There are several ways to look for a column in your SQL Server database.

Alternative 1: INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS (T-SQL)

DECLARE @colName NVARCHAR(30)
SET @colName = 'name'

SELECT
	TABLE_CATALOG	AS 'Database',
	TABLE_SCHEMA	AS 'Schema',
	TABLE_NAME		AS 'Table',
	COLUMN_NAME		AS 'Column'
FROM
	INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE
	COLUMN_NAME LIKE '%' + @colName + '%'

Alternative 2: sys.columns (T-SQL)

SELECT
	sys.tables.name		AS 'Table',
	sys.columns.name	AS 'Column'
FROM
	sys.columns
	INNER JOIN sys.tables
	ON sys.tables.object_id = sys.columns.object_id
WHERE
	sys.columns.name LIKE '%' + @colName + '%'

Alternative 3: Object Search (SSMS)

In SQL Server 2000, there was an “Object Search” tool in Query Analyzer to search for objects.

To get to this tool in SQL Server 2000, either
- Go to Tools > Object Search, or
- Press F4

Unfortunately this was removed in SQL Server 2005.

But back again in SQL Server 2008:
- Go to View > Object Explorer Details
- Type object name in the Search bar
- Press Enter to Search

Yay!

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