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sql-serverdatabasesp-msforeachdb

SQL Server Sp_msforeachdb query character llimitation


Recently I wrote a bigger query than I usually write and I got a SQL query error using the Sp_msforeachdb. This query is running for every database in the instance of SQL Server. In addition the query is working if I make it smaller and I noticed that the Sp_msforeachdb has a character limitation of 2000 chars.

I tried to place it first in a variable nvarchar, varchar but without any luck.

So is there any way to increase this limitation and execute my full query?


Solution

  • SQL Server Sp_msforeachdb query character without limitation

    When we write a query than is running for every database in the instance of SQL Server, we use Sp_msforeachdb.

    If your query is bigger than 2000 chars, the query cannot work because Sp_msforeachdb has a character limitation of 2000 chars.

    The solution is to re-create MySp_myforeachdb. We use sp_helptext to see the definition of sp_MSforeachdb and sp_MSforeach_worker, and we change to a new character limitation of 262144 chars.

    USE master;
    GO
    /*
     * This is the worker proc for all of the "for each" type procs.  Its function is to read the
     * next replacement name from the cursor (which returns only a single name), plug it into the
     * replacement locations for the commands, and execute them.  It assumes the cursor "hCForEach***"
     * has already been opened by its caller.
     * worker_type is a parameter that indicates whether we call this for a database (1) or for a table (0)
     */
    create proc dbo.sp_Myforeach_worker
        @command1 nvarchar(max), @replacechar nchar(1) = N'?', @command2 nvarchar(max) = null, @command3 nvarchar(max) = null, @worker_type int =1
    as
    
        create table #qtemp (   /* Temp command storage */
            qnum                int             NOT NULL,
            qchar               nvarchar(max)   COLLATE database_default NULL
        )
    
        set nocount on
        declare @name nvarchar(517), @namelen int, @q1 nvarchar(max), @q2 nvarchar(max)
       declare @q3 nvarchar(max), @q4 nvarchar(max), @q5 nvarchar(max)
        declare @q6 nvarchar(max), @q7 nvarchar(max), @q8 nvarchar(max), @q9 nvarchar(max), @q10 nvarchar(max)
        declare @cmd nvarchar(max), @replacecharindex int, @useq tinyint, @usecmd tinyint, @nextcmd nvarchar(max)
       declare @namesave nvarchar(517), @nametmp nvarchar(517), @nametmp2 nvarchar(258)
    
        declare @local_cursor cursor
        if @worker_type=1   
            set @local_cursor = hCForEachDatabase
        else
            set @local_cursor = hCForEachTable
    
        open @local_cursor
        fetch @local_cursor into @name
    
        /* Loop for each database */
        while (@@fetch_status >= 0) begin
            /* Initialize. */
    
          /* save the original dbname */
          select @namesave = @name
            select @useq = 1, @usecmd = 1, @cmd = @command1, @namelen = datalength(@name)
            while (@cmd is not null) begin      /* Generate @q* for exec() */
                /*
                 * Parse each @commandX into a single executable batch.
                 * Because the expanded form of a @commandX may be > OSQL_MAXCOLLEN_SET, we'll need to allow overflow.
                 * We also may append @commandX's (signified by '++' as first letters of next @command).
                 */
                select @replacecharindex = charindex(@replacechar, @cmd)
                while (@replacecharindex <> 0) begin
    
