Query All Tables For All Fields Containing Value

Question

So I'm trying to figure out where this value is stored in this database. Is there a way to query across all tables in the database and return all rows that contain a certain value where the field name that would contain that certain value is unknown?

For example:

select * from * where unknown_field_name = 'x'

http://blogs.thesitedoctor.co.uk/tim/2010/02/19/Search+Every+Table+And+Field+In+A+SQL+Server+Database+Updated.aspx — Anup Agrawal, Aug 26 '13 at 19:24
@Drew 1 more link http://vyaskn.tripod.com/search_all_columns_in_all_tables.htm — Anup Agrawal, Aug 26 '13 at 19:25
Without writing some version of Dynamic SQL... No: but this is how to do it using system tables and Dynamic SQL: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15210267/is-there-a-way-to-search-the-fields-of-all-tables-at-once-in-sql-server-ce — xQbert, Aug 26 '13 at 19:26

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 26 '13 at 19:27

Check this out:-

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

If this kind of query is a repeated one, and not a once and done or just an occasional query - you may want to look into enabling Full Text Search. But otherwise this answer appear to be what you need; — Rawheiser, Aug 26 '13 at 22:18

Query All Tables For All Fields Containing Value

1 Answers1