SQL Server Management Studio - Finding all non empty tables

Question

Is there a way for SQL Server Management Studio Express How to list all the non empty tables? I have over 100 tables to go through and check for data.

Answer 1

Try :

WITH TableRows AS
(
   SELECT 
      SUM(row_count) AS [RowCount], 
      OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) AS TableName
   FROM 
      sys.dm_db_partition_stats
   WHERE 
      index_id = 0 OR index_id = 1
   GROUP BY 
      OBJECT_ID
)

SELECT *
FROM TableRows
WHERE [RowCount] > 0

Answer 2

Morris Miao's solution uses the deprecated sys.sysindexes view; and performs the join to INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES on the basis of table name, which is not guaranteed to be unique; even within a database.

Simon's solution is not scoped to the current database; but can be refined through the use of sys.tables:

SELECT r.table_name, r.row_count, r.[object_id]
FROM sys.tables t
INNER JOIN (
    SELECT OBJECT_NAME(s.[object_id]) table_name, SUM(s.row_count) row_count, s.[object_id]
    FROM sys.dm_db_partition_stats s
    WHERE s.index_id in (0,1)
    GROUP BY s.[object_id]
) r on t.[object_id] = r.[object_id]
WHERE r.row_count > 0
ORDER BY r.table_name;

Answer 3

Lets say Tables can be of two types.

1. Clustered Table ( Tables having a Clustered Index )
2. Heap Tables ( Tables not having a Clustered Index )

All tables in SQL Server are divided into partitions. So that all table will have atleast one partition .

In sys.partitions, there exists one row for each partition of all tables.

These rows in sys.partitions contains information about number of rows in that partition of the corresponding table.

Since all tables in SQL Server contain aleast one partition, we can get the information about number of rows in a table from sys.partitions.

SELECT
        OBJECT_NAME(T.OBJECT_ID) AS TABLE_NAME,
        SUM(P.ROWS)  AS TOTAL_ROWS
FROM
        SYS.TABLES T
INNER JOIN 
        SYS.PARTITIONS P 
        ON T.OBJECT_ID = P.OBJECT_ID
WHERE 
        P.INDEX_ID IN (0,1)
GROUP BY 
        T.OBJECT_ID
HAVING 
        SUM(P.ROWS) > 0

While taking sum of rows in different partitions, we are considering index_id (0,1)

• index_id = 0 for Heap
• index_id = 1 for Clustered index
• index_id > 1 are for nonclustered index.

A table can have either one clustered index or none.

But that is not the case with nonclustered index. A table can have multiple nonclustered indexes. So we cannot use those index_id while summing rows.

• Heap Tables will be having index_id = 0
• Clustered Tables will be having index_id = 1

Answer 4

One could also use "Object Explorer Details (F7)", navigate to the "Tables"-Folder of the database of interest and set the Object Explorer Details to show thw Row Count (right click on the headers)

Answer 5

You could try using sysindexes and INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES:)

SELECT 'Table Name'=convert(char(25),t.TABLE_NAME),
      'Total Record Count'=max(i.rows)
FROM sysindexes i, INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES t
WHERE t.TABLE_NAME = object_name(i.id)
      and t.TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE'
GROUP BY t.TABLE_SCHEMA, t.TABLE_NAME
HAVING max(i.rows)<=0

Answer 6

This is a slight improvement to @jophab's answer. It will show schema for tables as well as compare rows = 0 using sys.partitions.

SELECT 
    sch.name as SchemaName,
    t.NAME AS TableName,
    p.rows AS RowCounts
FROM 
    sys.tables t
INNER JOIN 
    sys.partitions p ON t.object_id = p.OBJECT_ID 
INNER JOIN sys.schemas sch
    on t.schema_id = sch.schema_id
WHERE 
    t.NAME NOT LIKE 'dt%' 
    AND t.is_ms_shipped = 0
    AND p.rows = 0
GROUP BY 
    sch.name,t.Name, p.Rows
ORDER BY 
    sch.name,t.Name