                /* 7.0, if name contains ' character, and the name has been single quoted in command, double all of them in dbname */
                /* if the name has not been single quoted in command, do not doulbe them */
                /* if name contains ] character, and the name has been [] quoted in command, double all of ] in dbname */
                select @name = @namesave
                select @namelen = datalength(@name)
                declare @tempindex int
                if (substring(@cmd, @replacecharindex - 1, 1) = N'''') begin
                   /* if ? is inside of '', we need to double all the ' in name */
                   select @name = REPLACE(@name, N'''', N'''''')
                end else if (substring(@cmd, @replacecharindex - 1, 1) = N'[') begin
                   /* if ? is inside of [], we need to double all the ] in name */
                   select @name = REPLACE(@name, N']', N']]')
                end else if ((@name LIKE N'%].%]') and (substring(@name, 1, 1) = N'[')) begin
                   /* ? is NOT inside of [] nor '', and the name is in [owner].[name] format, handle it */
                   /* !!! work around, when using LIKE to find string pattern, can't use '[', since LIKE operator is treating '[' as a wide char */
                   select @tempindex = charindex(N'].[', @name)
                   select @nametmp  = substring(@name, 2, @tempindex-2 )
                   select @nametmp2 = substring(@name, @tempindex+3, len(@name)-@tempindex-3 )
                   select @nametmp  = REPLACE(@nametmp, N']', N']]')
                   select @nametmp2 = REPLACE(@nametmp2, N']', N']]')
                   select @name = N'[' + @nametmp + N'].[' + @nametmp2 + ']'
                end else if ((@name LIKE N'%]') and (substring(@name, 1, 1) = N'[')) begin
                   /* ? is NOT inside of [] nor '', and the name is in [name] format, handle it */
           /* j.i.c., since we should not fall into this case */
                   /* !!! work around, when using LIKE to find string pattern, can't use '[', since LIKE operator is treating '[' as a wide char */
                   select @nametmp = substring(@name, 2, len(@name)-2 )
                   select @nametmp = REPLACE(@nametmp, N']', N']]')
                   select @name = N'[' + @nametmp + N']'
                end
                /* Get the new length */
                select @namelen = datalength(@name)
    
                /* start normal process */
                    if (datalength(@cmd) + @namelen - 1 > 262144) begin
                        /* Overflow; put preceding stuff into the temp table */
                        if (@useq > 9) begin
                            close @local_cursor
                            if @worker_type=1   
                                deallocate hCForEachDatabase
                            else
                                deallocate hCForEachTable
    
                            RAISERROR(55555, 16, 1); -- N'sp_MSforeach_worker assert failed:  command too long'
                            return 1
                        end
                        if (@replacecharindex < @namelen) begin
                            /* If this happened close to beginning, make sure expansion has enough room. */
                            /* In this case no trailing space can occur as the row ends with @name. */
                            select @nextcmd = substring(@cmd, 1, @replacecharindex)
                            select @cmd = substring(@cmd, @replacecharindex + 1, 262144)
                            select @nextcmd = stuff(@nextcmd, @replacecharindex, 1, @name)
                            select @replacecharindex = charindex(@replacechar, @cmd)
                            insert #qtemp values (@useq, @nextcmd)
                            select @useq = @useq + 1
                            continue
                        end
                        /* Move the string down and stuff() in-place. */
                        /* Because varchar columns trim trailing spaces, we may need to prepend one to the following string. */
                        /* In this case, the char to be replaced is moved over by one. */
                        insert #qtemp values (@useq, substring(@cmd, 1, @replacecharindex - 1))
                        if (substring(@cmd, @replacecharindex - 1, 1) = N' ') begin
                            select @cmd = N' ' + substring(@cmd, @replacecharindex, 262144)
                            select @replacecharindex = 2
                        end else begin
                            select @cmd = substring(@cmd, @replacecharindex, 262144)
                            select @replacecharindex = 1
                        end
                        select @useq = @useq + 1
                    end
                    select @cmd = stuff(@cmd, @replacecharindex, 1, @name)
                    select @replacecharindex = charindex(@replacechar, @cmd)
                end
    
                /* Done replacing for current @cmd.  Get the next one and see if it's to be appended. */
                select @usecmd = @usecmd + 1
                select @nextcmd = case (@usecmd) when 2 then @command2 when 3 then @command3 else null end
                if (@nextcmd is not null and substring(@nextcmd, 1, 2) = N'++') begin
                    insert #qtemp values (@useq, @cmd)
                    select @cmd = substring(@nextcmd, 3, 262144), @useq = @useq + 1
                    continue
                end
    
