In SQL Server, how can I find everywhere a column is referenced? - sql-server

Question

Within my rather large database, I would like to find out everywhere a column is referenced within the entire schema (SPs, functions, tables, triggers...). I don't want to just do a text search since this will pick up comments and also will find similarly named columns from other tables.
Does anyone know if/how I can do this? I use SQL Server 2008.

Answer 1

Warning: Even though this is a text-search method, the script I'm going to share has saved me lots and lots of hours. It searches inside:
scalar functions
table-valued functions
stored procedures
views
triggers
I needed to specify a collation to make it work for me.
SELECT
sys.objects.object_id,
sys.schemas.name AS [Schema],
sys.objects.name AS Object_Name,
sys.objects.type_desc AS [Type]
FROM sys.sql_modules (NOLOCK)
INNER JOIN sys.objects (NOLOCK) ON sys.sql_modules.object_id = sys.objects.object_id
INNER JOIN sys.schemas (NOLOCK) ON sys.objects.schema_id = sys.schemas.schema_id
WHERE
sys.sql_modules.definition COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS LIKE '%{Column Name}%' ESCAPE '\'
ORDER BY sys.objects.type_desc, sys.schemas.name, sys.objects.name
The output is like the following:
Update: If you need to search for a certain table, SP, etc. you could use a more specialized query:
DECLARE #SCHEMA_NAME VARCHAR(100) = 'dbo';
DECLARE #OBJECT_NAME VARCHAR(100) = 'MY_OBJECT';
SELECT
sys.objects.object_id,
sys.schemas.name AS [Schema],
sys.objects.name AS Object_Name,
sys.objects.type_desc AS [Type]
FROM sys.sql_modules (NOLOCK)
INNER JOIN sys.objects (NOLOCK) ON sys.sql_modules.object_id = sys.objects.object_id
INNER JOIN sys.schemas (NOLOCK) ON sys.objects.schema_id = sys.schemas.schema_id
WHERE
(
'#' + sys.sql_modules.definition + '#' COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS LIKE '%[^a-z_]'+#SCHEMA_NAME+'.'+#OBJECT_NAME+'[^a-z_]%' ESCAPE '\'
OR '#' + sys.sql_modules.definition + '#' COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS LIKE '%[^a-z_]\['+#SCHEMA_NAME+'\].'+#OBJECT_NAME+'[^a-z_]%' ESCAPE '\'
OR '#' + sys.sql_modules.definition + '#' COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS LIKE '%[^a-z_]'+#SCHEMA_NAME+'.\['+#OBJECT_NAME+'\][^a-z_]%' ESCAPE '\'
OR '#' + sys.sql_modules.definition + '#' COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS LIKE '%[^a-z_]\['+#SCHEMA_NAME+'\].\['+#OBJECT_NAME+'\][^a-z_]%' ESCAPE '\'
)
ORDER BY sys.objects.type_desc, sys.schemas.name, sys.objects.name
P.S.: Both queries search inside comments too.

Answer 2

i tried this query and it seems to be fine:
select
obj.type REFERENCING_OBJECT_TYPE
,SCHEMA_NAME(obj.schema_id) REFERENCING_OBJECT_SCHEMA
,obj.name REFERENCING_OBJECT_NAME
from sysdepends x
INNER JOIN sys.objects obj ON x.id = obj.object_id
where depid = object_id('yourSchema.yourTable')
and col_name(depid, depnumber) = 'yourColumn'

Answer 3

Best ways to do it are described in this article.
A sample:
SELECT OBJECT_NAME (referencing_id),
referenced_database_name,
referenced_schema_name, referenced_entity_name
FROM sys.sql_expression_dependencies d
WHERE OBJECT_NAME(d.referenced_id) = 'TableName'
AND OBJECT_DEFINITION (referencing_id) LIKE '%ColumnName%'
ORDER BY OBJECT_NAME(referencing_id);

Answer 4

Does not show if there is a reference to a temporary table
Example
create table dbo.TableName (columnName int )
go
create procedure dbo.ProcedureOne
as
update dbo.TableName set columnName = 1
go
create or alter procedure dbo.ProcedureTwo
as
create table #test (dd int)
update
t1
set
t1.columnName = 1
from
dbo.TableName t1
inner join
#test t2 on t1.columnName = t2.dd
SELECT
1 As Level
,t2.type AS ObjectType
,CAST(CONCAT(SCHEMA_NAME(t2.schema_id),'.',t2.name) AS varchar(256)) AS RefName
,CAST('' AS varchar(256)) AS RefBy
FROM
SYSDEPENDS t1
LEFT JOIN
SYS.OBJECTS t2 ON t1.id = t2.OBJECT_ID
WHERE
t1.depid = OBJECT_ID('dbo.TableName')
AND COL_NAME(t1.depid, t1.depnumber) = 'columnName'
example

