Replace character in all database fields - sql-server

Question

We received an MSSQL database with many tables and fields which we need to clean. One of the things we need to do is remove all quotes (chr(34) and chr(39)) from any text fields.
Looking for a way to do this automatically instead of manually.

Answer 1

A non-set based approach:
The below sproc basically does what you need.
It uses nested WHILE loops
the parent WHILE loop gets all user defined tables
the nested WHILE loop goes through all char-based columns (which you
can modify). Then it uses dynamic SQL to update with new string.
For many tables and large sized tables, this would obviously take quite a while to complete. I am sure this can be optimized better.
If anyone can find a set-based approach, that would be something.
Source & Courtesy: Vyaskn
CREATE PROC SearchAndReplace
(
#SearchStr nvarchar(100),
#ReplaceStr nvarchar(100)
)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE #TableName nvarchar(256), #ColumnName nvarchar(128), #SearchStr2 nvarchar(110), #SQL nvarchar(4000), #RCTR int
SET #TableName = ''
SET #SearchStr2 = QUOTENAME('%' + #SearchStr + '%','''')
SET #RCTR = 0
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 DATA_TYPE IN ('char', 'varchar', 'nchar', 'nvarchar')
AND QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME) > #ColumnName
)
IF #ColumnName IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
SET #SQL= 'UPDATE ' + #TableName +
' SET ' + #ColumnName
+ ' = REPLACE(' + #ColumnName + ', '
+ QUOTENAME(#SearchStr, '''') + ', ' + QUOTENAME(#ReplaceStr, '''') +
') WHERE ' + #ColumnName + ' LIKE ' + #SearchStr2
EXEC (#SQL)
SET #RCTR = #RCTR + ##ROWCOUNT
END
END
END
SELECT 'Replaced ' + CAST(#RCTR AS varchar) + ' occurence(s)' AS 'Outcome'
END

Answer 2

if you are replacing an Unicode character use the following code:
CREATE PROC SearchAndReplace
(
#SearchStr nvarchar(100),
#ReplaceStr nvarchar(100)
)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE #TableName nvarchar(256), #ColumnName nvarchar(128), #SearchStr2 nvarchar(110), #SQL nvarchar(4000), #RCTR int
SET #TableName = ''
SET #SearchStr2 = QUOTENAME('%' + #SearchStr + '%','''')
SET #RCTR = 0
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 DATA_TYPE IN ('char', 'varchar', 'nchar', 'nvarchar')
AND QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME) > #ColumnName
)
IF #ColumnName IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
SET #SQL= 'UPDATE ' + #TableName +
' SET ' + #ColumnName
+ ' = REPLACE(' + #ColumnName + ', N'
+ QUOTENAME(#SearchStr, '''') + ', N' + QUOTENAME(#ReplaceStr, '''') +
') WHERE ' + #ColumnName + ' LIKE N' + #SearchStr2
EXEC (#SQL)
SET #RCTR = #RCTR + ##ROWCOUNT
END
END
END
SELECT 'Replaced ' + CAST(#RCTR AS varchar) + ' occurence(s)' AS 'Outcome'
END