SQL: Deleting duplicate records in SQL Server

Question

I have an sql server database, that I pre-loaded with a ton of rows of data.

Unfortunately, there is no primary key in the database, and there is now duplicate information in the table. I'm not concerned about there not being a primary key, but i am concerned about there being duplicates in the database...

Any thoughts? (Forgive me for being an sql server newb)

Answer 1

Well, this is one reason why you should have a primary key on the table. What version of SQL Server? For SQL Server 2005 and above:

;WITH r AS
(
    SELECT col1, col2, col3, -- whatever columns make a "unique" row
    rn = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY col1, col2, col3 ORDER BY col1)
    FROM dbo.SomeTable
)
DELETE r WHERE rn > 1;

Then, so you don't have to do this again tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, declare a primary key on the table.

Answer 2

take a look at this.

"it is not hard to delete data that is duplicated across all columns of a table. What is harder to do is to delete data that you consider duplicate based on your business rules while SQL Server considers it unique data"

http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/dba/delete_duplicates_p1.aspx

Answer 3

Let's say your table is unique by COL1 and COL2.
Here is a way to do it:

SELECT *
FROM (SELECT COL1, COL2, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY COL1, COL2 ORDER BY COL1, COL2 ASC) AS ROWID
      FROM TABLE_NAME )T
WHERE T.ROWID > 1

The ROWID > 1 will enable you to select only the duplicated rows.

Answer 4

This article about Deleting duplicate records in SQL Server for table without primary key can help u solving the problem.