How to change column name if it contains certain characters - sql

Question

How to change the name of table columns using SQL Server.
The Database table looks like this:
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | Q115($) | Q215($) | Q315($) | .... | QXYY($)|
Where new columns are added over time in the format "Quarter"+"Year"+"($)"
I want to write a query that does the following in Microsoft SQL Server:
For all columns that contains "($)":
Change Name of Column from QXYY($) to 20YY QX

Answer 1

Changing column names is probably something you want to do manually instead of as a mass change. You can get a list of all the columns in all tables in your DB using the sys.all_columns table so something like
select all_objects.name as Table_nm, all_columns.name as Column_nm
from sys.all_columns
inner join sys.all_objects
on all_objects.object_id = all_columns.object_id
where all_columns.name like '%$%'
It looks like renaming columns is done through a Stored Procedure, so you could take the output of that query to create a string of other queries to update all the offending records.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188617.aspx
Good luck!

Answer 2

Powershell:
push-location;
import-module sqlps -disablenamechecking;
pop-location;
$s = new-object microsoft.sqlserver.management.smo.server '.';
$tbl = $s.databases['MyDB'].tables['MyTbl'];
foreach ($col in $tbl.Columns) {
if ($col -match '^Q([1-4])([0-9][0-9])\(\$\)$') {
$newName = "20$($matches[2]) Q$($matches[1])";
$col.Rename( $newName );
}
}