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SQL Duplicate Cleanup
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SQL Duplicate Cleanup

MediumSQL · PostgreSQL

Problem

Write a query to find and delete duplicate records from a database table while retaining the original entry.

Use the customer_contacts table. Treat records as duplicates when they have the same customer_id, case-insensitive trimmed email, phone number, and source_system. Retain the record with the earliest created_at; use the lowest id as the tie-breaker.

Output

  1. Return each deleted record with columns id, customer_id, email, phone, source_system, and created_at.
  2. Include only records removed as duplicates.
  3. The retained original records must not be deleted.

Schema

customer_contacts
ColumnTypeDescription
idPKINTUnique contact record identifier
customer_idINTIdentifier of the customer associated with the contact
emailVARCHAR(255)Customer email address
phoneVARCHAR(30)Customer phone number
source_systemVARCHAR(50)System that created or imported the record
created_atTIMESTAMPTimestamp when the record was created
Tablescustomer_contacts
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