sqlsql-serversearch

Find a string by searching all tables in SQL Server


Is there any way to search for a string in all tables of a database in SQL Server?

I want to search for string say john. The result should show the tables and their respective row that contain john.


Solution

  • If you are like me and have certain restrictions in a production environment, you may wish to use a table variable instead of temp table, and an ad-hoc query rather than a create procedure.

    Of course depending on your sql server instance, it must support table variables.

    I also added a USE statement to narrow the search scope

    USE DATABASE_NAME
    DECLARE @SearchStr nvarchar(100) = 'SEARCH_TEXT'
    DECLARE @Results TABLE (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', 'int', 'decimal')
                    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