get a number of unique values without separating values that belong to the same block of values

Question

I\'m OK with either a PL/SQL solution or an Access VBA/Excel VBA (though Access VBA is preferred over Excel VBA) one. so, PL/SQL is the first choice, Access VBA is second a

Answer 1

Not sure about your requirement but this is the best I have understood your question. First the code is sorting the data on Fax and then extracting the IDs where Fax is appearing for the the first time, even after that because of the data, there are duplicates IDs, so again sorting and removing duplicates is being done.

Sub Unique_fax()

Finding the last row so that loop can run that many times

lastrow = Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Row

Copying the data to new rows so that your original data remains intact

For i = 1 To lastrow

Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(i, 5).Value = Trim(Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(i, 1))
Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(i, 6).Value = Trim(Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(i, 2))
Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(i, 7).Value = Trim(Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(i, 3))

Next

Sorting the data based on Fax

Range("E1:G" & lastrow).Select
    Selection.Sort Key1:=Range("G1"), Order1:=xlAscending, _
                   Header:=xlNo, OrderCustom:=1, MatchCase:=False, Orientation:=xlTopToBottom

Copying the IDs where the Fax is different to a new row

x = 1
For i = 1 To lastrow
If Cells(i, 7) <> Cells(i + 1, 7) Then
Cells(x, 9) = Cells(i, 6)
x = x + 1
End If
Next

Sorting the list of IDs and removing duplicates

lastrowUnq = Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(Rows.Count, 9).End(xlUp).Row

Range("I1:I" & lastrowUnq).Select
    Selection.Sort Key1:=Range("I1"), Order1:=xlAscending, _
                   Header:=xlNo, OrderCustom:=1, MatchCase:=False, Orientation:=xlTopToBottom
y = 1
For j = 1 To lastrow
If Cells(j, 9) <> Cells(j + 1, 9) Then
Cells(y, 11) = Cells(j, 9)
y = y + 1
End If
Next

End Sub

Column - A,B,C is your original Data. Column - E,F,G is the data sorted on Fax. Column - I contains the list of IDs where Fax was unique. Column - K contains the final list of IDs(as required).