SQL Server: Search all tables for a particular GUID

Question

i came across the need to cleanse some data, and i need to find some particular guids (i.e. uniqueidentifiers) in SQL Server°.

i\'ve come up with a stor

Answer 1

Here's a solution for SQL 2000, with gratuitous use of cursors:

declare @searchvalue uniqueidentifier
set @searchValue = '{2A6814B9-8261-452D-A144-13264433864E}'

if object_id('tempdb..#results') is not null drop table #results
create table #results (TableSchema sysname, TableName sysname)

declare @sql nvarchar(4000)

declare @cursor1 cursor
declare @tablename sysname
declare @tableschema sysname

declare @cursor2 cursor
declare @columnname sysname
declare @searchFields nvarchar(4000)

set @cursor1 = cursor for
  select t.TABLE_SCHEMA, t.TABLE_NAME
  from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.Tables t
  where t.TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE'
    and exists (
      select * from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.Columns c
      where c.TABLE_NAME = t.TABLE_NAME
        and c.TABLE_SCHEMA = t.TABLE_SCHEMA
        and c.DATA_TYPE = 'uniqueidentifier'
      )

open @cursor1
while 1=1 begin
  fetch next from @cursor1 into @tableschema, @tablename
  if @@fetch_status <> 0 break

  set @searchFields = ''
  set @cursor2 = cursor for 
    select c.COLUMN_NAME
    from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.Columns c
    where c.TABLE_NAME = @tablename
      and c.TABLE_SCHEMA = @tableschema
      and c.DATA_TYPE = 'uniqueidentifier'

  open @cursor2
  while 1=1 begin
    fetch next from @cursor2 into @columnname
    if @@fetch_status <> 0 break
    set @searchFields = @searchFields + ', ' + quotename(@columnname)
  end      

  set @searchFields = substring(@searchFields,3,len(@searchFields))
  set @sql = ' insert #results'
           + ' select '''+@tableschema+''','''+@tablename+''''
           + ' from '+quotename(@tableschema)+'.'+quotename(@tablename)
           + ' where @searchValue in ('+@searchFields+')'

  print @sql
  exec sp_executesql @sql, N'@searchValue uniqueidentifier', @searchValue
end

select * from #results

Here's a solution for SQL 2005, based on Remus's solution, with temp tables for better scaling:

DECLARE @searchValue uniqueidentifier
SET @searchValue = '{2A6814B9-8261-452D-A144-13264433864E}'

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#results') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #results
CREATE TABLE #results (TableSchema SYSNAME, TableName SYSNAME);
DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX);
WITH cte_all_tables(SQL) AS (
    SELECT
          N' INSERT #results (TableSchema, TableName)'
        + N' SELECT ''' + t.TABLE_SCHEMA + ''', ''' + t.TABLE_NAME + N'''' 
        + N' FROM ' + QUOTENAME(t.TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' +QUOTENAME(t.TABLE_NAME)
        + N' WHERE ' +
        (
                SELECT QUOTENAME(c.COLUMN_NAME) + N' = @searchValue OR '
                FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.Columns c
                WHERE c.TABLE_NAME = t.TABLE_NAME
                        AND c.TABLE_SCHEMA = t.TABLE_SCHEMA
                        AND c.DATA_TYPE = 'uniqueidentifier'
                FOR XML PATH('')
        ) + N'0=1'
   FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.Columns c
        INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.Tables t
        ON c.TABLE_NAME = t.TABLE_NAME
        AND t.TABLE_SCHEMA = c.TABLE_SCHEMA
        AND t.TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE'
    WHERE DATA_TYPE = 'uniqueidentifier')
SELECT @sql = (SELECT [SQL]+nchar(10) FROM cte_all_tables FOR XML PATH(''));

PRINT @SQL;
exec sp_executesql @sql, N'@searchValue uniqueidentifier', @searchValue;
SELECT * FROM #results