Is there a way I can use SQL Server management studio to find all columns that have column names that contain a certain substring?

Question

I'm using SQL server management studio 2008.

I have a huge legacy database with thousands of columns. It would be nice if I could search for all columns whose names contain a certain substring.

Does anyone know how to do this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Mmhh you could try:

use <your_database>
select o.name,c.name 
from sys.columns c inner join sys.objects  o on c.object_id=o.object_id 
and o.type = 'U'
and CHARINDEX('<your_sub_string>', c.name)>=1

Answer 2

You could use some 3rd party tools like Red-Gate's SQL Search that are free.

Answer 3

You can use the INFORMATION_SCHEMA views.

USE <database>

SELECT COLUMN_NAME
     , TABLE_NAME     
 FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE COLUMN_NAME LIKE '%<string you are looking for>%'

One catch is to make sure to USE the correct database.

Answer 4

USE <database>;

Declare @Col varchar(10);
Declare @Val varchar(10);
Declare @tablename varchar(20);
Declare @sql nvarchar(200);
Declare @sql1 nvarchar(200);

SET @Col = '...';   --INSERT COLUMN NAME
SET @Val = ...; -- INSERT COLUMN VALUE

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb.dbo.##TempTable1', 'U') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE ##TempTable1;

SELECT NULL AS MYKEY, name
into ##TempTable1
FROM sysobjects
WHERE id IN ( SELECT id FROM syscolumns WHERE name = @Col )
ORDER BY name asc

set rowcount 1

update ##TempTable1 set mykey = 1

while @@rowcount > 0
begin
    set rowcount 0

    set @tablename =  (select name from ##TempTable1 where mykey = 1)
    set @sql = 'If Exists (SELECT * FROM '+@tablename+' WHERE '+@Col+'='+@Val+') SELECT * FROM '+@tablename+' WHERE '+@Col+'='+@Val+';'
    set @sql1 = 'If Exists (SELECT * FROM '+@tablename+' WHERE '+@Col+'='+@Val+') select name from ##TempTable1 where mykey = 1'
    EXEC sp_executesql @sql1
    EXEC sp_executesql @sql

    delete ##TempTable1 where mykey = 1
        set rowcount 1
    update ##TempTable1 set mykey = 1
end
set rowcount 0