How to check a condition against all the columns of a table? - sql

Question

I have a table which has more than 30 columns(all are varchar). I need to list out all the columns which contains blank i.e.' ' values.
I tried using 'coalesce' but it is only for NULL.

Answer 1

The following query will give you all the columns in a table that might have null or '' values.
It is written so that you can run it for all tables in your database but you can limit it to a single table, as I have done for this specific example, checking a table called testingNulls:
--two variables needed for table name and column name, when looping through all tables
declare #table varchar(255), #col varchar(255), #sql varchar(max)
--this will be used to store the result, to have one result set instead of one row per each cursor cycle
if object_id('tempdb..#nullcolumns') is not null drop table #nullcolumns
create table #nullcolumns (tablename varchar(255), columnname varchar(255))
declare getinfo cursor for
select t.name tablename, c.name
from sys.tables t join sys.columns c on t.object_id = c.object_id
where t.name = 'testingnulls' --here the condition for the table name
open getinfo
fetch next from getinfo into #table, #col
while ##fetch_status = 0
begin
select #sql = 'if exists (select top 1 * from [' + #table + '] where [' + #col + '] is null or [' + #col + '] like '''' ) begin insert into #nullcolumns select ''' + #table + ''' as tablename, ''' + #col + ''' as all_nulls end'
print(#sql)
exec(#sql)
fetch next from getinfo into #table, #col
end
close getinfo
deallocate getinfo
--this should be the result you need:
select * from #nullcolumns
You can see a working example here. I hope this is what you need.

Answer 2

List all columns that contain a blank in some record? You'd use a query per column and collect the results with UNION ALL:
select 'COL1' where exists (select * from mytable where col1 like '% %')
union all
select 'COL2' where exists (select * from mytable where col2 like '% %')
union all
...
union all
select 'COL30' where exists (select * from mytable where col30 like '% %');

Answer 3

If you want like select * from [your_table_name] where [col1] = '' and [col2] = ''....., then use dynamic sql query like below.
Query
declare #sql as varchar(max);
select #sql = 'select * from [your_table_name] where '
+ stuff((
select ' and [' + [column_name] + '] = ' + char(39) + char(39)
from information_schema.columns
where table_name = 'your_table_name'
for xml path('')
)
, 1, 5, ''
);
exec(#sql);
Update
Or else if you want to list the column names which have a blank value, then you can use the below dynamic sql query.
Query
declare #sql as varchar(max);
select #sql = stuff((
select ' union all select ' + [column_name] + ' as [col1], '
+ char(39) + [column_name] + char(39) + ' as [col2]'
+ ' from your_table_name'
from information_schema.columns
where table_name = 'your_table_name'
for xml path('')
)
, 1, 11, ''
);
set #sql = 'select distinct t.col2 as [blank_cols] from(' + #sql
+ ')t
where coalesce(ltrim(rtrim(t.col1)), ' + char(39) + char(39) + ') = '
+ char(39) + char(39) + ';';
exec(#sql);
Find a demo here
But still I'm not sure that this is what you are looking out for.

Answer 4

you have not many choices but to specify all the columns in your where clause
WHERE COL1 = '' AND COL2 = '' AND COL3 = '' AND . . .
or you can use Dynamic SQL to form your query, but that is not an easy path to go

Answer 5

If you want to count number of columns having '' value in a table (not for each row) then use the following
SELECT max(CASE WHEN col1 = '' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) +
max(CASE WHEN col2 = '' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) +
max(CASE WHEN col3 = '' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) +
...
FROM t
demo

Answer 6

I created a dynamic SQL script that you can use by providing the table name only
Here it is
declare #sql nvarchar(max)
declare #table sysname = 'ProductAttributes'
select #sql =
'select * from ' + #table + ' where ' +
string_agg('[' + name + '] = '' '' ', ' and ')
from sys.columns
where object_id = OBJECT_ID(#table)
select #sql
exec sp_executesql #sql
Unfortunately, for SQL string concatenation String_Agg function is new with SQL Server 2017
But it is also possible to use SQL XML Path to concatenate WHERE clause fragments
SELECT #sql = 'select * from ' + #table + ' where ' +
STUFF(
(
SELECT
' and ' + '[' + [name] + '] = '' '' '
from sys.columns
where object_id = OBJECT_ID(#table)
FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE
).value('.','VARCHAR(MAX)'
), 1, 5, ''
)
select #sql as sqlscript
exec sp_executesql #sql