Search text in fields in every table of a MySQL database

Question

I want to search in all fields from all tables of a MySQL database a given string, possibly using syntax as:

SELECT * FROM * WHERE * LIKE \'%stuff%\'
         


        

Answer 1

Here is my solution for this

DROP PROCEDURE IF EXISTS findAll;
CREATE PROCEDURE `findAll`( IN `tableName` VARCHAR( 28 ) , IN `search` TEXT )
BEGIN
       DECLARE finished INT DEFAULT FALSE ;
       DECLARE columnName VARCHAR ( 28 ) ;
       DECLARE stmtFields TEXT ;
       DECLARE columnNames CURSOR FOR
              SELECT DISTINCT `COLUMN_NAME` FROM `information_schema`.`COLUMNS`
              WHERE `TABLE_NAME` = tableName ORDER BY `ORDINAL_POSITION` ;
       DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR NOT FOUND SET finished = TRUE;
       SET stmtFields = '' ;
       OPEN columnNames ;
       readColumns: LOOP
              FETCH columnNames INTO columnName ;
              IF finished THEN
                     LEAVE readColumns ;
              END IF;
              SET stmtFields = CONCAT(
                     stmtFields , IF ( LENGTH( stmtFields ) > 0 , ' OR' , ''  ) ,
                     ' `', tableName ,'`.`' , columnName , '` REGEXP "' , search , '"'
              ) ;
       END LOOP;
       SET @stmtQuery := CONCAT ( 'SELECT * FROM `' , tableName , '` WHERE ' , stmtFields ) ;
       PREPARE stmt FROM @stmtQuery ;
       EXECUTE stmt ;
       CLOSE columnNames ;
END;