

Ingenious! I then copy this code into my own SP.

This is the better way :

SELECT object_definition(object_id)
FROM sys.objects 
WHERE type='p' and name='SP_Name'