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Finding and Cleaning Duplicate Data
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Finding and Cleaning Duplicate Data

MediumSQL · PostgreSQL

Problem

Write a SQL query to find duplicate records in a table and explain how you would clean up this test data.

Treat rows as duplicates when every column except record_id matches, including matching NULL values. Identify all rows belonging to duplicate groups, then explain how to retain the lowest record_id and remove the other copies.

Output

  1. One row per record in a duplicate group, including record_id, duplicate-defining columns, duplicate_count, and duplicate_rank.
  2. Sort by record_id ascending.

Schema

test_records
ColumnTypeDescription
record_idPKINTUnique identifier for the test record
customer_idINTIdentifier of the customer associated with the event
event_typeVARCHAR(30)Type of customer event
event_dateDATEDate on which the event occurred
amountNUMERIC(10,2)Amount associated with the event
sourceVARCHAR(20)Originating test-data source
Tablestest_records
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