What is object in the GRANT <permission> in SQL Server?

Question

What could be [ OBJECT :: ][ schema_name ]. object_name in the

GRANT <permission> [ ,...n ] ON 
        [ OBJECT :: ][ schema_name ]. object_name [ ( column [ ,...n ] ) ]
        TO <database_principal> [ ,...n ] 
        [ WITH GRANT OPTION ]
        [ AS <database_principal> ]

Could it be a table or view?

Answer 1

OBJECT here refers to any of the things that exist in sys.objects. From the documentation for sys.objects, that could be any of

• AGGREGATE_FUNCTION
• CHECK_CONSTRAINT
• CLR_SCALAR_FUNCTION
• CLR_STORED_PROCEDURE
• CLR_TABLE_VALUED_FUNCTION
• CLR_TRIGGER
• DEFAULT_CONSTRAINT
• EXTENDED_STORED_PROCEDURE
• FOREIGN_KEY_CONSTRAINT
• INTERNAL_TABLE
• PLAN_GUIDE
• PRIMARY_KEY_CONSTRAINT
• REPLICATION_FILTER_PROCEDURE
• RULE
• SEQUENCE_OBJECT
• SERVICE_QUEUE
• SQL_INLINE_TABLE_VALUED_FUNCTION
• SQL_SCALAR_FUNCTION
• SQL_STORED_PROCEDURE
• SQL_TABLE_VALUED_FUNCTION
• SQL_TRIGGER
• SYNONYM
• SYSTEM_TABLE
• TABLE_TYPE
• UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT
• USER_TABLE
• VIEW

Mind you, not every permission makes sense for every type of object. For instance, you can't grant execute permission to a table. Indeed, not every object type can be the target of a grant (primary keys, for instance). The documentation for grant has a nice list near the bottom of each type of securable and link to a documentation page for what permissions can be granted to it.

Answer 2

I'm not entirely sure if this is what you're asking, but the OBJECT :: keyword here isn't meant to be replaced by some sort of identifier such as TABLE ::, it's meant to be specified literally as OBJECT ::. It's used to indicate that you want to grant permissions to an object as opposed to, say, a schema. According to this page, an object is any schema-level securable, such as a table, view, stored procedure, sequence, etc.

Also according to that page, the OBJECT :: keyword is optional if schema_name is specified. That leads me to believe that the need for specifying OBJECT :: is simply to make sure the database it's what type of entity the permissions are being granted to, since permissions can be granted to objects, schemas, server principles, and more.