>Hi everyone,
>
>I have an application called De-Duper, which identifies duplicates in a table based on one field or combination of few fields. Once duplicates are identified, user can review them, combine, delete, edit, etc.
>
>My colleague, who was testing this application, made a suggestion: this application should identify complete duplicates (e.g. almost all fields should be identical), then delete all duplicate records except one.
>
>I have one solution in mind, but not sure, it's the best. Besides, it would not be Rushmore optimizable, so may take a long time.
>
>Ok, here is what I have in mind:
>
>Table has a RecNum Identifier field.
>
>1) Create a list of all fields, which should be checked (comma-delimited) in a string. This part is already done.
>
>2)

lcStr='select *, count(*) as cnt_dups from BldMstr group by '+m.lcFieldList+ ;
>    ' having cnt_dups>1 into cursor curCompleteDups'
>    strtofile(m.lcStr, m.lcTempPrg)
>    compile (m.lcTempPrg)
>    do (m.lcTempPrg)
>    delete (m.lcTempPrg)
>
>3)  create similar string
>    m.lcDelStr='field1=curCompleteDups.field1 and field2=curCompleteDups.field2"...
>    lcStr='delete for '+m.lcDelStr+' and RecNum<>curCompleteDups.RecNum'
>    create a temp program and execute it.

>
> Do you think, it's feassible? Or can you suggest a better approach?
>
> Thanks in advance.

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To delete whole compelete duplicate record,

fast way is to SELECT ... group by field1, field2... fieldLast into table xxx