>Is there a simple way to find all duplicate records for a certain set of fields in a table and then mark one field as duplicate to indicate them.
>
>Or does one usually create some sort of cursor and handle it with indexes and record type processing?

Terry,

Create a temp table indentical to the table you are trying to remove duplicates from:

CREATE TABLE #tablenodups
(field1 int...)

Then, create a unique index on the fields in question....

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX removedups ON #tablenodups (field1,...) WITH IGNORE_DUP_KEY

Then, insert all the records from your table into your temp table...

INSERT #tablenodups
SELECT * from mytablewithdups

ANyrows that don't meet the index will be rejected, but the insert will continue due to the WITH IGNORE_DUP_LEY hint.

BTW: This method comes from Guru's Guide to T-SQL, so I can't take credit for it.

BOb