Trim all database fields

Question

Do you know if there\'s a quick way in sql server (via transact-sql) that I could trim all the database string fields.

Answer 1

No cursors. Copy and paste the output. Works also for SQL 2000, which doesn't have varchar(max). This can be easily extended to add a GO line to the end of each UPDATE if desired.

SELECT  SQL
FROM    (       SELECT  t.TABLE_CATALOG
                 ,      t.TABLE_SCHEMA
                 ,      t.TABLE_NAME
                 ,      0               SORT
                 ,      'UPDATE  ' + QUOTENAME(t.TABLE_CATALOG) + '.' + QUOTENAME(t.TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(t.TABLE_NAME)       SQL
                FROM    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES       t
                 JOIN   INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS      c
                  ON    t.TABLE_CATALOG = c.TABLE_CATALOG
                   AND  t.TABLE_SCHEMA  = c.TABLE_SCHEMA
                   AND  t.TABLE_NAME    = c.TABLE_NAME
                WHERE   t.TABLE_TYPE    = 'BASE TABLE'
                 AND    c.DATA_TYPE     IN ('char','nchar','varchar','nvarchar')
                GROUP BY        t.TABLE_CATALOG
                 ,              t.TABLE_SCHEMA
                 ,              t.TABLE_NAME
                UNION ALL
                SELECT  x.TABLE_CATALOG
                 ,      x.TABLE_SCHEMA
                 ,      x.TABLE_NAME
                 ,      CASE    WHEN    x.COLUMN_NAME_MIN       = y.COLUMN_NAME
                                THEN    1
                                ELSE    2
                        END                                                     SORT
                 ,      CASE    WHEN    x.COLUMN_NAME_MIN       = y.COLUMN_NAME
                                THEN    'SET     '
                                ELSE    ' ,      '
                        END + y.SQL                                             SQL
                FROM    (       SELECT  t.TABLE_CATALOG
                                 ,      t.TABLE_SCHEMA
                                 ,      t.TABLE_NAME
                                 ,      MIN(c.COLUMN_NAME)      COLUMN_NAME_MIN
                                FROM    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES       t
                                 JOIN   INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS      c
                                  ON    t.TABLE_CATALOG = c.TABLE_CATALOG
                                   AND  t.TABLE_SCHEMA  = c.TABLE_SCHEMA
                                   AND  t.TABLE_NAME    = c.TABLE_NAME
                                WHERE   t.TABLE_TYPE    = 'BASE TABLE'
                                 AND    c.DATA_TYPE     IN ('char','nchar','varchar','nvarchar')
                                GROUP BY        t.TABLE_CATALOG
                                 ,              t.TABLE_SCHEMA
                                 ,              t.TABLE_NAME
                        )       x
                 JOIN   (       SELECT  t.TABLE_CATALOG
                                 ,      t.TABLE_SCHEMA
                                 ,      t.TABLE_NAME
                                 ,      c.COLUMN_NAME
                                 ,      QUOTENAME(c.COLUMN_NAME) + ' = LTRIM(RTRIM(' + QUOTENAME(c.COLUMN_NAME) + '))'  SQL
                                FROM    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES       t
                                 JOIN   INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS      c
                                  ON    t.TABLE_CATALOG = c.TABLE_CATALOG
                                   AND  t.TABLE_SCHEMA  = c.TABLE_SCHEMA
                                   AND  t.TABLE_NAME    = c.TABLE_NAME
                                WHERE   t.TABLE_TYPE    = 'BASE TABLE'
                                 AND    c.DATA_TYPE     IN ('char','nchar','varchar','nvarchar')
                        )       y
                  ON    x.TABLE_CATALOG = y.TABLE_CATALOG
                   AND  x.TABLE_SCHEMA  = y.TABLE_SCHEMA
                   AND  x.TABLE_NAME    = y.TABLE_NAME
        )       x
ORDER BY        x.TABLE_CATALOG
 ,              x.TABLE_SCHEMA
 ,              x.TABLE_NAME
 ,              x.SORT
 ,              x.SQL

Answer 2

-- V Quick and Dirty !

-- If this is to generate code to run on a single table, run this code with text output ;

set nocount on

declare @table nvarchar(100) select @table = 'YourTableHere'

SELECT 'UPDATE ' + @table + ' SET ' SELECT '[' + Column_Name + '] = ' + 'LTRIM(RTRIM([' + Column_Name + '])), ' FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.Columns WHERE Table_Name = @table AND Data_Type LIKE '%CHAR%'

-- Run as text output (Query/Results To... Results To Text -- Copy and paste the text output (excluding the last comma) into a new query window, and run it .

Answer 3

If anyone knows how to do this without a cursor, please post it:

DECLARE @CRLF AS varchar(2)
SET @CRLF = CHAR(13) + CHAR(10)
DECLARE @TAB AS varchar(1)
SET @TAB = CHAR(9)

DECLARE @template AS varchar(max)
SET @template = 'UPDATE {@OBJECT_NAME}' + @CRLF + 'SET {@column_list}'

DECLARE c CURSOR FAST_FORWARD
    FOR SELECT  DISTINCT
                QUOTENAME(T.TABLE_CATALOG) + '.' + QUOTENAME(T.TABLE_SCHEMA)
                + '.' + QUOTENAME(T.TABLE_NAME) AS [OBJECT_NAME]
        FROM    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES AS T
        INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS AS C
                ON T.TABLE_CATALOG = C.TABLE_CATALOG
                   AND T.TABLE_SCHEMA = C.TABLE_SCHEMA
                   AND T.TABLE_NAME = C.TABLE_NAME
                   AND T.TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE'
                   AND C.DATA_TYPE IN ('varchar', 'nvarchar')
        ORDER BY 1

DECLARE @OBJECT_NAME AS sysname

OPEN c

FETCH NEXT FROM c INTO @OBJECT_NAME
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
    BEGIN 
        DECLARE @column_list AS varchar(max)
        SELECT  @column_list = COALESCE(@column_list + @CRLF + @TAB + ',', '')
                + QUOTENAME(C.COLUMN_NAME) + ' = LTRIM(RTRIM('
                + QUOTENAME(C.COLUMN_NAME) + '))'
        FROM    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS AS C
        WHERE   C.DATA_TYPE IN ('varchar', 'nvarchar')
                AND QUOTENAME(C.TABLE_CATALOG) + '.'
                + QUOTENAME(C.TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(C.TABLE_NAME) = @OBJECT_NAME
        ORDER BY C.ORDINAL_POSITION

        PRINT REPLACE(REPLACE(@template, '{@column_list}', @column_list),
                      '{@OBJECT_NAME}', @OBJECT_NAME)

        FETCH NEXT FROM c INTO @OBJECT_NAME
    END

CLOSE c

DEALLOCATE c