I have a bunch of tables, that have the same first few characters in the names, but the tables have random numbers (equal in length) at the end of the names.
They have the same structure.
I want to union them into one table, dynamically.
This is in SQL Server 2008 Express.
I have no real idea how to do this, but I'm guessing I have to loop thru a list of the tables names, maybe using a list in the system tables?
Example (that illustrates my simple minded thinking, as I'm sure this make no real technical sense)
SELECT * FROM TABLE0*
UNION ALL
SELECT * FROM TABLE0*
Note '*' is a a number with 8 digits.
A quick dynamic SQL script should do it:
declare #sql varchar(max)
set #sql = ''
select #sql = #sql + case len(#sql) when 0 then '' else ' UNION ALL ' end + '
SELECT * FROM [' + table_name + ']'
from
information_schema.tables where table_name like 'TABLE0%'
exec (#sql)
You could use a simple query like this to construct your large query:
SELECT 'SELECT * FROM '+name+ ' UNION '
FROM sys.tables
WHERE name LIKE '%yourtable%'
Or you could use dynamic SQL to build it and run it:
DECLARE #sql VARCHAR(MAX)
SET #sql = ''
SELECT #sql = #sql +'
UNION ALL
SELECT * FROM ['+name+']'
FROM sys.tables
WHERE name LIKE '%yourtable%'
SET #sql = STUFF(#sql,1,15,'')
EXEC(#sql)
Related
I thought this would be pretty straightforward, but I have about 80 databases in the server I am looking at, each database has 5-500 tables.
I am wondering how i can search for a TABLE NAME across everything. I tried a basic
SELECT
*
FROM sys.tables
but I only get 6 results.
This is a bit of a hack, but I think it should work:
sp_msforeachdb 'select ''?'' from ?.information_schema.tables where table_name=''YourTableName''';
It will output the names of the DBs that contain a table with the given name.
Here's a version using print that is a little better IMHO:
sp_msforeachdb '
if exists(select * from ?.information_schema.tables where table_name=''YourTableName'')
print ''?'' ';
The above queries are using ms_foreachdb, a stored procedure that runs a given query on all databases present on the current server.
This version uses FOR XML PATH('') instead of string concatenation, eliminates the default system databases, handles databases with non-standard names and supports a search pattern.
DECLARE #pattern NVARCHAR(128) = '%yourpattern%';
DECLARE #sql NVARCHAR(max) = STUFF((
SELECT 'union all select DatabaseName = name from ' + QUOTENAME(d.name) + '.sys.tables where name like ''' + #pattern + ''' '
FROM sys.databases d
WHERE d.database_id > 4
FOR XML path('')
), 1, 10, '');
EXEC sp_executesql #sql;
You might need to write:
select DatabaseName = name collate Latin1_General_CI_AS
I know I did.
Just because I really dislike loops I wanted to post an alternative to answers already posted that are using cursors.
This leverages dynamic sql and the sys.databases table.
declare #SQL nvarchar(max) = ''
select #SQL = #SQL + 'select DatabaseName = name from [' + name + '].sys.tables where name = ''YourTableName'' union all '
from sys.databases
set #SQL = stuff(#SQL, len(#SQL) - 9, 11, '') --removes the last UNION ALL
exec sp_executesql #SQL
Here's a bit of a simpler option using dynamic sql. This will get you the name of all tables in every database in your environment:
declare #table table (idx int identity, name varchar(max))
insert #table
select name from master.sys.databases
declare #dbname varchar(max)
declare #iterator int=1
while #iterator<=(select max(idx) from #table) begin
select #dbname=name from #table where idx=#iterator
exec('use ['+#dbname+'] select name from sys.tables')
set #iterator=#iterator+1
end
select * from #table
Dim sql As String = ("Select * from " & ComboboxDatabaseName.Text & ".sys.tables")
use this key
My table has all the column names
(There are more than 80 columns, I can't change the column names now)
in the format of '_'. Like First_Name, Last_Name,...
So i want to use select * from table instead
of using AS.
I want to select them by removing '_' in one statement. Anyway i can do it?
something like Replace(coulmnName, '_','') in select statement ?
Thanks
You can simply rename the column in your query. For example:
SELECT FIRST_NAME [First Name],
LAST_NAME [Last Name]
FROM UserTable
You can also use the AS keyword but this is optional. Also note that if you don't want to do this on every query you can use this process to create a view with renamed columns. Then you can use SELECT * the way you want to (although this is considered a bad idea for many reasons).
Best of luck!
Alternative - Map In The Client Code:
One other alternative is to do the mapping in the client code. This solution is going to depend greatly on your ORM. Most ORM's (such as LINQ or EF) will allow you to remap. If nothing else you could use AutoMapper or similar to rename the columns on the client using convention based naming.
You can't do this in a single statement unless you're using dynamic SQL. If you're just trying to generate code, you can run a query against Information_Schema and get the info you want ...
