Delete the duplicate records of table having only one column

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Delete the duplicate records of table having only one column

Bharat21

Right there with Babe

Points: 781
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February 2, 2017 at 3:57 am
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#318543

Hi all,
Kindly suggest or share such query to me , How we can delete the rows having duplicate records
Condition; Table having only one column from the we have to delete duplicate records
Thanks
ChrisM@Work

SSC Guru

Points: 186127
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February 2, 2017 at 7:18 am
Answer
#1926326

Chris Harshman - Thursday, February 2, 2017 6:58 AM
John Mitchell-245523 - Thursday, February 2, 2017 4:05 AM
Write a CTE that numbers the rows, partitioned on the values of the single column, then delete from that CTE where the row number is greater than 1.
John
If the table in question only has 1 column, how would the DELETE know to only remove 1 of the records of the matching criteria? I think this might be a bit more complicated than that, involving some type of DELETE TOP 1... kind of expression, not sure how to make that a set based solution though. :ermm:
You mean this?
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#Clients') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #Clients; CREATE TABLE #Clients (Surname VARCHAR(30));
INSERT INTO #Clients (Surname) VALUES
('Smith'),('Smith'),('Smith'),('Smith'),
('Jones'),('Jones'),('Jones'),('Jones'),('Jones'),
('sahathevarajan'),('sahathevarajan');
SELECT Surname, rn = ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY Surname ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM #Clients;
WITH Deleter AS (SELECT Surname, rn = ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY Surname ORDER BY (SELECT NULL)) FROM #Clients)
DELETE FROM Deleter WHERE rn > 1
SELECT Surname FROM #Clients;
^{“Write the query the simplest way. If through testing it becomes clear that the performance is inadequate, consider alternative query forms.” - Gail Shaw}
For fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden
February 16, 2017 at 8:45 pm

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John Mitchell-245523 SSC Guru Points: 148809 More actions · Answer 1

Write a CTE that numbers the rows, partitioned on the values of the single column, then delete from that CTE where the row number is greater than 1.

John

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003863 More actions · Answer 2

Bharat21 - Thursday, February 2, 2017 3:57 AM
Hi all,
Kindly suggest or share such query to me , How we can delete the rows having duplicate records
Condition; Table having only one column from the we have to delete duplicate records
Thanks

What percent of the table contains duplicates?

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Chris Harshman SSC-Forever Points: 42192 More actions · Answer 3

John Mitchell-245523 - Thursday, February 2, 2017 4:05 AM
Write a CTE that numbers the rows, partitioned on the values of the single column, then delete from that CTE where the row number is greater than 1.
John

If the table in question only has 1 column, how would the DELETE know to only remove 1 of the records of the matching criteria? I think this might be a bit more complicated than that, involving some type of DELETE TOP 1... kind of expression, not sure how to make that a set based solution though. :ermm:

Chris Harshman SSC-Forever Points: 42192 More actions · Answer 4

How many rows are in the table? It might be easier to copy the data to a new table with a SELECT DISTINCT ... INTO .. and then rename the tables afterward.

John Mitchell-245523 SSC Guru Points: 148809 More actions · Answer 5

Chris Harshman - Thursday, February 2, 2017 6:58 AM
John Mitchell-245523 - Thursday, February 2, 2017 4:05 AM
Write a CTE that numbers the rows, partitioned on the values of the single column, then delete from that CTE where the row number is greater than 1.
John
If the table in question only has 1 column, how would the DELETE know to only remove 1 of the records of the matching criteria? I think this might be a bit more complicated than that, involving some type of DELETE TOP 1... kind of expression, not sure how to make that a set based solution though. :ermm:

Upon re-reading, I notice the requirement isn't totally clear, but I read it as meaning delete duplicates so that there's only one of each value left. If I'm right, my solution will work. If we're only removing one, then delete where row number is 1. If the requirement is to remove all duplicated values, use COUNT instead of ROW_NUMBER, and delete where the count is greater than 1. But as you and (I think) Jeff have suggested, it may be more efficient to move and rename (although that won't be possible if there are no DDL permissions in the database).

John

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003863 More actions · Answer 6

Chris Harshman - Thursday, February 2, 2017 6:58 AM
John Mitchell-245523 - Thursday, February 2, 2017 4:05 AM
Write a CTE that numbers the rows, partitioned on the values of the single column, then delete from that CTE where the row number is greater than 1.
John
If the table in question only has 1 column, how would the DELETE know to only remove 1 of the records of the matching criteria? I think this might be a bit more complicated than that, involving some type of DELETE TOP 1... kind of expression, not sure how to make that a set based solution though. :ermm:

It's not more complicated. It works perfectly thanks to the internal magic of CTEs and hidden row identification using RID that's associated with the return of the generated ROW_NUMBER() OVER..

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Chris Harshman SSC-Forever Points: 42192 More actions · Answer 7

" It works perfectly thanks to the internal magic of CTEs and hidden row identification using RID that's associated with the return of the generated ROW_NUMBER() OVER.."
Good to know, thanks!

Bharat21 Right there with Babe Points: 781 More actions · Answer 8

Bharat21

Right there with Babe

Points: 781

February 9, 2017 at 3:54 am

#1927471

Thanks to all

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003863 More actions · Answer 9

JasonClark - Thursday, February 16, 2017 8:45 PM
PS: Please perform delete operation within a transaction.

I have to ask "why"? One of the advantages of doing it using the good method you described is that the new de-duped data exists in a separate table. Once completed, there's no real need to protect the original table. Another advantage of your method is that you can take advantage of minimal logging. As of 2008 and provided that you have the same clustered index keys as the original table, the INSERT/SELECT will be minimally logged and won't require the duplication of reserved space like a SELECT INTO followed by a CI build would.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Jeff Atherton SSCrazy Points: 2663 More actions · Answer 10

Don't you just love it when DB designers leave out primary key or unique key constraints? If it wasn't for poor database design we wouldn't get to have so much fun with T-SQL.

Bharat21 Right there with Babe Points: 781 More actions · Answer 11

Yes, I had been wanted this.

Thanks, it's worked for me