SQL Query to search schema of all tables

Question

I am working on a SQL Server 2008 Db that has many tables in it (around 200). Many of these tables contain a field by the name "CreatedDate". I am trying to identify all the table schema with this particular field.

Is there a SQL query to do this?

Answer 1

I would query the information_schema - this has views that are much more readable than the underlying tables.

SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE COLUMN_NAME LIKE '%create%'

Answer 2

You can also try doing this using one of many third party tools that are available for this.

Queries are great for simple searches but if you need to do more manipulation with data, search for references and such this is where you can do a much better job with these.

Also, these come in very handy when some objects are encrypted and you need to search for

I’m using ApexSQL Search which is free but there are also many more (also free) on the market such as Red Gate or SSMS Tool Pack.

Answer 3

  select object_name(c.object_id) as table_name
    , schema_name(t.schema_id) as schema_name
    from sys.columns c
    join sys.tables t on c.object_id = t.object_id
     where c.name=N'CreatedDate';

It gets a little more complicated if you want alsoother table properties, but you'll refer to the object catalog views like sys.tables, sys.columns etc.