How to search for specific column name within one table - sql

Question

I have searched this question on stackoverflow but most of the questions are a little deeper than what I want. Many questions are relating to finding the table that has the specific column name.
I am connected to the database through SSMS. I have found the table that I want to search through by SELECT * FROM Item. In the Item table I want to search all of the field names (or name of the column) and select the ones that contain a specific string 'Size'. I thought something like this would work
Select * FROM Item WHERE column_name LIKE '%SIZE%'
It doesn't work though. How do I specify it to search through all of the column names to find the names that contain 'Size'?
Thanks.

Answer 1

This should be the generic query to get you to what you want.
USE [database_name]
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 '%SIZE%'
AND t.name = 'Item'
ORDER BY schema_name, table_name;
You will need the correct permission on whichever SQL login that you run this through.

Answer 2

SELECT [Name]
FROM sys.columns
WHERE OBJECT_NAME(object_id)='Item'
AND [Name] LIKE '%Size%';

Answer 3

You can use
SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS where TABLE_NAME ='zzzzz' and COLUMN_NAME like '%size%'

Answer 4

This looks through table named Item for a Column with the name like 'SIZE':
SELECT sch.COLUMN_NAME, sch.*
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS AS sch
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'Item'
AND COLUMN_NAME LIKE '%SIZE%'
Is this what you wanted?

Answer 5

I think this is what you are looking for, just replace database_Name with your db name:
Declare #myQuery varchar(max) = ' Select ';
Declare #columnName varchar(max) = '';
Declare GetColumnNames Cursor
For
SELECT COLUMN_NAME
FROM database_Name.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = N'Item'
And database_Name.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS.COLUMN_NAME like '%SIZE%'
OPEN GetColumnNames
FETCH NEXT FROM GetColumnNames
INTO #columnName
WHILE ##FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
Set #myQuery += #columnName + ', '
FETCH NEXT FROM GetColumnNames
INTO #columnName
END
CLOSE GetColumnNames;
DEALLOCATE GetColumnNames;
-- Chop off the end character
SET #myQuery = LEFT(#myQuery, LEN(#myQuery) - 1)
Set #myQuery += ' From Item'
exec(#myQuery)

Answer 6

You'll have to take a two step approach to achieve your end query.
First, you'll need to identify the columns you're interested in by using the table metadata, which you can get from either the sys schema or the INFORMATION_SCHEMA tables. Several of the proposed answers will help you get that information.
Next, you'll use the column names you've identified in step one to build the actual query you're interested in. If this is a one-off task you're doing, just copy and paste the results from the meta data query into a new SELECT query as your column list. If you need to do this task programmatically or multiple times using different LIKE strings, then you'll want to invest the time in writing some dynamic SQL.
When you wrap it all up, it'll look something like this:
--Step 1; The meta data part
DECLARE #ColumnList NVARCHAR(MAX)
,#SQL NVARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT
#ColumnList = COALESCE(#ColumnList+',','') + COLUMN_NAME
FROM
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE
TABLE_SCHEMA = 'schema'
AND
TABLE_NAME = 'TableName'
AND
COLUMN_NAME LIKE '%SIZE%'
SELECT #ColumnList;
--Step 2; The dynamic SQL part
SET #SQL = 'SELECT ' + #ColumnList + ' FROM schema.TableName;';
EXECUTE sys.sp_executesql #SQL;