Search SQL for a value

Ever wanted to search sql server for a specific value, but had no idea in which table or field it would be?

Well, I found the solution, it works well on smaller databases, but it’s author Narayana Vyas Kondreddi, warns that it will be slow on bigger databases.

Here is the code:

CREATE PROC SearchAllTables
(
@SearchStr nvarchar(100)
)
AS
BEGIN
-- Copyright &copy; 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) &gt; @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) &gt; @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

And to use it, create a new query and use this line of code:

-- To search all columns of all tables in Pubs database for the keyword "Computer"
EXEC SearchAllTables 'Computer'
GO

Search SQL for a value

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