Search for a single value in any column of any table in the database

Question

Is there a way to search for a single value (in my case it is a UID of type char(64) ) inside any column of any table in one MS SQL Server database?

I am sitting in front of a huge database, not knowing how tables should be related to each other. To find out, I would like to list all the tables and columns that contain a specific value on any row. Is it possible?

One way could be to simply unload the entire database into a text file and then use any text editor to search for the value - but that would be a real pain if the database is too large.

Answer 1

How to search in all columns of all tables in a database by keyword?

http://vyaskn.tripod.com/search_all_columns_in_all_tables.htm

EDIT: Here is the actual T-SQL, in the case of a link rot:

 CREATE PROC SearchAllTables ( @SearchStr nvarchar(100) ) AS BEGIN -- Copyright © 2002 Narayana Vyas Kondreddi. All rights reserved. -- Purpose: To search all columns of all tables for a given search string -- Written by: Narayana Vyas Kondreddi -- Site: http://vyaskn.tripod.com -- Tested on: SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000 -- Date modified: 28th July 2002 22:50 GMT CREATE TABLE #Results (ColumnName nvarchar(370), ColumnValue nvarchar(3630)) SET NOCOUNT ON DECLARE @TableName nvarchar(256), @ColumnName nvarchar(128), @SearchStr2 nvarchar(110) SET @TableName = '' SET @SearchStr2 = QUOTENAME('%' + @SearchStr + '%','''') WHILE @TableName IS NOT NULL BEGIN SET @ColumnName = '' SET @TableName = ( SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)) FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES WHERE TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE' AND QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) > @TableName AND OBJECTPROPERTY( OBJECT_ID( QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) ), 'IsMSShipped' ) = 0 ) WHILE (@TableName IS NOT NULL) AND (@ColumnName IS NOT NULL) BEGIN SET @ColumnName = ( SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME)) FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = PARSENAME(@TableName, 2) AND TABLE_NAME = PARSENAME(@TableName, 1) AND DATA_TYPE IN ('char', 'varchar', 'nchar', 'nvarchar') AND QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME) > @ColumnName ) IF @ColumnName IS NOT NULL BEGIN INSERT INTO #Results EXEC ( 'SELECT ''' + @TableName + '.' + @ColumnName + ''', LEFT(' + @ColumnName + ', 3630) FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' + ' WHERE ' + @ColumnName + ' LIKE ' + @SearchStr2 ) END END END SELECT ColumnName, ColumnValue FROM #Results END 

Answer 2

All third-party tools listed below are 100% free.

I have successfully used ApexSQL Search to search for both objects and data in tables. It comes with a number of other features like relationship diagrams and the like ...

I was a bit slow on large databases (40 GB TFS) though ...

In addition, there is also an SSMS toolkit that offers many other useful features, even if they are not directly related to text search.

Answer 3

I expanded the code because it did not tell me " record number ", and I have to redo it.

 CREATE PROC SearchAllTables ( @SearchStr nvarchar(100) ) AS BEGIN -- Copyright © 2002 Narayana Vyas Kondreddi. All rights reserved. -- Purpose: To search all columns of all tables for a given search string -- Written by: Narayana Vyas Kondreddi -- Site: http://vyaskn.tripod.com -- Tested on: SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000 -- Date modified: 28th July 2002 22:50 GMT -- Copyright @ 2012 Gyula Kulifai. All rights reserved. -- Extended By: Gyula Kulifai -- Purpose: To put key values, to exactly determine the position of search -- Resources: Anatoly Lubarsky -- Date extension: 19th October 2012 12:24 GMT -- Tested on: SQL Server 10.0.5500 (SQL Server 2008 SP3) CREATE TABLE #Results (TableName nvarchar(370), KeyValues nvarchar(3630), ColumnName nvarchar(370), ColumnValue nvarchar(3630)) SET NOCOUNT ON DECLARE @TableName nvarchar(256), @ColumnName nvarchar(128), @SearchStr2 nvarchar(110) ,@TableShortName nvarchar(256) ,@TableKeys nvarchar(512) ,@SQL nvarchar(3830) SET @TableName = '' SET @SearchStr2 = QUOTENAME('%' + @SearchStr + '%','''') WHILE @TableName IS NOT NULL BEGIN SET @ColumnName = '' -- Scan Tables SET @TableName = ( SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)) FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES WHERE TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE' AND QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) > @TableName AND OBJECTPROPERTY( OBJECT_ID( QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) ), 'IsMSShipped' ) = 0 ) Set @TableShortName=PARSENAME(@TableName, 1) -- print @TableName + ';' + @TableShortName +'!' -- *** DEBUG LINE *** -- LOOK Key Fields, Set Key Columns SET @TableKeys='' SELECT @TableKeys = @TableKeys + '''' + QUOTENAME([name]) + ': '' + CONVERT(nvarchar(250),' + [name] + ') + ''' + ',' + ''' + ' FROM syscolumns WHERE [id] IN ( SELECT [id] FROM sysobjects WHERE [name] = @TableShortName) AND colid IN ( SELECT SIK.colid FROM sysindexkeys SIK JOIN sysobjects SO ON SIK.[id] = SO.[id] WHERE SIK.indid = 1 AND SO.[name] = @TableShortName) If @TableKeys<>'' SET @TableKeys=SUBSTRING(@TableKeys,1,Len(@TableKeys)-8) -- Print @TableName + ';' + @TableKeys + '!' -- *** DEBUG LINE *** -- Search in Columns WHILE (@TableName IS NOT NULL) AND (@ColumnName IS NOT NULL) BEGIN SET @ColumnName = ( SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME)) FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = PARSENAME(@TableName, 2) AND TABLE_NAME = PARSENAME(@TableName, 1) AND DATA_TYPE IN ('char', 'varchar', 'nchar', 'nvarchar') AND QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME) > @ColumnName ) -- Set ColumnName IF @ColumnName IS NOT NULL BEGIN SET @SQL=' SELECT ''' + @TableName + ''' ,'+@TableKeys+' ,''' + @ColumnName + ''' ,LEFT(' + @ColumnName + ', 3630) FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' + ' WHERE ' + @ColumnName + ' LIKE ' + @SearchStr2 --Print @SQL -- *** DEBUG LINE *** INSERT INTO #Results Exec (@SQL) END -- IF ColumnName END -- While Table and Column END --While Table SELECT TableName, KeyValues, ColumnName, ColumnValue FROM #Results END 

