SQL Server Find and Replace Script

But the string may be embedded within the data field. If my original string is 'John' and my replacement is 'Bob', what happens when script encounters 'The boy's name is John'? Assuming it recognizes the substring 'John', won't it replace the whole thing with 'Bob'?

I agree that the script is completely over-written, but I think the main problem is that the @otxt and @ntxt parameters are blank, which means that you're effectively replacing nothing with nothing. Have you re-set those parameters correctly?

Nope, you'll get "The boy's name is Bob". The only caveat is that if you only want to replace the first occurrance of the string in the column, you'll need to do some more acrobatics, but you certainly don't need to open a cursor to do it. (If you want to see this in action, try it yourself: SELECT REPLACE('His name is John', 'John', 'Bob'))

Oops. The version I posted was the original that they sent me. The one I ran DOES have values for @otxt and @ntxt. I've updated the one online. http://number9media.com/scripts/FindAndReplace-qlinks.sql

uncleozzy's code worked. Thank you! You just put an end to a week-long nightmare.