Keyword search in SQL Server

Hello guys,

For those who ever felt the need to search for a keyword in the entire DataBase, I have this following script. Run this PROC on the DataBase you wish to make your search on.

It accepts a search string as input parameter, goes and searches all the user created tables (System tables are excluded).

CREATE PROC SearchDB
(
@SearchStr nvarchar(100)
)
AS
BEGIN

CREATE TABLE #Results (ColumnName nvarchar(370), ColumnValue nvarchar(3630))

SET NOCOUNT ON

DECLARE @TableName nvarchar(256), @ColumnName nvarchar(128), @SearchStr2 nvarchar(110)
SET  @TableName = ”
SET @SearchStr2 = QUOTENAME(‘%’ + @SearchStr + ‘%’,””)

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
INSERT INTO #Results
EXEC
(
‘SELECT ”’ + @TableName + ‘.’ + @ColumnName +”’, LEFT(‘ + @ColumnName + ‘, 3630)
FROM ‘ + @TableName + ‘ (NOLOCK) ‘ +
‘ WHERE ‘ + @ColumnName + ‘ LIKE ‘ + @SearchStr2
)
END
END
END

SELECT ColumnName, ColumnValue FROM #Results
ENDUpon running this script you can execute it:

EXEC SearchDB ‘<keyword>’

The output of this stored procedure contains two columns:

- 1) The table name and column name in which the search string was found
- 2) The actual content/value of the column

Danish Khan

Ramp Technology