How to Search for Stored Procedures Containing Specific Text Including Special Characters in SQL Server?

Finding Stored Procedures Containing Specific Text, Including Special Characters

Searching for specific text within SQL Server stored procedures can be tricky, particularly when that text includes special characters like square brackets.

The Challenge:

Imagine needing to find all stored procedures containing the string "[ABD]". A naive approach using LIKE might look like this:

<code class="language-sql">SELECT DISTINCT o.name AS Object_Name, o.type_desc
FROM sys.sql_modules m
INNER JOIN sys.objects o ON m.object_id = o.object_id
WHERE m.definition LIKE '%[ABD]%';</code>

This fails because LIKE interprets square brackets as wildcard characters, rendering the search inaccurate.

The Solution:

The key is to escape the special characters. SQL Server uses the backslash () as the escape character. Here's the corrected query:

<code class="language-sql">SELECT DISTINCT o.name AS Object_Name, o.type_desc
FROM sys.sql_modules m
INNER JOIN sys.objects o ON m.object_id = o.object_id
WHERE m.definition LIKE '%\[ABD\]%' ESCAPE '\';</code>

The ESCAPE '' clause tells LIKE to treat any character preceded by a backslash as a literal character, not a wildcard. This ensures the search accurately identifies stored procedures containing the exact string "[ABD]". This method effectively handles other special characters within stored procedure definitions, providing accurate search results.

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