                /* Now exec() the generated @q*, and see if we had more commands to exec().  Continue even if errors. */
                /* Null them first as the no-result-set case won't. */
                select @q1 = null, @q2 = null, @q3 = null, @q4 = null, @q5 = null, @q6 = null, @q7 = null, @q8 = null, @q9 = null, @q10 = null
                select @q1 = qchar from #qtemp where qnum = 1
                select @q2 = qchar from #qtemp where qnum = 2
                select @q3 = qchar from #qtemp where qnum = 3
                select @q4 = qchar from #qtemp where qnum = 4
                select @q5 = qchar from #qtemp where qnum = 5
                select @q6 = qchar from #qtemp where qnum = 6
                select @q7 = qchar from #qtemp where qnum = 7
                select @q8 = qchar from #qtemp where qnum = 8
                select @q9 = qchar from #qtemp where qnum = 9
                select @q10 = qchar from #qtemp where qnum = 10
                truncate table #qtemp
                exec (@q1 + @q2 + @q3 + @q4 + @q5 + @q6 + @q7 + @q8 + @q9 + @q10 + @cmd)
                select @cmd = @nextcmd, @useq = 1
            end /* while @cmd is not null, generating @q* for exec() */
    
            /* All commands done for this name.  Go to next one. */
            fetch @local_cursor into @name
        end /* while FETCH_SUCCESS */
        close @local_cursor
        if @worker_type=1   
            deallocate hCForEachDatabase
        else
            deallocate hCForEachTable
    
        return 0
    
    GO
    
    GO
    CREATE PROC sp_Myforeachdb
     @command1 nvarchar(max), @replacechar nchar(1) = N'?', @command2 nvarchar(max) = null, @command3 nvarchar(max) = null,  
     @precommand nvarchar(max) = null, @postcommand nvarchar(max) = null
     AS
    
     set deadlock_priority low  
    
     /* This proc returns one or more rows for each accessible db, with each db defaulting to its own result set */  
     /* @precommand and @postcommand may be used to force a single result set via a temp table. */  
    
     /* Preprocessor won't replace within quotes so have to use str(). */  
     declare @inaccessible nvarchar(12), @invalidlogin nvarchar(12), @dbinaccessible nvarchar(12)  
     select @inaccessible = ltrim(str(convert(int, 0x03e0), 11))  
     select @invalidlogin = ltrim(str(convert(int, 0x40000000), 11))  
     select @dbinaccessible = N'0x80000000'  /* SQLDMODbUserProf_InaccessibleDb; the negative number doesn't work in convert() */  
    
     if (@precommand is not null)  
      exec(@precommand)  
    
     declare @origdb nvarchar(128)  
     select @origdb = db_name()  
    
     /* If it's a single user db and there's an entry for it in sysprocesses who isn't us, we can't use it. */  
       /* Create the select */  
     exec(N'declare hCForEachDatabase cursor global for select name from master.dbo.sysdatabases d ' +  
       N' where (d.status & ' + @inaccessible + N' = 0)' +  
       N' and (DATABASEPROPERTYEX(d.name, ''UserAccess'') <> ''SINGLE_USER'' and (has_dbaccess(d.name) = 1))' )  
    
     declare @retval int  
     select @retval = @@error  
     if (@retval = 0)  
      exec @retval = dbo.sp_Myforeach_worker @command1, @replacechar, @command2, @command3, 1  
    
     if (@retval = 0 and @postcommand is not null)  
      exec(@postcommand)  
    
       declare @tempdb nvarchar(258)  
       SELECT @tempdb = REPLACE(@origdb, N']', N']]')  
       exec (N'use ' + N'[' + @tempdb + N']')  
    
     return @retval  
    GO