Answer 4

Source: http://fullparam.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/fck-it-i-am-going-to-search-all-tables-all-collumns/

I recently had a solution that I continued to improve. It also searches XML columns if specified, or searches for integer values ​​if only an integer string is specified.

 /* Reto Egeter, fullparam.wordpress.com */ DECLARE @SearchStrTableName nvarchar(255), @SearchStrColumnName nvarchar(255), @SearchStrColumnValue nvarchar(255), @SearchStrInXML bit, @FullRowResult bit, @FullRowResultRows int SET @SearchStrColumnValue = '%searchthis%' /* use LIKE syntax */ SET @FullRowResult = 1 SET @FullRowResultRows = 3 SET @SearchStrTableName = NULL /* NULL for all tables, uses LIKE syntax */ SET @SearchStrColumnName = NULL /* NULL for all columns, uses LIKE syntax */ SET @SearchStrInXML = 0 /* Searching XML data may be slow */ IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#Results') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #Results CREATE TABLE #Results (TableName nvarchar(128), ColumnName nvarchar(128), ColumnValue nvarchar(max),ColumnType nvarchar(20)) SET NOCOUNT ON DECLARE @TableName nvarchar(256) = '',@ColumnName nvarchar(128),@ColumnType nvarchar(20), @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue nvarchar(110), @QuotedSearchStrColumnName nvarchar(110) SET @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue = QUOTENAME(@SearchStrColumnValue,'''') DECLARE @ColumnNameTable TABLE (COLUMN_NAME nvarchar(128),DATA_TYPE nvarchar(20)) WHILE @TableName IS NOT NULL BEGIN SET @TableName = ( SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)) FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES WHERE TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE' AND TABLE_NAME LIKE COALESCE(@SearchStrTableName,TABLE_NAME) AND QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) > @TableName AND OBJECTPROPERTY(OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)), 'IsMSShipped') = 0 ) IF @TableName IS NOT NULL BEGIN DECLARE @sql VARCHAR(MAX) SET @sql = 'SELECT QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME),DATA_TYPE FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = PARSENAME(''' + @TableName + ''', 2) AND TABLE_NAME = PARSENAME(''' + @TableName + ''', 1) AND DATA_TYPE IN (' + CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(@SearchStrColumnValue,'%',''),'_',''),'[',''),']',''),'-','')) = 1 THEN '''tinyint'',''int'',''smallint'',''bigint'',''numeric'',''decimal'',''smallmoney'',''money'',' ELSE '' END + '''char'',''varchar'',''nchar'',''nvarchar'',''timestamp'',''uniqueidentifier''' + CASE @SearchStrInXML WHEN 1 THEN ',''xml''' ELSE '' END + ') AND COLUMN_NAME LIKE COALESCE(' + CASE WHEN @SearchStrColumnName IS NULL THEN 'NULL' ELSE '''' + @SearchStrColumnName + '''' END + ',COLUMN_NAME)' INSERT INTO @ColumnNameTable EXEC (@sql) WHILE EXISTS (SELECT TOP 1 COLUMN_NAME FROM @ColumnNameTable) BEGIN PRINT @ColumnName SELECT TOP 1 @ColumnName = COLUMN_NAME,@ColumnType = DATA_TYPE FROM @ColumnNameTable SET @sql = 'SELECT ''' + @TableName + ''',''' + @ColumnName + ''',' + CASE @ColumnType WHEN 'xml' THEN 'LEFT(CAST(' + @ColumnName + ' AS nvarchar(MAX)), 4096),''' WHEN 'timestamp' THEN 'master.dbo.fn_varbintohexstr('+ @ColumnName + '),''' ELSE 'LEFT(' + @ColumnName + ', 4096),''' END + @ColumnType + ''' FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' + ' WHERE ' + CASE @ColumnType WHEN 'xml' THEN 'CAST(' + @ColumnName + ' AS nvarchar(MAX))' WHEN 'timestamp' THEN 'master.dbo.fn_varbintohexstr('+ @ColumnName + ')' ELSE @ColumnName END + ' LIKE ' + @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue INSERT INTO #Results EXEC(@sql) IF @@ROWCOUNT > 0 IF @FullRowResult = 1 BEGIN SET @sql = 'SELECT TOP ' + CAST(@FullRowResultRows AS VARCHAR(3)) + ' ''' + @TableName + ''' AS [TableFound],''' + @ColumnName + ''' AS [ColumnFound],''FullRow>'' AS [FullRow>],*' + ' FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' + ' WHERE ' + CASE @ColumnType WHEN 'xml' THEN 'CAST(' + @ColumnName + ' AS nvarchar(MAX))' WHEN 'timestamp' THEN 'master.dbo.fn_varbintohexstr('+ @ColumnName + ')' ELSE @ColumnName END + ' LIKE ' + @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue EXEC(@sql) END DELETE FROM @ColumnNameTable WHERE COLUMN_NAME = @ColumnName END END END SET NOCOUNT OFF SELECT TableName, ColumnName, ColumnValue, ColumnType, COUNT(*) AS Count FROM #Results GROUP BY TableName, ColumnName, ColumnValue, ColumnType 