DECLARE #MaxColumns INT
DECLARE #TableName VARCHAR(20)
SET #TableName = 'Course'
SELECT #MaxColumns = MAX(ORDINAL_POSITION) FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_NAME = #TableName
SELECT Col
FROM
(
SELECT 0 Num, 'SELECT' Col
UNION
SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY TABLE_NAME ORDER BY ORDINAL_POSITION) Num, ' [' + COLUMN_NAME + '] AS [' + REPLACE(COLUMN_NAME, '_', '') + ']' + CASE WHEN ORDINAL_POSITION = #MaxColumns THEN '' ELSE ',' END
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = #TableName
UNION
SELECT #MaxColumns + 1 Num, 'FROM ' + #TableName
) s
ORDER BY num
The question intrigued me and I did find one way. It makes it happen but if you just wanted to give a lot of aliases one time in one query I wouldn't recommend it though.
First I made a stored procedure that extracts all the column names and gives them an alias without '_'.
USE [DataBase]
GO
IF OBJECT_ID('usp_AlterColumnDisplayName', 'P') IS NOT NULL
DROP PROCEDURE usp_AlterColumnDisplayName
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE usp_AlterColumnDisplayName
#TableName VARCHAR(50)
,
#ret nvarchar(MAX) OUTPUT
AS
Select #ret = #ret + [Column name]
From
(
SELECT ([name] + ' AS ' + '[' + REPLACE([name], '_', ' ') + '], ') [Column name]
FROM syscolumns
WHERE id =
(Select id
From sysobjects
Where type = 'U'
And [name] = #TableName
)
) T
GO
Then extract that string and throw it into another string with a query-structure.
Execute that and you are done.
DECLARE #out NVARCHAR(MAX), #DesiredTable VARCHAR(50), #Query NVARCHAR(MAX)
SET #out = ''
SET #DesiredTable = 'YourTable'
EXEC usp_AlterColumnDisplayName
#TableName = #DesiredTable,
#ret = #out OUTPUT
SET #out = LEFT(#out, LEN(#out)-1) --Removing trailing ', '
SET #Query = 'Select ' + #out + ' From ' + #DesiredTable + ' WHERE whatever'
EXEC sp_executesql #Query
If you just wanted to give a lot of aliases at once without sitting and typing it out for 80+ columns I would rather suggest doing that with one simple SELECT statement, like the one in the sp, or in Excel and then copy paste into your code.
I know that I can search for a term in one column in a table in t-sql by using like %termToFind%. And I know I can get all columns in a table with this:
SELECT *
FROM MyDataBaseName.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = N'MyTableName`
How can I perform a like comprparison on each of the columns of a table? I have a very large table so I can't just spell out LIKE for each column.
As always, I'll suggest xml for this (I'd suggest JSON if SQL Server had native support for it :) ). You can try to use this query, though it could perform not so well on large number of rows:
;with cte as (
select
*,
(select t.* for xml raw('data'), type) as data
from test as t
)
select *
from cte
where data.exist('data/#*[local-name() != "id" and contains(., sql:variable("#search"))]') = 1
see sql fiddle demo for more detailed example.
Important note by Alexander Fedorenko in comments: it should be understood that contains function is case-sensitive and uses xQuery default Unicode code point collation for the string comparison.
More general way would be to use dynamic SQL solution:
declare #search nvarchar(max)
declare #stmt nvarchar(max)
select #stmt = isnull(#stmt + ' or ', '') + quotename(name) + ' like #search'
from sys.columns as c
where c.[object_id] = object_id('dbo.test')
--
-- also possible
--
-- select #stmt = isnull(#stmt + ' or ', '') + quotename(column_name) + ' like #search'
-- from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
-- where TABLE_NAME = 'test'
select #stmt = 'select * from test where ' + #stmt
exec sp_executesql
#stmt = #stmt,
#params = N'#search nvarchar(max)',
#search = #search
sql fiddle demo
I'd use dynamic SQL here.
Full credit - this answer was initially posted by another user, and deleted. I think it's a good answer so I'm re-adding it.
DECLARE #sql NVARCHAR(MAX);
DECLARE #table NVARCHAR(50);
DECLARE #term NVARCHAR(50);
SET #term = '%term to find%';
SET #table = 'TableName';
SET #sql = 'SELECT * FROM ' + #table + ' WHERE '
SELECT #sql = #sql + COALESCE('CAST('+ column_name
+ ' as NVARCHAR(MAX)) like N''' + #term + ''' OR ', '')
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE [TABLE_NAME] = #table
SET #sql = #sql + ' 1 = 0'
SELECT #sql
EXEC sp_executesql #sql
The XML answer is cleaner (I prefer dynamic SQL only when necessary) but the benefit of this is that it will utilize any index you have on your table, and there is no overhead in constructing the XML CTE for querying.