Answer 5

As Luv said this is an old question but I've found two more solutions that may be helpful.
I'm using the sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities system object that finds all referenced objects and columns in a specified object. You can use the following query:
SELECT DISTINCT
referenced_schema_name AS SchemaName,
referenced_entity_name AS TableName,
referenced_minor_name AS ColumnName
FROM sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities ('yourrefencingobject', 'OBJECT');
GO
Which gives the following result:
Downside of this object is that you'll need to specify a referencing object.
Or do a search like:
SELECT DISTINCT object_name(id)
FROM AdventureWorks2012.dbo.syscomments (nolock)
WHERE text like '%BusinessEntityID%'
Which gives the following result:
I've also find the following SP that you could use in this article, but haven't tested it properly:
> DECLARE #string varchar(1000), #ShowReferences char(1)
>
> SET #string = 'Person.Person.BusinessEntityID' --> searchstring
>
> SET #ShowReferences = 'N'
> /****************************************************************************/ /*
> */ /* TITLE: sp_FindReferences */ /* */ /* DATE: 18 February, 2004 */ /* */ /* AUTHOR: WILLIAM MCEVOY */ /* */ /****************************************************************************/ /*
> */ /* DESCRIPTION: SEARCH SYSCOMMENTS FOR INPUT STRING, OUTPUT NAME OF OBJECT */ /*
> */ /****************************************************************************/ set nocount on
>
> declare #errnum int ,
> #errors char(1) ,
> #rowcnt int ,
> #output varchar(255)
>
> select #errnum = 0 ,
> #errors = 'N' ,
> #rowcnt = 0 ,
> #output = ''
>
> /****************************************************************************/ /* INPUT DATA VALIDATION
> */ /****************************************************************************/
>
>
> /****************************************************************************/ /* M A I N P R O C E S S I N G
> */ /****************************************************************************/
>
> -- Create temp table to hold results DECLARE #Results table ( Name varchar(55), Type varchar(12), DateCreated datetime,
> ProcLine varchar(4000) )
>
>
> IF (#ShowReferences = 'N') BEGIN insert into #Results select
> distinct
> 'Name' = convert(varchar(55),SO.name),
> 'Type' = SO.type,
> crdate,
> ''
> from sysobjects SO
> join syscomments SC on SC.id = SO.id where SC.text like '%' + #string + '%' union select distinct
> 'Name' = convert(varchar(55),SO.name),
> 'Type' = SO.type,
> crdate,
> ''
> from sysobjects SO where SO.name like '%' + #string + '%' union select distinct
> 'Name' = convert(varchar(55),SO.name),
> 'Type' = SO.type,
> crdate,
> ''
> from sysobjects SO
> join syscolumns SC on SC.id = SO.ID where SC.name like '%' + #string + '%' order by 2,1 END ELSE BEGIN insert into #Results
> select
> 'Name' = convert(varchar(55),SO.name),
> 'Type' = SO.type,
> crdate,
> 'Proc Line' = text
> from sysobjects SO
> join syscomments SC on SC.id = SO.id where SC.text like '%' + #string + '%' union select
> 'Name' = convert(varchar(55),SO.name),
> 'Type' = SO.type,
> crdate,
> 'Proc Line' = ''
> from sysobjects SO where SO.name like '%' + #string + '%' union select
> 'Name' = convert(varchar(55),SO.name),
> 'Type' = SO.type,
> crdate,
> 'Proc Line' = ''
> from sysobjects SO
> join syscolumns SC on SC.id = SO.ID where SC.name like '%' + #string + '%' order by 2,1 END
>
> IF (#ShowReferences = 'N') BEGIN select Name,
> 'Type' = Case (Type)
> when 'P' then 'Procedure'
> when 'TR' then 'Trigger'
> when 'X' then 'Xtended Proc'
> when 'U' then 'Table'
> when 'C' then 'Check Constraint'
> when 'D' then 'Default'
> when 'F' then 'Foreign Key'
> when 'K' then 'Primary Key'
> when 'V' then 'View'
> else Type
> end,
> DateCreated
> from #Results
> order by 2,1 END ELSE BEGIN select Name,
> 'Type' = Case (Type)
> when 'P' then 'Procedure'
> when 'TR' then 'Trigger'
> when 'X' then 'Xtended Proc'
> when 'U' then 'Table'
> when 'C' then 'Check Constraint'
> when 'D' then 'Default'
> when 'F' then 'Foreign Key'
> when 'K' then 'Primary Key'
> when 'V' then 'View'
> else Type
> end,
> DateCreated,
> ProcLine
> from #Results
> order by 2,1 END
Hope this helps

