How do I find a stored procedure containing <text>?

I tried above example but it was not showing more than 4000 characters then I modified it little bit and was able to get whole stored procedure definition. Please see the updated script below -

SELECT SCHEMA_NAME(O.SCHEMA_ID) [SCHEMA_NAME], O.NAME, OBJECT_DEFINITION(OBJECT_ID) TEXT
FROM SYSCOMMENTS AS C
INNER JOIN SYS.OBJECTS AS O ON C.ID = O.[OBJECT_ID]
INNER JOIN SYS.SCHEMAS AS S ON O.SCHEMA_ID = S.SCHEMA_ID
WHERE OBJECT_DEFINITION(OBJECT_ID) LIKE '%FOO%'
ORDER BY SCHEMA_NAME(O.SCHEMA_ID), O.NAME

create Procedure [dbo].[TextFinder]
(@Text varchar(500),@Type varchar(2)=NULL)
AS
BEGIN



SELECT DISTINCT o.name AS ObjectName,
CASE o.xtype

WHEN 'C' THEN 'CHECK constraint'

WHEN 'D' THEN 'Default or DEFAULT constraint'

WHEN 'F' THEN 'FOREIGN KEY constraint'

WHEN 'FN' THEN 'Scalar function'

WHEN 'IF' THEN 'In-lined table-function'

WHEN 'K' THEN 'PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE constraint'

WHEN 'L' THEN 'Log'

WHEN 'P' THEN 'Stored procedure'

WHEN 'R' THEN 'Rule'

WHEN 'RF' THEN 'Replication filter stored procedure'

WHEN 'S' THEN 'System table'

WHEN 'TF' THEN 'Table function'

WHEN 'TR' THEN 'Trigger'`enter code here`

WHEN 'U' THEN 'User table'

WHEN 'V' THEN 'View'

WHEN 'X' THEN 'Extended stored procedure'

ELSE o.xtype

END AS ObjectType,

ISNULL( p.Name, '[db]') AS Location

FROM syscomments c

INNER JOIN sysobjects o ON c.id=o.id

LEFT JOIN sysobjects p ON o.Parent_obj=p.id

WHERE c.text LIKE '%' + @Text + '%' and

o.xtype = case when @Type IS NULL then o.xtype else @Type end

ORDER BY Location, ObjectName

END

Stored Procedure for find text in SP.. {Dinesh Baskaran} Trendy Global Systems pvt ltd

create Procedure [dbo].[TextFinder]
(@Text varchar(500),@Type varchar(2)=NULL)
AS
BEGIN





SELECT DISTINCT o.name AS ObjectName,
CASE o.xtype
WHEN 'C' THEN 'CHECK constraint '
WHEN 'D' THEN 'Default or DEFAULT constraint'
WHEN 'F' THEN 'FOREIGN KEY constraint'
WHEN 'FN' THEN 'Scalar function'
WHEN 'IF' THEN 'In-lined table-function'
WHEN 'K' THEN 'PRIMARY KEY or UNIQUE constraint'
WHEN 'L' THEN 'Log'
WHEN 'P' THEN 'Stored procedure'
WHEN 'R' THEN 'Rule'
WHEN 'RF' THEN 'Replication filter stored procedure'
WHEN 'S' THEN 'System table'
WHEN 'TF' THEN 'Table function'
WHEN 'TR' THEN 'Trigger'
WHEN 'U' THEN 'User table'
WHEN 'V' THEN 'View'
WHEN 'X' THEN 'Extended stored procedure'
ELSE o.xtype
END AS ObjectType,

ISNULL( p.Name, '[db]') AS Location

FROM syscomments c

INNER JOIN sysobjects o ON c.id=o.id

LEFT JOIN sysobjects p ON o.Parent_obj=p.id

WHERE c.text LIKE '%' + @Text + '%' and

o.xtype = case when @Type IS NULL then o.xtype else @Type end


ORDER BY Location, ObjectName



END

SELECT OBJECT_NAME(id)
FROM syscomments
WHERE [text] LIKE '%Name%'
AND OBJECTPROPERTY(id, 'IsProcedure') = 1
GROUP BY OBJECT_NAME(id)

Try This .....

First ensure that you're running the query under your user credentials, and also in the right database context.

<!-- language: lang-sql -->

USE YOUR_DATABASE_NAME;

Otherwise, sys.procedures won't return anything. Now run the query as below:

<!-- language: lang-sql -->

select * from sys.procedures p
join sys.syscomments s on p.object_id = s.id
where text like '%YOUR_TEXT%';

Another option is to use INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES.ROUTINE_DEFINITION, but be aware that it only holds limited number of characters (i.e., first 4000 characters) of the routine.

<!-- language: lang-sql -->

select * from YOUR_DATABASE_NAME.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES
where ROUTINE_DEFINITION like '%YOUR_TEXT%';

I tested on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (SP1) - 10.50.2500.0 (X64)

sp_msforeachdb 'use ?;select name,''?'' from sys.procedures where object_definition(object_id) like ''%text%'''

This will search in all stored procedure of all databases. This will also work for long procedures.

