SQL query to find duplicate rows, in any table

Question

I\'m looking for a schema-independent query. That is, if I have a users table or a purchases table, the query should be equally capable of catchin

Answer 1

I recently was looking into the same issue and noticed this question. I managed to solve it using a stored procedure with some dynamic SQL. This way you only need to specify the table name. And it will get all the other relevant data from sys tables.

/*
This SP returns all duplicate rows (1 line for each duplicate) for any given table.

to use the SP:
exec [database].[dbo].[sp_duplicates] 
    @table = '[database].[schema].[table]'  

*/
create proc dbo.sp_duplicates @table nvarchar(50) as

declare @query nvarchar(max)
declare @groupby nvarchar(max)

set @groupby =  stuff((select ',' + [name]
                FROM sys.columns
                WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(@table)
                FOR xml path('')), 1, 1, '')

set @query = 'select *, count(*)
                from '+@table+'
                group by '+@groupby+'
                having count(*) > 1'

exec (@query)