In case someone is looking for PostgreSQL solution:
SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE position('your_value' IN (table_name.*)::text)>0
will select all records that have 'your_value' in any column. Didn't try this with any other database.
Unfortunately this works as combining all columns to a text string and then searches for a value in that string, so I don't know a way to make it match "whole cell" only. It will always match if any part of any cell matches 'your_value'.
After linking some SQL Server 2008 Servers / instances, I would like to do a more generic query against these servers. I know that I must specify the destiny of the query like that:
select *
from [SRV\INSTANCE].dbname.dbo.foo
But, I would run this query against more than one linked server. I know also that this select statement returns exactly the SRV\INSTANCE that I need:
select ss.name
from sys.servers ss
where ss.server_id > 0
This one, returns all servers\instances from where I want query against to.
At this scenario, all databases have the same structure, so I wanted to do something like this:
select *
from [select ss.name from sys.servers ss where ss.server_id > 0].DBNAME.dbo.foo
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
You can dynamically create SQL statement on the fly and then run that command. In this scenario in #dml variable with help += operator the whole command dynamically is created
DECLARE #dml nvarchar(max) = N''
SELECT #dml += 'UNION ALL SELECT * FROM ' + QUOTENAME(ss.name) +
'.[DBNAME].[dbo].foo '
FROM sys.servers ss
WHERE ss.server_id > 0
SELECT #dml = STUFF(#dml, 1, 10, '')
EXEC sp_executesql #dml
That requires a dynamic query, like:
declare #servers table (name sysname)
insert #servers
(name)
select name
from sys.servers
where server_id > 0
declare #query nvarchar(max) = ''
while 1=1
begin
declare #server sysname
select top 1 #server = name
from #servers
if ##rowcount = 0
break
if #query <> ''
#query = #query + ' union all ' + char(13) + char(10)
set #query = #query +
' select * from ' + quotename(#server) + '.dbname.dbo.foo ' +
char(13) + char(10)
delete #server
where name = #server
end
print #query -- For debugging
exec (#query)
I have done some work where I have had to join results from two linked servers. One of the linked servers is to a redbrick database and to make a long story short, I had to use openquery.
The approach that I used was to create temporary tables in ms sql. Then I populated them with the results from the openqueries to the linked servers and used normal tsql to put it all together.
Suppose you have a table like this:
ID FNAME LNAME
1 Bob Smith
2 Sally Jones
A simple SELECT * FROM [Table] will return all rows. But what if you wanted to build a single string out of the results, and the column names are unknown? In other words, this will not work:
SELECT ID + ',' + FNAME + ',' + LNAME FROM [Table]
because you don't know the column names. Additionally, COALESCE won't work because it doesn't accept wildcards. Ideally you want to execute something like this:
SELECT dbo.FunctionThatSplitsResultsToString(*) FROM [Table]
and have it return
1,Bob,Smith
2,Sally,Jones
Is this possible?
This is a corrected version of the answer #Igor gave. In addition to concatenating comma characters between the values, it converts NULL values to an empty string (because concatenating a string to NULL results in a NULL value).
DECLARE #sql NVARCHAR(max)='SELECT '
DECLARE #TableName NVARCHAR(max) = 'Table_Name' -- <-- Set the target table name here
SELECT #sql=#sql+N'ISNULL(CAST(' + name +' as NVARCHAR(max)), '''')+'',''+'
FROM sys.columns
WHERE object_id=OBJECT_ID(#TableName)
SELECT #sql=SUBSTRING(#sql,1,LEN(#sql)-5)+N' FROM ' + #TableName
--SELECT #sql -- uncomment to see the query string
EXEC sp_executesql #sql
As the first Igor noted, the solution is dynamic SQL. You need to construct the underlying SQL statement correctly.
The following code casts all columns to varchar() and then concatenates them together. The final form of the SQL removes the last "+" sign and adds the from statement:
declare #sql varchar(max);
select #sql = (select 'cast('+coalesce(column_name, '') + ' as varchar(255)) +'
from information_schema.columns
where table_name = <whatever>
for xml path ('')
);
select #sql = left(#sql, len(#sql - 2)) + ' from t';
exec(#sql);
I admit to being US-centric and rarely using internationalization. The whole thing also works with nvarchars().
Try the below one
GO
DECLARE #ColumnsList VARCHAR(MAX), #SelectStatement VARCHAR(MAX),#TargetTable VARCHAR(250) ,#FINALSQL NVARCHAR(MAX)
SET #TARGETTABLE ='TempData'
SELECT #ColumnsList = COALESCE( #ColumnsList+' + '','' +' ,'') + 'Cast('+ A.COLUMN_NAME + ' AS Varchar(250))'
FROM (select Column_Name from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS where TABLE_NAME= #TARGETTABLE) A
SELECT #FinalSql = 'Select ' +#ColumnsList + ' FROM ' + #TARGETTABLE
EXEC SP_EXECUTESQL #FINALSQL
GO