Answer 5

I found a pretty reliable solution at https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/c0c57332-8624-48c0-b4c3-5b31fe641c58 , which seemed to me worth noting. He searches for columns of these types: varchar, char, nvarchar, nchar, text. It works great and supports a specific table search, as well as several search terms.

Answer 6

There is a good script available at http://www.reddyss.com/SQLDownloads.aspx

To be able to use it in any database, you can create it as in: http://nickstips.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/sql-making-a-stored-procedure-available-to-all- databases /

Not sure if there is another way.

To use it, use something like this:

 use name_of_database EXEC spUtil_SearchText 'value_searched', 0, 0 

Answer 7

After trying to solve @regeter and viewing it, my problem failed, when I looked for the foreign / primary key to see all the tables / columns where it exists, this did not work. After reading how he failed for another who tried to use a unique identifier, I made changes and here is the updated result: (works with both int and tips ... you will see how easy it is to expand)

 CREATE PROC [dbo].[SearchAllTables_Like] ( @SearchStr nvarchar(100) ) AS BEGIN -- Copyright © 2002 Narayana Vyas Kondreddi. All rights reserved. -- Purpose: To search all columns of all tables for a given search string -- Written by: Narayana Vyas Kondreddi -- Site: http://vyaskn.tripod.com -- Tested on: SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000 -- Date modified: 28th July 2002 22:50 GMT CREATE TABLE #Results (ColumnName nvarchar(370), ColumnValue nvarchar(3630)) SET NOCOUNT ON DECLARE @TableName nvarchar(256), @ColumnName nvarchar(128), @SearchStr2 nvarchar(110) SET @TableName = '' SET @SearchStr2 = QUOTENAME('%' + @SearchStr + '%','''') WHILE @TableName IS NOT NULL BEGIN SET @ColumnName = '' SET @TableName = ( SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)) FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES WHERE TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE' AND QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) > @TableName AND OBJECTPROPERTY( OBJECT_ID( QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) ), 'IsMSShipped' ) = 0 ) WHILE (@TableName IS NOT NULL) AND (@ColumnName IS NOT NULL) BEGIN SET @ColumnName = ( SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME)) FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = PARSENAME(@TableName, 2) AND TABLE_NAME = PARSENAME(@TableName, 1) AND DATA_TYPE IN ('guid', 'int', 'char', 'varchar', 'nchar', 'nvarchar') AND QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME) > @ColumnName ) IF @ColumnName IS NOT NULL BEGIN INSERT INTO #Results EXEC ( 'SELECT ''' + @TableName + '.' + @ColumnName + ''', LEFT(' + @ColumnName + ', 3630) FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' + ' WHERE ' + @ColumnName + ' LIKE ' + @SearchStr2 ) END END END SELECT ColumnName, ColumnValue FROM #Results END