SELECT REPLACE on every column - sql

Question

I have a table containing around 100 columns, is it to possible to do a Select Replace on every column at the same time rather than typing out each column individually, i'm trying to trim the '"' of each field in the table.
SELECT
REPLACE(*, '"', '')

Answer 1

DECLARE #tablename nvarchar(100)= 'Test'
DECLARE #col nvarchar(max)
SELECT #col = coalesce(#col + ',', 'select ' ) +
case when data_type in ('varchar', 'char','nvarchar', 'nchar') then
'replace('+column_name+' , ''"'', '''') '+' as [' + column_name + ']' else '[' + column_name + ']' end
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS a
WHERE table_name = #tablename
SET #col += ' from ' + #tablename
EXEC (#col)

Answer 2

Since you're using SQL Server, you can retrieve the names of all columns on a table using the INFORMATION_SCHEMA, e.g.
select COLUMN_NAME from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS where TABLE_NAME = 'yourTable'
You can then use a cursor to iterate over each column name, build some dynamic SQL and execute this using 'exec sp_executesql'.
Here's my solution:
declare #isString bit
declare #tableName nvarchar(256) = N'MyTableName'
declare #columnName nvarchar(max)
declare #sql nvarchar(max) = ''
declare c cursor local forward_only read_only for
select column_name, case when CHARACTER_SET_NAME is null then 0 else 1 end as IsString
from information_schema.COLUMNS WHERE table_name = #tableName
open c
fetch next from c into #columnName, #isString
set #sql = N'select '
declare #first bit = 1
while ##FETCH_STATUS = 0
begin
select #columnName
if #isString <> 0
begin
if #first = 0
begin
set #sql = #sql + ', '
end
set #sql = #sql + N'REPLACE(' + #columnName + ', ''"'', '''')'
set #first = 0
end
fetch next from c into #columnName, #isString
end
close c
deallocate c
set #sql = #sql + ' from ' + #tableName
exec sp_executesql #sql

Answer 3

Here is a recursive version:
declare #TABLE_NAME sysname = 'MyTableName'
declare #Prefix nvarchar(128) = 'REPLACE('
declare #Suffix nvarchar(128) = ', ''"'', '''')'
declare #Sql nvarchar(max)
;with Cols (TABLE_NAME, SELECT_LIST, ITERATION) as
(
select TABLE_NAME
, cast('' as nvarchar(max)) as SELECT_LIST
, 0 as ITERATION
from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
where TABLE_NAME = #TABLE_NAME
union all
select c.TABLE_NAME
, c.SELECT_LIST
+ case when len(c.SELECT_LIST) > 0 then ', ' else '' end
+ case when i.DATA_TYPE like '%char' then #Prefix else '' end
+ cast(i.COLUMN_NAME as nvarchar(128))
+ case when i.DATA_TYPE like '%char' then #Suffix + ' as ' + cast(i.COLUMN_NAME as nvarchar(128)) else '' end
, c.ITERATION + 1
from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS i
join Cols c on i.TABLE_NAME = c.TABLE_NAME
where i.ORDINAL_POSITION = c.ITERATION + 1
)
select #Sql = ('select ' + a.SELECT_LIST + ' from ' + a.TABLE_NAME)
from Cols a
join (
select TABLE_NAME, max(ITERATION) as ITERATION
from Cols
group by TABLE_NAME
) as b on a.TABLE_NAME = b.TABLE_NAME
and a.ITERATION = b.ITERATION
exec (#sql)