How do I search database for text string? - sql-server

Question

Is there any way to search a whole SQL Server database for a text string?
By the whole database I mean tables, views, stored procedures, etc.

Answer 1

If by database you really mean absolutely everything including procedure source code, the easiest will likely be to generate a DB dump and to search for the string within the resulting file. This will be simpler than running all sorts of queries on the information schema.

Answer 2

Here is the code to search certain texts in stored proc
SELECT Distinct SO.Name
FROM sysobjects SO (NOLOCK)
INNER JOIN syscomments SC (NOLOCK) on SO.Id = SC.ID
AND SO.Type = 'P'
AND SC.Text LIKE '%test%'
ORDER BY SO.Name

Answer 3

I got the solution to display / search all tables, columns and SPs with a stored procedure:
CREATE PROC SearchAllTables
(
#SearchStr nvarchar(100)
)
AS
BEGIN
-- Copyright © 2013 Peter Nold. All rights reserved.
-- Purpose: To search all columns of all tables for a given search string
CREATE TABLE #Results (ColumnName nvarchar(370), ColumnValue nvarchar(3630))
SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE #TableName nvarchar(256), #ColumnName nvarchar(128), #SearchStr2 nvarchar(110), #myCount varchar(255)
SET #TableName = ''
SET #SearchStr2 = QUOTENAME('%' + #SearchStr + '%','''')
/* debug */
print '************************************************************'
print 'Starting Search For: ' + #SearchStr2
print '************************************************************'
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
-- debug
print 'Searching the field: ' + #TableName + '.' + #ColumnName
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
SET #myCount = 'Found in #columns: ' + cast((select count(*) from #Results) AS VARCHAR)
print '************************************************************'
print #myCount
print '************************************************************'
END
/* example to search for the text METZ:
***
exec SearchAllTables 'METZ'
*/