Find a value anywhere in a database

Question

Given a #, how do I discover in what table and column it could be found within?

I don\'t care if it\'s fast, it just needs to work.

Answer 1

If you need to run such search only once then you can probably go with any of the scripts already shown in other answers. But otherwise, I’d recommend using ApexSQL Search for this. It’s a free SSMS addin and it really saved me a lot of time.

Before running any of the scripts you should customize it based on the data type you want to search. If you know you are searching for datetime column then there is no need to search through nvarchar columns. This will speed up all of the queries above.

Answer 2

Based on bnkdev's answer I modified Narayana's Code to search all columns even numeric ones.

It'll run slower, but this version actually finds all matches not just those found in text columns.

I can't thank this guy enough. Saved me days of searching by hand!

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 QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME) > @ColumnName
        )

        IF @ColumnName IS NOT NULL
        BEGIN
            INSERT INTO #Results
            EXEC
            (
                'SELECT ''' + @TableName + '.' + @ColumnName + ''', LEFT(CONVERT(varchar(max), ' + @ColumnName + '), 3630) 
                FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' +
                ' WHERE CONVERT(varchar(max), ' + @ColumnName + ') LIKE ' + @SearchStr2
            )
        END
    END 
END

SELECT ColumnName, ColumnValue FROM #Results
END

Answer 3

I have a solution from a while ago that I kept improving. Also searches within XML columns if told to do so, or searches integer values if providing a integer only string.

/* Reto Egeter, fullparam.wordpress.com */

DECLARE @SearchStrTableName nvarchar(255), @SearchStrColumnName nvarchar(255), @SearchStrColumnValue nvarchar(255), @SearchStrInXML bit, @FullRowResult bit, @FullRowResultRows int
SET @SearchStrColumnValue = '%searchthis%' /* use LIKE syntax */
SET @FullRowResult = 1
SET @FullRowResultRows = 3
SET @SearchStrTableName = NULL /* NULL for all tables, uses LIKE syntax */
SET @SearchStrColumnName = NULL /* NULL for all columns, uses LIKE syntax */
SET @SearchStrInXML = 0 /* Searching XML data may be slow */

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#Results') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #Results
CREATE TABLE #Results (TableName nvarchar(128), ColumnName nvarchar(128), ColumnValue nvarchar(max),ColumnType nvarchar(20))

SET NOCOUNT ON

DECLARE @TableName nvarchar(256) = '',@ColumnName nvarchar(128),@ColumnType nvarchar(20), @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue nvarchar(110), @QuotedSearchStrColumnName nvarchar(110)
SET @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue = QUOTENAME(@SearchStrColumnValue,'''')
DECLARE @ColumnNameTable TABLE (COLUMN_NAME nvarchar(128),DATA_TYPE nvarchar(20))

WHILE @TableName IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
SET @TableName =
(
SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME))
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
WHERE TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE'
AND TABLE_NAME LIKE COALESCE(@SearchStrTableName,TABLE_NAME)
AND QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) > @TableName
AND OBJECTPROPERTY(OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)), 'IsMSShipped') = 0
)
IF @TableName IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
DECLARE @sql VARCHAR(MAX)
SET @sql = 'SELECT QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME),DATA_TYPE
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = PARSENAME(''' + @TableName + ''', 2)
AND TABLE_NAME = PARSENAME(''' + @TableName + ''', 1)
AND DATA_TYPE IN (' + CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(@SearchStrColumnValue,'%',''),'_',''),'[',''),']',''),'-','')) = 1 THEN '''tinyint'',''int'',''smallint'',''bigint'',''numeric'',''decimal'',''smallmoney'',''money'',' ELSE '' END + '''char'',''varchar'',''nchar'',''nvarchar'',''timestamp'',''uniqueidentifier''' + CASE @SearchStrInXML WHEN 1 THEN ',''xml''' ELSE '' END + ')
AND COLUMN_NAME LIKE COALESCE(' + CASE WHEN @SearchStrColumnName IS NULL THEN 'NULL' ELSE '''' + @SearchStrColumnName + '''' END + ',COLUMN_NAME)'
INSERT INTO @ColumnNameTable
EXEC (@sql)
WHILE EXISTS (SELECT TOP 1 COLUMN_NAME FROM @ColumnNameTable)
BEGIN
PRINT @ColumnName
SELECT TOP 1 @ColumnName = COLUMN_NAME,@ColumnType = DATA_TYPE FROM @ColumnNameTable
SET @sql = 'SELECT ''' + @TableName + ''',''' + @ColumnName + ''',' + CASE @ColumnType WHEN 'xml' THEN 'LEFT(CAST(' + @ColumnName + ' AS nvarchar(MAX)), 4096),'''
WHEN 'timestamp' THEN 'master.dbo.fn_varbintohexstr('+ @ColumnName + '),'''
ELSE 'LEFT(' + @ColumnName + ', 4096),''' END + @ColumnType + '''
FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' +
' WHERE ' + CASE @ColumnType WHEN 'xml' THEN 'CAST(' + @ColumnName + ' AS nvarchar(MAX))'
WHEN 'timestamp' THEN 'master.dbo.fn_varbintohexstr('+ @ColumnName + ')'
ELSE @ColumnName END + ' LIKE ' + @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue
INSERT INTO #Results
EXEC(@sql)
IF @@ROWCOUNT > 0 IF @FullRowResult = 1
BEGIN
SET @sql = 'SELECT TOP ' + CAST(@FullRowResultRows AS VARCHAR(3)) + ' ''' + @TableName + ''' AS [TableFound],''' + @ColumnName + ''' AS [ColumnFound],''FullRow>'' AS [FullRow>],*' +
' FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' +
' WHERE ' + CASE @ColumnType WHEN 'xml' THEN 'CAST(' + @ColumnName + ' AS nvarchar(MAX))'
WHEN 'timestamp' THEN 'master.dbo.fn_varbintohexstr('+ @ColumnName + ')'
ELSE @ColumnName END + ' LIKE ' + @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue
EXEC(@sql)
END
DELETE FROM @ColumnNameTable WHERE COLUMN_NAME = @ColumnName
END 
END
END
SET NOCOUNT OFF

SELECT TableName, ColumnName, ColumnValue, ColumnType, COUNT(*) AS Count FROM #Results
GROUP BY TableName, ColumnName, ColumnValue, ColumnType

Source: http://fullparam.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/fck-it-i-am-going-to-search-all-tables-all-collumns/

Answer 4

If you have phpMyAdmin installed use its Search feature.

Select your DataBase.

Be sure you do have selected DataBase, not a table, otherwise you'll get a completely different search dialog.

1. Click Search tab
2. List item Choose the search term you want
3. Choose the tables to search

Answer 5

For Development purpose you can just export the required tables data into a single HTML and make a direct search on it.

Answer 6

-- exec pSearchAllTables 'M54*'

ALTER PROC pSearchAllTables (@SearchStr NVARCHAR(100))
AS
BEGIN
    -- A procedure to search all tables in a database for a value
    -- Note: Use * or % for wildcard

    DECLARE 
        @Results TABLE([Schema.Table.ColumnName] NVARCHAR(370), ColumnValue NVARCHAR(3630))

    SET NOCOUNT ON

    DECLARE 
        @TableName NVARCHAR(256) = ''
        , @ColumnName NVARCHAR(128)     
        , @SearchStr2 NVARCHAR(110) = QUOTENAME(REPLACE(@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 
        [Schema.Table.ColumnName]
        , ColumnValue 
    FROM @Results
    GROUP BY 
        [Schema.Table.ColumnName]
        , ColumnValue 

END