Searching stored procedure and views but ignoring comments - sql-server

Question

I have a query as
select
definition
from
sys.objects so
join
sys.sql_modules ssmsp on so.[object_id] = ssmsp.[object_id]
where
so.type in ('v', 'p')
where
definition like '%exec%'
While populating records, gets populated from comments also. How can I avoid getting filtered from comments?
Is there any solution?
Thanks

Answer 1

I think this is going to be nearly impossible to achieve in a single query.
Bear in mind that [definition] has no formatting, no line breaks, etc. the code is a single line (copy one and paste it into the editor).
If a comment starts with -- then where does it end? you have no way of knowing.
It is a little easier with /* because you can find the corresponding */ but there is still the added complication of multiple occurrences of the search string.
You might have a little more luck using PATINDEX and specifying a case-sensitive version of your collation (if you have a case insensitive database) and for example you know you only want occurrences of EXEC and not "execute" e.g. WHERE patindex('%EXEC%',defintion COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CS_AS) > 0

Answer 2

First for a fast varchar(max) string "splitter". Below is a hacked version of Jeff Moden's delimitedSplit8K.
IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.DelimitedSplit2B','IF') IS NOT NULL DROP FUNCTION dbo.DelimitedSplit2B;
GO
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.DelimitedSplit2B
(
#pString varchar(max),
#pDelimiter char(1)
)
RETURNS TABLE WITH SCHEMABINDING AS RETURN
WITH L1(N) AS
(
SELECT N
FROM (VALUES
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),
(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0),(0)) t(N)
), --216 values
cteTally(N) AS
(
SELECT 0 UNION ALL
SELECT TOP (DATALENGTH(ISNULL(#pString,1))) ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY (SELECT NULL))
FROM L1 a CROSS JOIN L1 b CROSS JOIN L1 c
--2,176,782,336 rows: enough to handle 2,147,483,647 characters (the varchar(max) limit)
),
cteStart(N1) AS
(
SELECT t.N+1
FROM cteTally t
WHERE (SUBSTRING(#pString,t.N,1) = #pDelimiter OR t.N = 0)
)
SELECT
ItemNumber = ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY s.N1),
Item = SUBSTRING(#pString,s.N1,ISNULL(NULLIF((LEAD(s.N1,1,1)
OVER (ORDER BY s.N1) - 1),0)-s.N1,DATALENGTH(ISNULL(#pString,1))))
FROM cteStart s;
Next for the function to search your DDL
create function dbo.SearchObjectDDLFor (#searchstring varchar(100), #maxLen int)
returns table as return
select objectName, lineNumber, lineText
from
(
select
objectName = ss.[name]+'.'+so.[name],
lineNumber = itemnumber,
lineText = substring(t.item, 1, isnull(nullif(charindex('--', t.item),0)-1, 8000)),
isLongComment =
sum
( -- this will assign a 1 for everything
case when t.item like '/*%' then 1
when t.item like '*/%'then -1
else 0 end
) over (partition by so.[name] order by itemnumber)
from sys.objects so
join sys.sql_modules ssmsp on so.[object_id] = ssmsp.[object_id]
join sys.schemas ss on so.schema_id = ss.schema_id
cross apply dbo.delimitedSplit2B(definition, char(10))
cross apply (values (rtrim(ltrim(replace(item,char(13),''))))) t(item)
where so.type in ('v', 'p')
and len(definition) < isnull(#maxLen,100000) -- character limit is #maxLen (100K default)
) splitLines
where isLongComment = 0 and lineText not like '--%' and lineText <> '*/'
and lineText like '%'+#searchstring+'%';
This function:
Accepts an input string to search for (#searchstring)
Splits your objects into lines
Returns only the portions of the line not part of a comment
filters the lines created in step3 for ones that contain #searchstring and returns the ObjectName (.), Line number and Text.
Caveats:
I just threw this together quick so forgive any errors
A t-sql splitter that accepts [n]varchar(max) will be slow. A CLR splitter would likely be faster but we're not talking about millions of rows. That said, you can speed it up by filtering the number of lines with #maxLen. #maxlen says "ignore and objects with more that #maxLen number of lines." When null it will search objects up to 100K lines long (but this can be adjusted).
This function address comments scenarios where comments look have "--" any where in the string: and scenarios where the comment is nested between "/" and "\ on separate lines.
a few scenarios which require more coding to suppress the comments include:
.
select col1, /* skipping col2 for now */ col3, col4
and
/*********
comments here
*********/
Examples:
select * from dbo.SearchObjectDDLFor('nocount', NULL);
select * from dbo.SearchObjectDDLFor('nocount', 2000);
Results will look something like :