Answer 6

I would like to avoid using sys.sql_dependencies because this feature will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server.
I also cannot use OBJECT_DEFINITION function because all my objects are encrypted.
So I came up with the following query which seems pretty simple and works for me so well that I even wrapped it to the function:
-- =============================================
-- Description: Gets all the stored procedures, functions and triggers referencing the specified column.
-- Example: SELECT * FROM dbo.UFN_GET_SP_FN_TR_REFERENCING_COLUMN(N'dbo', N'MY_TABLE', N'MY_COLUMN');
-- =============================================
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.UFN_GET_SP_FN_TR_REFERENCING_COLUMN
(
#SchemaName sysname,
#TableName sysname,
#ColumnName sysname
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
SELECT R.referencing_schema_name + N'.' + R.referencing_entity_name AS referencing_entity_name
FROM sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities(#SchemaName + N'.' + #TableName, 'OBJECT') AS R
INNER JOIN sys.objects AS O
ON R.referencing_id = O.object_id
WHERE O.[type] IN ('FN'/*SQL scalar function*/, 'IF'/*SQL inline table-valued function*/, 'TF'/*SQL table-valued-function*/, 'P'/*SQL Stored Procedure*/, 'TR' /*SQL DML trigger*/)
AND EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities (R.referencing_schema_name + N'.' + R.referencing_entity_name, 'OBJECT') AS RE WHERE RE.referenced_entity_name = #TableName AND RE.referenced_minor_name = #ColumnName);
GO

Answer 7

Hello Although this is an old post I was able to combine few tips from above got something like this below which was help full for me. The reason had I create this one is the column I was in lot of tables so it did not provide me clear output.
SELECT
SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id)+'.'+[name] as objectname
,type_desc
,referenced_schema_name AS SchemaName
,referenced_entity_name AS TableName
,referenced_minor_name AS ColumnName
FROM [sys].[all_objects] ob cross apply sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities ( SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id)+'.'+[name], 'OBJECT') e
where is_ms_shipped = 0 and type_desc in ('AGGREGATE_FUNCTION'
,'SQL_SCALAR_FUNCTION'
,'SQL_INLINE_TABLE_VALUED_FUNCTION'
,'SQL_STORED_PROCEDURE'
,'SQL_TABLE_VALUED_FUNCTION'
,'SQL_TRIGGER'
,'VIEW')
and name !='sp_upgraddiagrams'
and referenced_entity_name = 'table name'
and referenced_minor_name = 'columnname'

Answer 8

Here's a slight tweak on #alex's TV-UDF to include views also:
/*
Source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47775531/852956
Gets all the stored procedures, functions and triggers referencing the specified column.
SELECT * FROM Utility.ft_SelectSprocFuncAndTrigrRefs(N'BrakeRotor', N'BrakeRotors', N'BrakeRotorNumber');
*/
CREATE FUNCTION Utility.ft_SelectSprocFuncAndTrigrRefs
(
#SchemaName sysname,
#TableName sysname,
#ColumnName sysname
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
RETURN
SELECT QUOTENAME(R.referencing_schema_name) + N'.' + QUOTENAME(R.referencing_entity_name) AS ReferencingEntityName
FROM sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities(#SchemaName + N'.' + #TableName, 'OBJECT') AS R
INNER JOIN sys.objects AS O
ON R.referencing_id = O.object_id
WHERE O.[type] IN (
'FN'/*SQL scalar function*/,
'IF'/*SQL inline table-valued function*/,
'TF'/*SQL table-valued-function*/,
'P'/*SQL Stored Procedure*/,
'TR' /*SQL DML trigger*/
)
AND EXISTS(
SELECT 1
FROM sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities (R.referencing_schema_name + N'.' + R.referencing_entity_name, 'OBJECT') AS RE
WHERE RE.referenced_entity_name = #TableName AND RE.referenced_minor_name = #ColumnName)
UNION SELECT QUOTENAME(VIEW_SCHEMA) + N'.' + QUOTENAME(VIEW_NAME) AS ReferencingEntityName
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.VIEW_COLUMN_USAGE
WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = #SchemaName
AND TABLE_NAME = #TableName
AND column_name = #ColumnName
GO

Answer 9

Had to do this today and came up with the following:
declare #obj sysname = 'schema.table';
select p.referencing_entity_name, c.*
from sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities(#obj, 'object') as p
cross apply sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities(
concat(p.referencing_schema_name, '.', p.referencing_entity_name),
'object'
) as c
where c.referenced_id = object_id(#obj)
and referenced_minor_name in ('yourColumn');