You could query the sys.tables database view to get out the names of the tables, and then use this query to build yourself another query to do the update on the back of that. For instance:
select 'select * from '+name from sys.tables
will give you a script that will run a select * against all the tables in the system catalog, you could alter the string in the select clause to do your update, as long as you know the column name is the same on all the tables you wish to update, so your script would look something like:
select 'update '+name+' set comments = ''(*)''+comments where comments like ''%comment to be updated%'' ' from sys.tables
You could also then predicate on the tables query to only include tables that have a name in a certain format, or are in a subset you want to create the update script for.
I've just updated my blog post to correct the error in the script that you were having Jeff, you can see the updated script here: Search all fields in SQL Server Database
As requested, here's the script in case you want it but I'd recommend reviewing the blog post as I do update it from time to time
The below Query works but very slow... copied from vyaskn.tripod.com
Declare @SearchStr nvarchar(100)
SET @SearchStr='Search String' BEGIN
CREATE TABLE #Results (ColumnName nvarchar(370), ColumnValue nvarchar(3630))
SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE @TableName nvarchar(256), @ColumnName nvarchar(128),
@SearchStr2 nvarchar(110) SET @TableName = '' SET @SearchStr2 =
QUOTENAME('%' + @SearchStr + '%','''')
WHILE @TableName IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
SET @ColumnName = ''
SET @TableName = (
SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' +
QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)) FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
WHERE
TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE'
AND QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) > @TableName
AND OBJECTPROPERTY(
OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)),
'IsMSShipped') = 0)
WHILE (@TableName IS NOT NULL) AND (@ColumnName IS NOT NULL)
BEGIN
SET @ColumnName = (
SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME))
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = PARSENAME(@TableName, 2)
AND TABLE_NAME = PARSENAME(@TableName, 1)
AND DATA_TYPE IN ('char', 'varchar', 'nchar', 'nvarchar')
AND QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME) > @ColumnName)
IF @ColumnName IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #Results
EXEC
(
'SELECT ''' + @TableName + '.' + @ColumnName + ''', LEFT(' + @ColumnName +
', 3630) FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' +
' WHERE ' + @ColumnName + ' LIKE ' + @SearchStr2
)
END
END
END
SELECT ColumnName, ColumnValue FROM #Results END
/* Reto Egeter, fullparam.wordpress.com */
DECLARE @SearchStrTableName nvarchar(255), @SearchStrColumnName nvarchar(255), @SearchStrColumnValue nvarchar(255), @SearchStrInXML bit, @FullRowResult bit, @FullRowResultRows int
SET @SearchStrColumnValue = '%searchthis%' /* use LIKE syntax */
SET @FullRowResult = 1
SET @FullRowResultRows = 3
SET @SearchStrTableName = NULL /* NULL for all tables, uses LIKE syntax */
SET @SearchStrColumnName = NULL /* NULL for all columns, uses LIKE syntax */
SET @SearchStrInXML = 0 /* Searching XML data may be slow */
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#Results') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #Results
CREATE TABLE #Results (TableName nvarchar(128), ColumnName nvarchar(128), ColumnValue nvarchar(max),ColumnType nvarchar(20))
SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE @TableName nvarchar(256) = '',@ColumnName nvarchar(128),@ColumnType nvarchar(20), @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue nvarchar(110), @QuotedSearchStrColumnName nvarchar(110)
SET @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue = QUOTENAME(@SearchStrColumnValue,'''')
DECLARE @ColumnNameTable TABLE (COLUMN_NAME nvarchar(128),DATA_TYPE nvarchar(20))
WHILE @TableName IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
SET @TableName =
(
SELECT MIN(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME))
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
WHERE TABLE_TYPE = 'BASE TABLE'
AND TABLE_NAME LIKE COALESCE(@SearchStrTableName,TABLE_NAME)
AND QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME) > @TableName
AND OBJECTPROPERTY(OBJECT_ID(QUOTENAME(TABLE_SCHEMA) + '.' + QUOTENAME(TABLE_NAME)), 'IsMSShipped') = 0
)
IF @TableName IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
DECLARE @sql VARCHAR(MAX)
SET @sql = 'SELECT QUOTENAME(COLUMN_NAME),DATA_TYPE
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = PARSENAME(''' + @TableName + ''', 2)
AND TABLE_NAME = PARSENAME(''' + @TableName + ''', 1)
AND DATA_TYPE IN (' + CASE WHEN ISNUMERIC(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(@SearchStrColumnValue,'%',''),'_',''),'[',''),']',''),'-','')) = 1 THEN '''tinyint'',''int'',''smallint'',''bigint'',''numeric'',''decimal'',''smallmoney'',''money'',' ELSE '' END + '''char'',''varchar'',''nchar'',''nvarchar'',''timestamp'',''uniqueidentifier''' + CASE @SearchStrInXML WHEN 1 THEN ',''xml''' ELSE '' END + ')
AND COLUMN_NAME LIKE COALESCE(' + CASE WHEN @SearchStrColumnName IS NULL THEN 'NULL' ELSE '''' + @SearchStrColumnName + '''' END + ',COLUMN_NAME)'
INSERT INTO @ColumnNameTable
EXEC (@sql)
WHILE EXISTS (SELECT TOP 1 COLUMN_NAME FROM @ColumnNameTable)
BEGIN
PRINT @ColumnName
SELECT TOP 1 @ColumnName = COLUMN_NAME,@ColumnType = DATA_TYPE FROM @ColumnNameTable
SET @sql = 'SELECT ''' + @TableName + ''',''' + @ColumnName + ''',' + CASE @ColumnType WHEN 'xml' THEN 'LEFT(CAST(' + @ColumnName + ' AS nvarchar(MAX)), 4096),'''
WHEN 'timestamp' THEN 'master.dbo.fn_varbintohexstr('+ @ColumnName + '),'''
ELSE 'LEFT(' + @ColumnName + ', 4096),''' END + @ColumnType + '''
FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' +
' WHERE ' + CASE @ColumnType WHEN 'xml' THEN 'CAST(' + @ColumnName + ' AS nvarchar(MAX))'
WHEN 'timestamp' THEN 'master.dbo.fn_varbintohexstr('+ @ColumnName + ')'
ELSE @ColumnName END + ' LIKE ' + @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue
INSERT INTO #Results
EXEC(@sql)
IF @@ROWCOUNT > 0 IF @FullRowResult = 1
BEGIN
SET @sql = 'SELECT TOP ' + CAST(@FullRowResultRows AS VARCHAR(3)) + ' ''' + @TableName + ''' AS [TableFound],''' + @ColumnName + ''' AS [ColumnFound],''FullRow>'' AS [FullRow>],*' +
' FROM ' + @TableName + ' (NOLOCK) ' +
' WHERE ' + CASE @ColumnType WHEN 'xml' THEN 'CAST(' + @ColumnName + ' AS nvarchar(MAX))'
WHEN 'timestamp' THEN 'master.dbo.fn_varbintohexstr('+ @ColumnName + ')'
ELSE @ColumnName END + ' LIKE ' + @QuotedSearchStrColumnValue
EXEC(@sql)
END
DELETE FROM @ColumnNameTable WHERE COLUMN_NAME = @ColumnName
END
END
END
SET NOCOUNT OFF
SELECT TableName, ColumnName, ColumnValue, ColumnType, COUNT(*) AS Count FROM #Results
GROUP BY TableName, ColumnName, ColumnValue, ColumnType