5 ways to delete duplicate

records Oracle
Posted on January 29, 2013by sqlandplsql

In Oracle there are many ways to delete

duplicate records. Note that below example
are described to just explain the different
possibilities.
Consider the EMP table with below rows
create table emp(
EMPNNO integer,
EMPNAME varchar2(20),
SALARY number);
10 Bill 2000
11 Bill 2000

12
12
12
13
14
15

Mark
Mark
Mark
Tom
Tom
Susan

3000
3000
3000
4000
5000
5000

1. Using rowid
SQL > delete from emp
where rowid not in
(select max(rowid) from emp group by
empno);
This technique can be applied to almost
scenarios. Group by operation should be on
the columns which identify the duplicates.
2. Using self-join

SQL > delete from emp e1

where rowid not in
(select max(rowid) from emp e2
where e1.empno = e2.empno );
3. Using row_number()
SQL > delete from emp where rowid in
(
select rid from
(
select rowid rid,
row_number() over(partition by empno
order by empno) rn
from emp
)
where rn > 1
);

This is another efficient way to delete

duplicates
4. Using dense_rank()
SQL > delete from emp where rowid in
(
select rid from
(
select rowid rid,
dense_rank() over(partition by empno
order by rowid) rn
from emp
)
where rn > 1
);

Here you can use both rank() and

dens_rank() since both will give unique
records when order by rowid.
5. Using group by
Consider the EMP table with below rows
10
11
12
13

Bill 2000
Bill 2000
Mark 3000
Mark 3000

SQL > delete from emp where

(empno,empname,salary) in
(
select max(empno),empname,salary from
emp

group by empname,salary
);
This technique is only applicable in few
scenarios.
Always take extra caution while deleting
records.
1. First identify the duplicates using select.
2. Double verify those are actual
duplicates or not
3. Take backup if necessary
4. Apply commit only if you are sure.