sql - scope_identity vs ident_current

Question

After much research I am a little confused by which identity tracker I should use in sql.

From what I understand scope_identity will give me the last id updated from any table and ident_current will will return the last id from a specified table.

So given that information it would seem to me the best version to use (if you know which table you will be updating) is ident_current. Yet, upon reading it seems most people prefer to use scope_identity. What is the reasoning behind this and is there a flaw in my logic?

Answer 1

In that case you need to write the table name, what happens if you decide to change the table name? You then also must not forget to update your code to reflect that. I always use SCOPE_IDENTITY unless I need the ID from the insert that happens in a trigger then I will use @@IDENTITY

Also the bigger difference is that IDENT_CURRENT will give you the identity from another process that did the insert (in other words last generated identity value from any user) so if you do an insert and then someone does an insert before you do a SELECT IDENT_CURRENT you will get that other person's identity value

See also 6 Different Ways To Get The Current Identity Value which has some code explaining what happens when you put triggers on the table