Running .sql file within a SQL query

You can switch management studio to sqlcmd mode (query menu) and then run a script with :r script.sql

To do this on a dynamically generated list of databases you have to do some sqlcmd trickery:

• set output to file
• generate the command to execute
• set output to stdout
• execute the file
• delete the temp file

I assume in this example that the file script.sql exists in c:\temp. Note that the GO statements are important in the script or the sqlcmd parser will get confused.

:OUT $(TEMP)\db.sql
declare @script nvarchar(max)
select @script = isnull(@script, '') 
               + 'use ' + name + char(13) + char(10) 
               + ':r c:\temp\script.sql' + char(13) + char(10) 
  from sys.databases
 where name like N'%[_]db'
print @script

GO

:OUT stdout
:r $(TEMP)\db.sql

GO

!!del $(TEMP)\db.sql /s /q

You don't need to do this in SSMS. You just need to create a CMD script.

IF you have a static set of databases to run on, then use the following:

@ECHO OFF

SET MyServer="(local)"
SET MyScript="c:\release.sql"

SQLCMD -S %MyServer% -E -i %MyScript% -d database1
SQLCMD -S %MyServer% -E -i %MyScript% -d database2
...
SQLCMD -S %MyServer% -E -i %MyScript% -d database20

IF you have a dynamic set of databases that can be queried for, then use the following:

@ECHO OFF

SET MyServer="(local)"
SET MyScript="c:\release.sql"
SET MyQuery="SET NOCOUNT ON; SELECT [Name] FROM [sys].[databases] sd WHERE sd.[name] LIKE N'%%[_]db' ORDER BY sd.[name];"

FOR /F %%B IN ('SQLCMD -h -1 -S %MyServer% -E -Q %MyQuery%') DO (
    REM remove the "echo" from the next line to run the scripts
    echo SQLCMD -S %MyServer% -E -i %MyScript% -d %%B -o results-%%B.txt
)

Using the %%B in the output filename will give you a different output file per database, as in:

results-database1_db.txt
results-database2_db.txt
...

Other notes:

• Use (local) instead of localhost when connecting to the local, default instance as it uses shared memory while localhost forces a TCP connection.

• If you are searching for an underscore in a LIKE statement, enclose it in square brackets else it is a single-character wild card (which still technically works sometimes, but could also match other characters): [_]

Thanks everyone who pitched in! The following seems like it might work (based on @srutzky's answer)

sqlcmd -S "localhost" -E -i "c:\release.sql" -d database1 -o results.txt

The thing I am missing by using a cmd prompt instead of SSMS is that I don't think I can write cursor to loop through each database that ends with "_db" and then execute against that... Here's the SQL I have but I just need to be able to put the link to the SQL file to execute.

link

If I put the release script SQL into this file into the @text variable it doesn't work because it blows up on each GO statement I have in my release.sql file.

declare @text as nvarchar(max)
set @text = N'
-- GET AND RUN SCRIPT FROM DISK!
'

declare C_CURSOR CURSOR FOR 
    select  [Name] from sys.databases 
    where   name like '%_db' 
    order by name

declare @runtext as nvarchar(max)
declare @DB_Name as nvarchar(200)

OPEN C_CURSOR
fetch next from C_CURSOR INTO @DB_Name
WHILE(@@FETCH_STATUS = 0)
BEGIN

    print @DB_Name
    set @runtext = 'select ''' + @DB_Name + ''' as DatabaseName
        use ' + @DB_Name + N'
    ' + @text

    exec sp_executesql  @runtext

    fetch next from C_CURSOR INTO @DB_Name
END

CLOSE C_CURSOR
DEALLOCATE C_CURSOR

Thanks again!

I ended up combining 2 things. I made a SQL script that creates a cursor to find the databases and then prints a list of commands for a CMD prompt. I then run that in the command prompt. Below is what we output with our sql script and then save as a .bat file that we run. It's working great!

That script is essentially created with the following SQL script:

/*** GET DATABASES IN THE CURSOR QUERY BELOW! */
declare C_CURSOR CURSOR FOR 
        select  [Name] from sys.databases 
        where   name like '%_db' 
        order by name

/* THIS IS WHERE THE CURSOR STARTS*/
declare @DB_Name as nvarchar(200)

OPEN C_CURSOR
fetch next from C_CURSOR INTO @DB_Name
WHILE(@@FETCH_STATUS = 0)
BEGIN

    print 'SQLCMD -S "localhost" -E -i "C:\release.sql" -d ' +  @DB_Name + ' -o ' +  @DB_Name + '_results.txt'

    fetch next from C_CURSOR INTO @DB_Name
END

CLOSE C_CURSOR
DEALLOCATE C_CURSOR

That outputs the following which we then run in a .bat file

SQLCMD -S "localhost" -E -i "C:\release.sql" -d database1 -o database1_results.txt
SQLCMD -S "localhost" -E -i "C:\release.sql" -d database2 -o database2_results.txt
SQLCMD -S "localhost" -E -i "C:\release.sql" -d database3 -o database3_results.txt

Thanks everyone!