search all columns of all tables for a given search string and replace it with another string

Guys,

By: Narayana Vyas Kondreddi
My colleague and best friend Areej Neshewat just sent me the following stored procedure for knowledge sharing.
This procedure replaces any kind of strings in the database with other.

if exists (select * from dbo.sysobjects where id = object_id(N'[dbo].[SearchAndReplace]') and OBJECTPROPERTY(id, N'IsProcedure') = 1)
drop procedure [dbo].[SearchAndReplace]
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

CREATE PROC SearchAndReplace
(
@SearchStr nvarchar(100),
@ReplaceStr nvarchar(100)
)
AS
BEGIN

-- Copyright © 2002 Narayana Vyas Kondreddi. All rights reserved.
-- Purpose: To search all columns of all tables for a given search string and replace it with another string
-- Written by: Narayana Vyas Kondreddi
-- Site: http://vyaskn.tripod.com
-- Tested on: SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000
-- Date modified: 2nd November 2002 13:50 GMT

SET NOCOUNT ON

DECLARE @TableName nvarchar(256), @ColumnName nvarchar(128), @SearchStr2 nvarchar(110), @SQL nvarchar(4000), @RCTR int
SET @TableName = ''
SET @SearchStr2 = QUOTENAME('%' + @SearchStr + '%','''')
SET @RCTR = 0

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
SET @SQL= 'UPDATE ' + @TableName +
' SET ' + @ColumnName
+ ' = REPLACE(' + @ColumnName + ', '
+ QUOTENAME(@SearchStr, '''') + ', ' + QUOTENAME(@ReplaceStr, '''') +
') WHERE ' + @ColumnName + ' LIKE ' + @SearchStr2
EXEC (@SQL)
SET @RCTR = @RCTR + @@ROWCOUNT
END
END
END

SELECT 'Replaced ' + CAST(@RCTR AS varchar) + ' occurence(s)' AS 'Outcome'
END


GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

Regards,
--
Mohammad R. Daoud
MCP, MCBMSP, MCTS, MCBMSS
Software Development Manager
+962 - 79 - 999 65 85
Dynamics Innovations
daoudm@dynamicsinnovations.com
http://www.dynamicsinnovations.com/