How to delete duplicate rows from a MySQL table
I have a MySQL
table like:
ID, Col1, Col2, Col3, Col4, etc...
ID is a primary key
and has been working since the table's creation.
What I want to do is delete all but one records where all the other columns are identical.
Solution 1:
DELETE DupRows.*
FROM MyTable AS DupRows
INNER JOIN (
SELECT MIN(ID) AS minId, col1, col2
FROM MyTable
GROUP BY col1, col2
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1
) AS SaveRows ON SaveRows.col1 = DupRows.col1 AND SaveRows.col2 = DupRows.col2
AND SaveRows.minId <> DupRows.ID;
Of course you have to extend col1, col2 in all three places to all columns.
Edit: I just pulled this out of a script I keep and re-tested, it executes in MySQL.
Solution 2:
RENAME TABLE [table w/ duplicates] TO [temporary table name]
Create an identical table with the original table name which contained the duplicates.
INSERT INTO [new table] SELECT DISTINCT * FROM [old table with duplicates]
Delete the temporary tables.
Solution 3:
Without nested selects or temporary tables.
DELETE t1
FROM table_name t1, table_name t2
WHERE
(t1.Col1 = t2.Col1 OR t1.Col1 IS NULL AND t2.Col1 IS NULL)
AND (t1.Col2 = t2.Col2 OR t1.Col2 IS NULL AND t2.Col2 IS NULL)
AND (t1.Col3 = t2.Col3 OR t1.Col3 IS NULL AND t2.Col3 IS NULL)
AND (t1.Col4 = t2.Col4 OR t1.Col4 IS NULL AND t2.Col4 IS NULL)
...
AND t1.ID < t2.ID;