suggest a query to in sql to find the unused tables - sql-server

Question

SNAHi
anyone please suggest a query in sql to find the unused tables.
I have a legacy application migrated to .net from coldfusion.But lots of tables are unused now
What is the best way to find all the unused objects from database. (sql 2005)
thanks
SNA

Answer 1

In SQL Server, the acutal table data IS the clustered index. Using this query on the Dynamic Management Views (DMV) in SQL Server 2005 and up, you can find unused indices - if you find any clustered index (index_id=1) being unused over an extended period of time, the table is not being used anymore:
DECLARE #dbid INT
SELECT #dbid = DB_ID(DB_NAME())
SELECT
OBJECTNAME = OBJECT_NAME(I.OBJECT_ID),
INDEXNAME = I.NAME,
I.INDEX_ID
FROM
SYS.INDEXES I
JOIN
SYS.OBJECTS O ON I.OBJECT_ID = O.OBJECT_ID
WHERE
OBJECTPROPERTY(O.OBJECT_ID, 'IsUserTable') = 1
AND I.INDEX_ID NOT IN
(SELECT S.INDEX_ID
FROM SYS.DM_DB_INDEX_USAGE_STATS S
WHERE S.OBJECT_ID = I.OBJECT_ID
AND I.INDEX_ID = S.INDEX_ID
AND DATABASE_ID = #dbid)
ORDER BY
OBJECTNAME,
I.INDEX_ID,
INDEXNAME ASC
Another option would be to temporarily rename a table if you suspect it's not being used, and then see if your app(s) still work as expected. If they do for e.g. 30 days or so, then you're pretty sure you don't need that table anymore.
Marc

Answer 2

-- Query to find the tables not used by any stored procedure, function nor view
-- Using SQL 2005 system tables, all programatical objects for dependencies, and one&only query:
select tables.name, progr.name
from sys.objects tables (nolock)
left join sys.syscomments comm (nolock) on comm.text like '%' + tables.name +'%'
left join sys.objects progr (nolock) on progr.object_id = comm.id and progr.type in ('P', 'FN', 'TR', 'V' )
where tables.type = 'U'
and comm.id is null

Answer 3

Here is a query i have written to find the tables not used by any store procedures..
......................................................................................
Declare #tablename nvarchar(40)
Declare tablecursor cursor for
Select name from sysobjects where xtype = 'U'
DECLARE #sqlCommand nvarchar(1000)
declare #rowCount int
DECLARE #searchstring varchar(50)
DECLARE #ParmDefinition nvarchar(500);
create table #temp
(
UnusedTables nvarchar(40)
)
open tablecursor
fetch next from tablecursor into #tablename
while ##fetch_status = 0
begin
set #searchstring='p'
SET #sqlCommand = N'SELECT #rows = count(o.name) from sysobjects o ,
syscomments c where o.type='+char(39)+#searchstring + char(39)+' and
o.id=c.id and c.text like '+ char(39)+'%' + #tablename +'%'+char(39);
SET #ParmDefinition = N'#rows int OUTPUT';
EXECUTE sp_executesql #sqlCommand, #ParmDefinition,#rows=#rowCount OUTPUT;
if #rowCount = 0
begin
insert into #temp values (#tablename)
end
fetch next from tablecursor into #tablename
end
close tablecursor
deallocate tablecursor
select UnusedTables from #temp
drop table #temp
thanks
SA

Answer 4

Try something like below
DECLARE #TableNameTemp TABLE
(
id INT IDENTITY (1, 1),
tablename VARCHAR(1000)
)
INSERT INTO #TableNameTemp
SELECT table_name
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_type = 'BASE TABLE'
ORDER BY table_name
DECLARE #CursorTestID INT = 1;
DECLARE #TotalCount INT = (SELECT Count(1)
FROM #TableNameTemp)
DECLARE #FinalResult TABLE
(
unsedtables VARCHAR(max)
)
DECLARE #TemExecInsert TABLE
(
testvalue VARCHAR(max),
type VARCHAR(max)
)
DECLARE #TableaName VARCHAR(max) = ''
WHILE #CursorTestID <= #TotalCount
BEGIN
DELETE FROM #TemExecInsert
SET #TableaName = (SELECT tablename
FROM #TableNameTemp
WHERE id = #CursorTestID)
INSERT INTO #TemExecInsert
EXEC Sp_depends
#objname = #TableaName
SET #CursorTestID = #CursorTestID + 1
IF ( (SELECT Count(1)
FROM #TemExecInsert) = 0 )
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #FinalResult
VALUES (#TableaName)
END
END
SELECT *
FROM #FinalResult
PS: Sorry, I am not certain how to bring the answer in shape. Hope this helps