Count number of NULL values in each column in SQL

Question

I am trying to write a script that will show the number of non-null values in each column as well as the total number of rows in the table.

I have found a couple ways to do this:

SELECT sum(case my_column when null then 1 else 0) "Null Values", sum(case my_column when null then 0 else 1) "Non-Null Values" FROM my_table;

and

SELECT count(*) FROM my_table WHERE my_column IS NULL UNION ALL SELECT count(*) FROM my_table WHERE my_column IS NOT NULL

But these require me to type in each column name manually. Is there a way to perform this action for each column without listing them?

Answer 1

You should use execute :

DECLARE @t nvarchar(max)
SET @t = N'SELECT '

SELECT @t = @t + 'sum(case when ' + c.name + ' is null then 1 else 0 end) "Null Values for ' + c.name + '",
                sum(case when ' + c.name + ' is null then 0 else 1 end) "Non-Null Values for ' + c.name + '",'
FROM sys.columns c 
WHERE c.object_id = object_id('my_table');

SET @t = SUBSTRING(@t, 1, LEN(@t) - 1) + ' FROM my_table;'

EXEC sp_executesql @t

Answer 2

may be this works

select count(case when Column1 is null then 1 end) as Column1NullCount,
    count(case when Column2 is null then 1 end) as Column2NullCount,
    count(case when Column3 is null then 1 end) as Column3NullCount
    ...
from My_Table

Answer 3

you can go with dynamic sql and sys tables.
depending on the version of sql you are using the syntax will change slightly but these are the steps:
- list the columns reading sys.columns and save the list in a temp table or table variable
- make a loop through that temp table and build the sql using the same logic you would apply manually
- execute the dynamic sql built on previous step with sp_executesql

Answer 4

As Paolo said, but here is an example:

DECLARE @TableName VARCHAR(512) = 'invoiceTbl';
DECLARE @SQL VARCHAR(1024);
WITH SQLText AS (
    SELECT 
        ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY c.Name) AS RowNum,
        'SELECT ''' + c.name + ''', SUM(CASE WHEN ' + c.Name + ' IS NULL THEN 1 ELSE 0 END) AS NullValues FROM ' + @TableName AS SQLRow
    FROM 
        sys.tables t 
        INNER JOIN sys.columns c ON c.object_id = t.object_id
    WHERE 
        t.name = @TableName),
Recur AS (
    SELECT
        RowNum,
        CONVERT(VARCHAR(MAX), SQLRow) AS SQLRow
    FROM
        SQLText
    WHERE
        RowNum = 1
    UNION ALL
    SELECT
        t.RowNum,
        CONVERT(VARCHAR(MAX), r.SQLRow + ' UNION ALL ' + t.SQLRow)
    FROM
        SQLText t
        INNER JOIN Recur r ON t.RowNum = r.RowNum + 1
    )
SELECT @SQL = SQLRow FROM Recur WHERE RowNum = (SELECT MAX(RowNum) FROM Recur);
EXEC(@SQL);