How to find the usage of constant in sql server database

Question

Is there a way to search through the set of (Stored Procedures, Functions, Views) for the usage of a constant?

I have a problem where I've got a sql server database. It has quite a few stored procedures and functions declared. I'm looking for the usage of "115", which happens to be a pay code. I didn't write all of the code originally, so I'm looking for anywhere that a constant is declared, or the string "115" is used literally.

Answer 1

SQL Server 2000:

USE AdventureWorks
GO
--Option 1
SELECT DISTINCT so.name
FROM syscomments sc
INNER JOIN sysobjects so ON sc.id=so.id
WHERE sc.TEXT LIKE '%Employee%'
GO
--Option 2
SELECT DISTINCT o.name ,o.xtype
FROM syscomments c
INNER JOIN sysobjects o ON c.id=o.id
WHERE c.TEXT LIKE '%Employee%'
GO

SQL Server 2005:

USE AdventureWorks
GO
--Searching for Empoloyee table
SELECT Name
FROM sys.procedures
WHERE OBJECT_DEFINITION(OBJECT_ID) LIKE '%Employee%'
GO
--Searching for Empoloyee table and RateChangeDate column together
SELECT Name
FROM sys.procedures
WHERE OBJECT_DEFINITION(OBJECT_ID) LIKE '%Employee%'
AND OBJECT_DEFINITION(OBJECT_ID) LIKE '%RateChangeDate%'
GO

Both examples taken from:

http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2007/11/10/sql-server-2005-2000-search-string-in-stored-procedure/

Similarly:

http://www.knowdotnet.com/articles/storedprocfinds.html

with this example:

CREATE PROCEDURE Find_Text_In_SP
@StringToSearch varchar(100) 
AS 
   SET @StringToSearch = '%' +@StringToSearch + '%'
   SELECT Distinct SO.Name
   FROM sysobjects SO (NOLOCK)
   INNER JOIN syscomments SC (NOLOCK) on SO.Id = SC.ID
   AND SO.Type = 'P'
   AND SC.Text LIKE @stringtosearch
   ORDER BY SO.Name
GO

Answer 2

You can search sys.sql_modules for definition LIKE N'%115%':

SELECT sm.object_id, OBJECT_NAME(sm.object_id) AS object_name
  , o.type, o.type_desc 
FROM sys.sql_modules AS sm
JOIN sys.objects AS o ON sm.object_id = o.object_id
WHERE sm.definition LIKE N'%115%'
ORDER BY o.type;

You may get a bunch of false positives, but at least you have a starting point.

Answer 3

SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE OBJECT_DEFINITION(OBJECT_ID) LIKE '%115%'

This includes constraints etc too that are omitted in sys.sql_modules and sys.procedures