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

SELECT ROUTINE_NAME, ROUTINE_DEFINITION
    FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES 
    WHERE ROUTINE_DEFINITION LIKE '%Foo%' 
    AND ROUTINE_TYPE='PROCEDURE'

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

SELECT OBJECT_NAME(object_id)
    FROM sys.sql_modules
    WHERE OBJECTPROPERTY(object_id, 'IsProcedure') = 1
    AND definition LIKE '%Foo%'

Grab yourself a copy of the free Red-Gate SQL Search tool and start enjoying searching in SQL Server! :-)

https://i.stack.imgur.com/qCjKb.png

It's a great and very useful tool, and YES! it's totally, absolutely FREE for any kind of use.

I took Kashif's answer and union'd all of them together. Strangely, sometimes, I found results in one of the selects but not the other. So to be safe, I run all 3 when I'm looking for something. Hope this helps:

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

SELECT DISTINCT SPName 
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 T
ORDER BY T.SPName

You can also try ApexSQL Search - trial version SSMS plug-in from ApexSQL.

https://i.stack.imgur.com/4mDyt.jpg

In case you needed schema as well:

SELECT   DISTINCT SCHEMA_NAME(o.schema_id),o.name,[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    text LIKE '%foo%'
ORDER BY  SCHEMA_NAME(o.schema_id),o.name 

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

USE YOUR_DATABASE_NAME;

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

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.

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)

SELECT ROUTINE_NAME, ROUTINE_DEFINITION 
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES 
WHERE ROUTINE_DEFINITION LIKE '%FieldName%' 
AND ROUTINE_TYPE='PROCEDURE'

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

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        

select * from sys.system_objects
where name like '%cdc%'

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.

http://www.freshcodehub.com/Article/34/how-to-find-a-stored-procedure-containing-text-or-string

SELECT * FROM sys.procedures WHERE Name LIKE '%CompanySpecialisation%'

This is what I have written in SQL 2012 to select all stored procedures where name like "CompanySpecialisation"

SELECT name FROM sys.procedures WHERE Object_definition(object_id) LIKE '%FOO%'

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

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.

SELECT s.name + '.' + o.name ProcedureName
, c.text ProcedureSteps
FROM   sys.syscomments c 
INNER JOIN
sys.objects o 
ON 
c.id = o.object_id
INNER JOIN
sys.schemas s 
ON 
o.schema_id = s.schema_id
WHERE  o.type = 'P'
AND c.text LIKE N'%XXXX%'
ORDER BY s.name + '.' + o.name
, c.colid

This query returns the name and the content of any stored procedure where "XXXX" is is referenced within the stored procedure.

This is quit usefull when finding procedures that reference a specific table/view/procedure

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 .....

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     -----------------
    ---------------------------------------------
    ---------------------------------------------

try following code:

DECLARE @SearchText NVARCHAR(2000) = N'YourText';
SELECT   DISTINCT SCHEMA_NAME(o.schema_id),o.name,[text] AS MainTextProc
FROM     sys.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    c.[text] LIKE '%'+ @SearchText +'%'
ORDER BY  SCHEMA_NAME(o.schema_id),o.[name]