Find minimum and maximum column value of a common

Question

I am examining a third party SQL Server 2008 database. In this database, there are 2 columns CREATED_DATETIME and UPDATED_DATETIME, which are present in majority of the tables, but probably not all.

I want to find the minimum and maximum value of these 2 columns across all tables in the database which have these 2 columns. That will give me a fair idea that the data in the database is from which period to which period.

How can I write such a query?

Answer 1

Run this script in SSMS (CTrl+T=text results, F5=execute query):

SET NOCOUNT ON;

SELECT  'SELECT MIN(' 
        + QUOTENAME(c.COLUMN_NAME)
        + ') AS ' 
        + QUOTENAME('Min '+c.TABLE_NAME+'.'+c.COLUMN_NAME)
        + ', MAX('
        + QUOTENAME(c.COLUMN_NAME)
        + ') AS ' 
        + QUOTENAME('Max_'+c.TABLE_NAME+'.'+c.COLUMN_NAME)       
        + CHAR(13)
        + 'FROM ' + QUOTENAME(c.TABLE_SCHEMA)+'.'+QUOTENAME(c.TABLE_NAME)
FROM    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS c
WHERE   c.COLUMN_NAME IN ('CREATED_DATETIME', 'UPDATED_DATETIME')
ORDER BY c.TABLE_SCHEMA, c.TABLE_NAME, c.COLUMN_NAME;

SET NOCOUNT OFF;

It will generate another script. Execute generated script.

Example (generated script for master database and all tables with low column name > WHERE c.COLUMN_NAME IN (N'low')):

SELECT MIN([low]) AS [Min spt_fallback_dev.low], MAX([low]) AS [Max_spt_fallback_dev.low]
FROM [dbo].[spt_fallback_dev]
SELECT MIN([low]) AS [Min spt_values.low], MAX([low]) AS [Max_spt_values.low]
FROM [dbo].[spt_values]

Answer 2

select MIN(CREATED_DATETIME) MinCREATED_DATETIME_Table1, MAX(CREATED_DATETIME) MaxCREATED_DATETIME_Table1, MIN(CREATED_DATETIME) MinCREATED_DATETIME_Table2, MAX(CREATED_DATETIME) MaxCREATED_DATETIME_Table2 from Table1, Table2

Answer 3

Something like the following should work

DECLARE @C1           AS CURSOR,
        @TABLE_SCHEMA SYSNAME,
        @TABLE_NAME   SYSNAME,
        @HasCreated   BIT,
        @HasUpdated   BIT,
        @MaxDate      DATETIME,
        @MinDate      DATETIME,
        @SQL          NVARCHAR(MAX) 

SET @C1 = CURSOR FAST_FORWARD FOR 
SELECT TABLE_SCHEMA,
       TABLE_NAME,
       COUNT(CASE
               WHEN COLUMN_NAME = 'CREATED_DATETIME' THEN 1
             END) AS HasCreated,
       COUNT(CASE
               WHEN COLUMN_NAME = 'UPDATED_DATETIME' THEN 1
             END) AS HasUpdated
FROM   INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE  COLUMN_NAME IN ( 'CREATED_DATETIME', 'UPDATED_DATETIME' )
GROUP  BY TABLE_SCHEMA,
          TABLE_NAME 


OPEN @C1;

FETCH NEXT FROM @C1 INTO @TABLE_SCHEMA , @TABLE_NAME , @HasCreated , @HasUpdated ;
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN

SET @SQL = N'
SELECT @MaxDate = MAX(D),
       @MinDate = MIN(D)
FROM   ' + QUOTENAME(@TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(@TABLE_NAME) + N' 
       CROSS APPLY (VALUES ' + 
                  CASE WHEN @HasCreated = 1 THEN N'(CREATED_DATETIME),' ELSE '' END + 
                  CASE WHEN @HasUpdated = 1 THEN N'(UPDATED_DATETIME),' ELSE '' END + N'
                           (@MaxDate),
                           (@MinDate)) V(D) 

'

EXEC sp_executesql 
    @SQL,
    N'@MaxDate datetime OUTPUT, @MinDate datetime OUTPUT', 
    @MaxDate = @MaxDate OUTPUT, 
    @MinDate = @MinDate OUTPUT

  FETCH NEXT FROM @C1 INTO @TABLE_SCHEMA , @TABLE_NAME , @HasCreated , @HasUpdated ;
END

SELECT @MaxDate AS [@MaxDate], @MinDate AS [@MinDate]

Answer 4

Run the script mentioned in the link below. You will have to slightly alter as per your requirements.

SCRIPT to Search every Table and Field