The following is a SQL Script that can be run in a database to return all tables and columns where a particular value is present. This can be used for strings or values with a small modification.
This type of thing is great when moving applications/products between servers. This is certainly a good script to include in your master table to be used over and over.
DECLARE @value VARCHAR(64)
DECLARE @sql VARCHAR(1024)
DECLARE @table VARCHAR(64)
DECLARE @column VARCHAR(64)
SET @value = 'valuehere'
CREATE TABLE #t (
tablename VARCHAR(64),
columnname VARCHAR(64)
)
DECLARE TABLES CURSOR
FOR
SELECT o.name, c.name
FROM syscolumns c
INNER JOIN sysobjects o ON c.id = o.id
WHERE o.type = 'U' AND c.xtype IN (167, 175, 231, 239)
ORDER BY o.name, c.name
OPEN TABLES
FETCH NEXT FROM TABLES
INTO @table, @column
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
SET @sql = 'IF EXISTS(SELECT NULL FROM [' + @table + '] '
--SET @sql = @sql + 'WHERE RTRIM(LTRIM([' + @column + '])) = ''' + @value + ''') '
SET @sql = @sql + 'WHERE RTRIM(LTRIM([' + @column + '])) LIKE ''%' + @value + '%'') '
SET @sql = @sql + 'INSERT INTO #t VALUES (''' + @table + ''', '''
SET @sql = @sql + @column + ''')'
EXEC(@sql)
FETCH NEXT FROM TABLES
INTO @table, @column
END
CLOSE TABLES
DEALLOCATE TABLES
SELECT *
FROM #t
DROP TABLE #t