Search all columns of a table for a value?

Question

I\'ve looked for an answer to this, but all I can find is people asking how to search all columns of ALL tables in a database for a value. I just want to search all columns

Answer 1

Just use some third party tool. There are several that are 100% free and you can’t go wrong with any of these because they will save you a ton of time.

ApexSQL Search (searches both schema and data), SSMS Toolpack (searches schema and data but not free for SQL Server 2012), SQL Search (searches data only).

Frankly, I don’t really understand why even very experienced DBAs bother writing scripts for this if they can use some tool for free that will do the job.