Re[2]: sql question

Nigel, Your method is the best if there is a high percentage of duplicates in the table. For a low volume, I like the idea of using the tid for uniqueness. Regards David Ashby ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: sql question Author: Nigel Gall <nigelg@ppsl.com> at WCA-INET Date: 08/12/97 12:29 PM Hi! I've been watching all the responses to this, which advise selecting unique, count(*) into temp, then deleting with a subselect, and re-inserting from temp. Why can't we, to make the process simple, just: Unload all rows to a file (serves as backup if you make a mess): unload to "dupl_rows.unl" select * from mytable order by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ..., n {where n = number of columns in mytable} Run unix uniq command on file dupl_rows.unl: $ uniq dupl_rows.unl > unique_rows.unl Then delete all rows from mytable: delete from mytable Then reload from unique_rows.unl: load from "unique_rows.unl" insert into mytable Any views? Best regards, Nigel +-------------------------------------------------------------+ |Name : Edmund Nigel Gall Tel: (868) 636 3153 | |Title : Information Systems Specialist Fax: (868) 679 3770 | |Company: Process Plant Services Limited | |Address: Atlantic Avenue, Point Lisas Industrial Estate | | Point Lisas, Couva, Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. | +----- mailto:nigelg@ppsl.com ------ http://www.ppsl.com -----+