[sql] How do I do a simple 'Find and Replace" in MsSQL?

Question is pretty self explanitory. I want to do a simple find and replace, like you would in a text editor on the data in a column of my database (which is MsSQL on MS Windows server 2003)

If you are working with SQL Server 2005 or later there is also a CLR library available at http://www.sqlsharp.com/ that provides .NET implementations of string and RegEx functions which, depending on your volume and type of data may be easier to use and in some cases the .NET string manipulation functions can be more efficient than T-SQL ones.

This pointed me in the right direction, but I have a DB that originated in MSSQL 2000 and is still using the ntext data type for the column I was replacing on. When you try to run REPLACE on that type you get this error:

Argument data type ntext is invalid for argument 1 of replace function.

The simplest fix, if your column data fits within nvarchar, is to cast the column during replace. Borrowing the code from the accepted answer:

UPDATE YourTable
SET Column1 = REPLACE(cast(Column1 as nvarchar(max)),'a','b')
WHERE Column1 LIKE '%a%'

This worked perfectly for me. Thanks to this forum post I found for the fix. Hopefully this helps someone else!

The following will find and replace a string in every database (excluding system databases) on every table on the instance you are connected to:

Simply change 'Search String' to whatever you seek and 'Replace String' with whatever you want to replace it with.

--Getting all the databases and making a cursor
DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR FOR  
SELECT name 
FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases 
WHERE name NOT IN ('master','model','msdb','tempdb')  -- exclude these databases

DECLARE @databaseName nvarchar(1000)
--opening the cursor to move over the databases in this instance
OPEN db_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @databaseName   

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0   
BEGIN
    PRINT @databaseName
    --Setting up temp table for the results of our search
    DECLARE @Results TABLE(TableName nvarchar(370), RealColumnName nvarchar(370), ColumnName nvarchar(370), ColumnValue nvarchar(3630))

    SET NOCOUNT ON

    DECLARE @SearchStr nvarchar(100), @ReplaceStr nvarchar(100), @SearchStr2 nvarchar(110)
    SET @SearchStr = 'Search String'
    SET @ReplaceStr = 'Replace String'
    SET @SearchStr2 = QUOTENAME('%' + @SearchStr + '%','''')

    DECLARE @TableName nvarchar(256), @ColumnName nvarchar(128)
    SET  @TableName = ''

    --Looping over all the tables in the database
    WHILE @TableName IS NOT NULL
    BEGIN
        DECLARE @SQL nvarchar(2000)
        SET @ColumnName = ''
        DECLARE @result NVARCHAR(256)
        SET @SQL = 'USE ' + @databaseName + '
            SELECT @result = MIN(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + ''.'' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME))
            FROM    [' + @databaseName + '].INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
            WHERE       TABLE_TYPE = ''BASE TABLE'' AND TABLE_CATALOG = ''' + @databaseName + '''
                AND QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + ''.'' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) > ''' + @TableName + '''
                AND OBJECTPROPERTY(
                        OBJECT_ID(
                            QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + ''.'' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)
                                ), ''IsMSShipped''
                                ) = 0'
        EXEC master..sp_executesql @SQL, N'@result nvarchar(256) out', @result out

        SET @TableName = @result
        PRINT @TableName

        WHILE (@TableName IS NOT NULL) AND (@ColumnName IS NOT NULL)
        BEGIN
            DECLARE @ColumnResult NVARCHAR(256)
            SET @SQL = '
                SELECT @ColumnResult = MIN(QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME))
                FROM    [' + @databaseName + '].INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
                WHERE       TABLE_SCHEMA    = PARSENAME(''[' + @databaseName + '].' + @TableName + ''', 2)
                    AND TABLE_NAME  = PARSENAME(''[' + @databaseName + '].' + @TableName + ''', 1)
                    AND DATA_TYPE IN (''char'', ''varchar'', ''nchar'', ''nvarchar'')
                    AND TABLE_CATALOG = ''' + @databaseName + '''
                    AND QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME) > ''' + @ColumnName + ''''
            PRINT @SQL
            EXEC master..sp_executesql @SQL, N'@ColumnResult nvarchar(256) out', @ColumnResult out
            SET @ColumnName = @ColumnResult 

            PRINT @ColumnName

            IF @ColumnName IS NOT NULL
            BEGIN
                INSERT INTO @Results
                EXEC
                (
                    'USE ' + @databaseName + '
                    SELECT ''' + @TableName + ''',''' + @ColumnName + ''',''' + @TableName + '.' + @ColumnName + ''', LEFT(' + @ColumnName + ', 3630) 
                    FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' +
                    ' WHERE ' + @ColumnName + ' LIKE ' + @SearchStr2
                )
            END
        END
    END

    --Declaring another temporary table
    DECLARE @time_to_update TABLE(TableName nvarchar(370), RealColumnName nvarchar(370))

    INSERT INTO @time_to_update
    SELECT TableName, RealColumnName FROM @Results GROUP BY TableName, RealColumnName

    DECLARE @MyCursor CURSOR;
    BEGIN
        DECLARE @t nvarchar(370)
        DECLARE @c nvarchar(370)
        --Looping over the search results   
        SET @MyCursor = CURSOR FOR
        SELECT TableName, RealColumnName FROM @time_to_update GROUP BY TableName, RealColumnName

        --Getting my variables from the first item
        OPEN @MyCursor 
        FETCH NEXT FROM @MyCursor 
        INTO @t, @c

        WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
        BEGIN
            -- Updating the old values with the new value
            DECLARE @sqlCommand varchar(1000)
            SET @sqlCommand = '
                USE ' + @databaseName + '
                UPDATE [' + @databaseName + '].' + @t + ' SET ' + @c + ' = REPLACE(' + @c + ', ''' + @SearchStr + ''', ''' + @ReplaceStr + ''') 
                WHERE ' + @c + ' LIKE ''' + @SearchStr2 + ''''
            PRINT @sqlCommand
            BEGIN TRY
                EXEC (@sqlCommand)
            END TRY
            BEGIN CATCH
                PRINT ERROR_MESSAGE()
            END CATCH

            --Getting next row values
            FETCH NEXT FROM @MyCursor 
            INTO @t, @c 
        END;

        CLOSE @MyCursor ;
        DEALLOCATE @MyCursor;
    END;

    DELETE FROM @time_to_update
    DELETE FROM @Results

    FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @databaseName
END   

CLOSE db_cursor   
DEALLOCATE db_cursor

Note: this isn't ideal, nor is it optimized

like so:

BEGIN TRANSACTION; 
UPDATE table_name
  SET column_name=REPLACE(column_name,'text_to_find','replace_with_this'); 
COMMIT TRANSACTION;

Example: Replaces <script... with <a ... to eliminate javascript vulnerabilities

BEGIN TRANSACTION; UPDATE testdb
SET title=REPLACE(title,'script','a'); COMMIT TRANSACTION;