Find all tables containing column with specified n

Question

Is it possible to query for table names which contain columns being

LIKE '%myName%'

?

Answer 1

Just to improve on the answers above i have included Views as well and Concatenated the Schema and Table/View together making the Results more apparent.

DECLARE @COLUMNNAME AS VARCHAR(100);

SET @COLUMNNAME = '%Absence%';

SELECT CASE
           WHEN [T].[NAME] IS NULL
           THEN 'View'
           WHEN [T].[NAME] = ''
           THEN 'View'
           ELSE 'Table'
       END AS [TYPE], '[' + [S].[NAME] + '].' + '[' + CASE
                                                          WHEN [T].[NAME] IS NULL
                                                          THEN [V].[NAME]
                                                          WHEN [T].[NAME] = ''
                                                          THEN [V].[NAME]
                                                          ELSE [T].[NAME]
                                                      END + ']' AS [TABLE], [C].[NAME] AS [COLUMN]
FROM [SYS].[SCHEMAS] AS [S] LEFT JOIN [SYS].[TABLES] AS [T] ON [S].SCHEMA_ID = [T].SCHEMA_ID
                            LEFT JOIN [SYS].[VIEWS] AS [V] ON [S].SCHEMA_ID = [V].SCHEMA_ID
                            INNER JOIN [SYS].[COLUMNS] AS [C] ON [T].OBJECT_ID = [C].OBJECT_ID
                                                                 OR
                                                                 [V].OBJECT_ID = [C].OBJECT_ID
                            INNER JOIN [SYS].[TYPES] AS [TY] ON [C].[SYSTEM_TYPE_ID] = [TY].[SYSTEM_TYPE_ID]
WHERE [C].[NAME] LIKE @COLUMNNAME
GROUP BY '[' + [S].[NAME] + '].' + '[' + CASE
                                             WHEN [T].[NAME] IS NULL
                                             THEN [V].[NAME]
                                             WHEN [T].[NAME] = ''
                                             THEN [V].[NAME]
                                             ELSE [T].[NAME]
                                         END + ']', [T].[NAME], [C].[NAME], [S].[NAME]
ORDER BY '[' + [S].[NAME] + '].' + '[' + CASE
                                             WHEN [T].[NAME] IS NULL
                                             THEN [V].[NAME]
                                             WHEN [T].[NAME] = ''
                                             THEN [V].[NAME]
                                             ELSE [T].[NAME]
                                         END + ']', CASE
                                                        WHEN [T].[NAME] IS NULL
                                                        THEN 'View'
                                                        WHEN [T].[NAME] = ''
                                                        THEN 'View'
                                                        ELSE 'Table'
                                                    END, [T].[NAME], [C].[NAME];

Answer 2

This should work:

SELECT name 
FROM sysobjects 
WHERE id IN ( SELECT id 
              FROM syscolumns 
              WHERE name like '%column_name%' )

Answer 3

declare @ColumnName nvarchar(max)='QbId'

Select b.Name as TableName from Sys.Columns a
Join Sys.Tables b
on a.Object_Id=b.Object_Id
where a.Name=@ColumnName

Answer 4

Search Tables:

SELECT      c.name  AS 'ColumnName'
            ,t.name AS 'TableName'
FROM        sys.columns c
JOIN        sys.tables  t   ON c.object_id = t.object_id
WHERE       c.name LIKE '%MyName%'
ORDER BY    TableName
            ,ColumnName;

Search Tables & Views:

SELECT      COLUMN_NAME AS 'ColumnName'
            ,TABLE_NAME AS  'TableName'
FROM        INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE       COLUMN_NAME LIKE '%MyName%'
ORDER BY    TableName
            ,ColumnName;

Answer 5

You can try this query:

USE AdventureWorks
GO
SELECT t.name AS table_name,
SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) AS schema_name,
c.name AS column_name
FROM sys.tables AS t
INNER JOIN sys.columns c ON t.OBJECT_ID = c.OBJECT_ID
WHERE c.name LIKE '%myName%'

Answer 6

If you’re more into third party tools there a lot of options there such as:

• ApexSQL Search
• SSMS Toolpack
• Red Gate tools.

These come in very handy if your database contains encrypted objects (views, procedures, functions) because you can’t easily search for these using system tables.