Find all tables containing column with specified name - MS SQL Server

Answer 1

In MS SQL, you can write the below line to check the column names of a particular table:

sp_help your_tablename

Or, you can press the below key by selecting your table name:

Alt + F1

Answer 2

If you simply want the table name you can run:

select object_name(object_id) from sys.columns
where name like '%received_at%'

If you want the Schema Name as well (which in a lot of cases you will, as you'll have a lot of different schemas, and unless you can remember every table in the database and where it belongs this can be useful) run:

select OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(object_id),object_name(object_id) from sys.columns
where name like '%received_at%'

and finally if you want it in a nicer format (although this is where the code (In my opinion) is getting too complicated for easy writing):

select concat(OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(object_id),'.',object_name(object_id)) from sys.columns
where name like '%received_at%'

note you can also create a function based on what I have:

CREATE PROCEDURE usp_tablecheck
--Scan through all tables to identify all tables with columns that have the provided string
--Stephen B
@name nvarchar(200)
AS
SELECT CONCAT(OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(object_id),'.',object_name(object_id)) AS [Table Name], name AS [Column] FROM sys.columns
WHERE name LIKE CONCAT('%',@name,'%')
ORDER BY [Table Name] ASC, [Column] ASC
GO

It is worth noting that the concat feature was added in 2012. For 2008r2 and earlier use + to concatenate strings.

I've re-formatted the proc a bit since I posted this. It's a bit more advanced now but looks a lot messier (but it's in a proc so you'll never see it) and it's formatted better.

This version allows you to have it in an administrative database and then search through any database. Change the decleration of @db from 'master' to whichever you want the default database to be (NOTE: using the CONCAT() function will only work with 2012+ unless you change the string concatenation to use the + operators).

CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[usp_tablecheck]
    --Scan through all tables to identify all tables in the specified database with columns that have the provided string
    --Stephen B
    @name nvarchar(200)
    ,@db nvarchar(200) = 'master'
AS
    DECLARE @sql nvarchar(4000) = CONCAT('
        SELECT concat(OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(col.object_id,DB_ID(''',@db,''')),''.'',object_name(col.object_id,DB_ID(''',@db,'''))) AS [Table Name]
            ,col.name AS [Column] 
        FROM ',@db,'.sys.columns col
        LEFT JOIN ',@db,'.sys.objects ob 
            ON ob.object_id = col.object_id
        WHERE 
            col.name LIKE CONCAT(''%'',''',@name,''',''%'') 
            AND ob.type =''U''
        ORDER BY [Table Name] ASC
            ,[Column] ASC')
    EXECUTE (@sql)
GO

Answer 3

If you’re more into third party tools there a lot of options there such as:

• ApexSQL Search
• SSMS Toolpack
• Red Gate tools.

These come in very handy if your database contains encrypted objects (views, procedures, functions) because you can’t easily search for these using system tables.

Answer 4

i have just tried it and this works perfectly

USE YourDatabseName
GO
SELECT t.name AS table_name,
SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) AS schema_name,
c.name AS column_name
FROM sys.tables AS t
INNER JOIN sys.columns c ON t.OBJECT_ID = c.OBJECT_ID
WHERE c.name LIKE '%YourColumnName%'
ORDER BY schema_name, table_name;

Only change YourDatbaseName to your database and YourcolumnName to your column name that you are looking for the rest keep it as it is.

Hope this has helped

Answer 5

SELECT t.name AS table_name, 
    SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) AS schema_name,
    c.name AS column_name
FROM sys.tables AS t INNER JOIN sys.columns c ON t.OBJECT_ID = c.OBJECT_ID
WHERE c.name LIKE '%Label%'
ORDER BY schema_name, table_name;

Answer 6

Here's a working solution for a Sybase database

select 
  t.table_name, 
  c.column_name 
from 
  systab as t key join systabcol as c 
where 
   c.column_name = 'MyColumnName'