SQL Server 2005 xp_cmdshell problem

Question

The following code works fine when executed directly in Sql server:

DECLARE @cmd sysname set @cmd = 'dir "C:\A_Projects"' EXEC master..xp_cmdshell @cmd

but when I try to create a stored procedure as follows:

create procedure zz (@cmdin varchar(255)) EXEC master..xp_cmdshell @cmdin

I get a message 'Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'EXEC'. Why?

Answer 1

create procedure zz (@cmdin varchar(255))
AS --missed this
EXEC master..xp_cmdshell @cmdin