How can I search all columns in a table?

Question

How can I search all columns of a table in SQL Server?

Answer 1

You can even do it this way.. Dynamically creating the query..

SET NOCOUNT ON;

DECLARE @searchText NVARCHAR(100) = 'Test'
DECLARE @columnName NVARCHAR(100)
DECLARE @tableName NVARCHAR(100) = 'Accounts'
DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(1000) = 'SELECT * FROM ' + @tableName +' WHERE '

DECLARE columns CURSOR FOR
SELECT sys.columns.name FROM sys.tables
INNER JOIN sys.columns ON sys.columns.object_id = sys.tables.object_id
WHERE sys.tables.name = @tableName

OPEN columns
FETCH NEXT FROM columns
INTO @columnName

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0

BEGIN

    SET @sql = @sql + @columnName + ' LIKE ''%' + @searchText + '%'' OR '
    FETCH NEXT FROM columns
    INTO @columnName    

END

CLOSE columns;    
DEALLOCATE columns;

SET @sql = LEFT(RTRIM(@sql), LEN(@sql) - 2)

EXEC(@sql)