How can I list all foreign keys referencing a given table in SQL Server?

Question

I need to remove a highly referenced table in a SQL Server database. How can I get a list of all the foreign key constraints I will need to remove in order to drop the tabl

Answer 1

I have been using this on 2008 and up. It's similar to some other solutions listed but, the field names are proper cased to handle case specific (LatBin) collations. Additionally, you can feed it a single table name and retrieve just the info for that table.

-->>SPECIFY THE DESIRED DB
USE ???
GO

/*********************************************************************************************

    LIST OUT ALL PRIMARY AND FOREIGN KEY CONSTRAINTS IN A DB OR FOR A SPECIFIED TABLE

*********************************************************************************************/
DECLARE @tblName VARCHAR(255) 

/*******************/

    SET @tblName = NULL-->NULL will return all PK/FK constraints for every table in the database

/*******************/

SELECT PKTABLE_QUALIFIER = CONVERT(SYSNAME,DB_NAME()), 
       PKTABLE_OWNER = CONVERT(SYSNAME,SCHEMA_NAME(O1.schema_id)), 
       PKTABLE_NAME = CONVERT(SYSNAME,O1.name), 
       PKCOLUMN_NAME = CONVERT(SYSNAME,C1.name), 
       FKTABLE_QUALIFIER = CONVERT(SYSNAME,DB_NAME()), 
       FKTABLE_OWNER = CONVERT(SYSNAME,SCHEMA_NAME(O2.schema_id)), 
       FKTABLE_NAME = CONVERT(SYSNAME,O2.name), 
       FKCOLUMN_NAME = CONVERT(SYSNAME,C2.name), 
       -- Force the column to be non-nullable (see SQL BU 325751) 
       KEY_SEQ             = isnull(convert(smallint,K.constraint_column_id),0), 
       UPDATE_RULE = CONVERT(SMALLINT,CASE OBJECTPROPERTY(F.object_id,'CnstIsUpdateCascade')  
                                        WHEN 1 THEN 0 
                                        ELSE 1 
                                      END), 
       DELETE_RULE = CONVERT(SMALLINT,CASE OBJECTPROPERTY(F.object_id,'CnstIsDeleteCascade')  
                                        WHEN 1 THEN 0 
                                        ELSE 1 
                                      END), 
       FK_NAME = CONVERT(SYSNAME,OBJECT_NAME(F.object_id)), 
       PK_NAME = CONVERT(SYSNAME,I.name), 
       DEFERRABILITY = CONVERT(SMALLINT,7)   -- SQL_NOT_DEFERRABLE 
FROM   sys.all_objects O1, 
       sys.all_objects O2, 
       sys.all_columns C1, 
       sys.all_columns C2, 
       sys.foreign_keys F 
       INNER JOIN sys.foreign_key_columns K 
         ON (K.constraint_object_id = F.object_id) 
       INNER JOIN sys.indexes I 
         ON (F.referenced_object_id = I.object_id 
             AND F.key_index_id = I.index_id) 
WHERE  O1.object_id = F.referenced_object_id 
       AND O2.object_id = F.parent_object_id 
       AND C1.object_id = F.referenced_object_id 
       AND C2.object_id = F.parent_object_id 
       AND C1.column_id = K.referenced_column_id
       AND C2.column_id = K.parent_column_id
       AND (   O1.name = @tblName 
            OR O2.name = @tblName
            OR @tblName IS null)
ORDER BY PKTABLE_NAME,FKTABLE_NAME