I use this script. If you change your XML Comments to display as black text on a yellow background you get the effect of highlighting the text you're looking for in the xml column of the results. (Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Fonts and Colors [Display items: XML Comment]

---------------------------------------------
-------------- Start FINDTEXT ----------
---------------------------------------------

SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED
SET NOCOUNT ON
GO
DECLARE @SearchString VARCHAR(MAX)
SET @SearchString = 'the text you''re looking for'
DECLARE @OverrideSearchStringWith VARCHAR(MAX)
--#############################################################################
-- Use Escape chars in Brackets [] like [%] to find percent char.
--#############################################################################

DECLARE @ReturnLen INT
SET @ReturnLen = 50;
with lastrun
as (select DEPS.OBJECT_ID
,MAX(last_execution_time) as LastRun
from sys.dm_exec_procedure_stats DEPS
group by deps.object_id
)
SELECT OL.Type
,OBJECT_NAME(OL.Obj_ID) AS 'Name'
,LTRIM(RTRIM(REPLACE(SUBSTRING(REPLACE(OBJECT_DEFINITION(OL.Obj_ID), NCHAR(0x001F), ''), CHARINDEX(@SearchString, OBJECT_DEFINITION(OL.Obj_ID)) - @ReturnLen, @ReturnLen * 2), @SearchString, ' ***-->>' + @SearchString + '<<--*** '))) AS SourceLine
,CAST(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(CONVERT(VARCHAR(MAX), REPLACE(OBJECT_DEFINITION(OL.Obj_ID), NCHAR(0x001F), '')), '&', '(A M P)'), '<', '(L T)'), '>', '(G T)'), @SearchString, '<!-->' + @SearchString + '<-->') AS XML) AS 'Hilight Search'
,(SELECT [processing-instruction(A)] = REPLACE(OBJECT_DEFINITION(OL.Obj_ID), NCHAR(0x001F), '')
FOR
XML PATH('')
,TYPE
) AS 'code'
,Modded AS Modified
,LastRun as LastRun
FROM (SELECT CASE P.type
WHEN 'P' THEN 'Proc'
WHEN 'V' THEN 'View'
WHEN 'TR' THEN 'Trig'
ELSE 'Func'
END AS 'Type'
,P.OBJECT_ID AS OBJ_id
,P.modify_Date AS modded
,LastRun.LastRun
FROM sys.Objects P WITH (NOLOCK)
LEFT join lastrun on P.object_id = lastrun.object_id
WHERE OBJECT_DEFINITION(p.OBJECT_ID) LIKE '%' + @SearchString + '%'
AND type IN ('P', 'V', 'TR', 'FN', 'IF', 'TF')
-- AND lastrun.LastRun IS NOT null
) OL
OPTION (FAST 10)

---------------------------------------------
---------------- END -----------------
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------

Here is the union version that use Losbear made, but modified so that it also outputs the schema name:

DECLARE @SearchText varchar(1000) = 'searchtext';

SELECT DISTINCT sc.SPECIFIC_SCHEMA as 'Schema', sp.SPName as 'Name'
FROM (
(SELECT ROUTINE_NAME SPName
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES
WHERE ROUTINE_DEFINITION LIKE '%' + @SearchText + '%'
AND ROUTINE_TYPE='PROCEDURE')
UNION ALL
(SELECT OBJECT_NAME(id) SPName
FROM SYSCOMMENTS
WHERE [text] LIKE '%' + @SearchText + '%'
AND OBJECTPROPERTY(id, 'IsProcedure') = 1
GROUP BY OBJECT_NAME(id))
UNION ALL
(SELECT OBJECT_NAME(object_id) SPName
FROM sys.sql_modules
WHERE OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id, 'IsProcedure') = 1
AND definition LIKE '%' + @SearchText + '%')
) AS sp
CROSS APPLY (select SPECIFIC_SCHEMA from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES r where r.ROUTINE_NAME = sp.SPName) sc
ORDER BY 1

How to Find a Stored Procedure Containing Text or String

Many time we need to find the text or string in the stored procedure. Here is the query to find the containing text.

SELECT OBJECT_NAME(id)
FROM SYSCOMMENTS
WHERE [text] LIKE '%Text%'
AND OBJECTPROPERTY(id, 'IsProcedure') = 1
GROUP BY OBJECT_NAME(id)

For more information please check the given URL given below.

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For any SQL server newer than SQL server 2000:

SELECT object_name = OBJECT_NAME(sm.object_id), o.type_desc, sm.definition
FROM sys.sql_modules AS sm
JOIN sys.objects AS o ON sm.object_id = o.object_id
WHERE sm.definition like '%searchString%'
ORDER BY o.type, o.name, o.object_id

If someone is stuck with SQL server 2000, the table sql_modules doesn't exist, so you would use syscomments, you will get multiple records for stored procdedures larger than 4000 characters, but they will have the same **c.number** field so you can group the parts together to get the full stored procedure text:

Select o.id, c.number, o.name, c.text
from syscomments c
inner join sysobjects o on o.id = c.id
where c.encrypted = 0 and o.type = 'P'
and c.id in
(Select id from syscomments where text like '%searchtext%')
order by objecttype, o.name, o.id, c.number, c.colid