Removing Duplicate Rows

When you are working with a large data table, it is not uncommon for the table to contain what is essentially duplicate information. To process the information in the table, you may want to remove any of the rows you consider duplicate, thereby paring down the amount of information you need to process.

For instance, let's say that the first cell of each row contains a part number. What if you want to delete any rows that have duplicate part numbers in the first cell? If you need this solution, the following macro is for you:

Sub DelDupRows()
    Dim rngSrc As Range
    Dim NumRows As Integer
    Dim ThisRow As Integer
    Dim ThatRow As Integer
    Dim ThisCol As Integer
    Dim RightCol As Integer
    Dim J As Integer, K As Integer

    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    Set rngSrc = ActiveSheet.Range(ActiveWindow.Selection.Address)

    NumRows = rngSrc.Rows.Count
    ThisRow = rngSrc.Row
    ThatRow = ThisRow + NumRows - 1
    ThisCol = rngSrc.Column
    RightCol = ThisCol + rngSrc.Columns.Count - 1

    'Start wiping out duplicates
    For J = ThisRow To (ThatRow - 1)
        If Cells(J, ThisCol) > "" Then
            For K = (J + 1) To ThatRow
                If Cells(J, ThisCol) = Cells(K, ThisCol) Then
                    Cells(K, ThisCol) = ""
                End If
            Next K
        End If
    Next J

    'Remove rows with empty key cells
    For J = ThatRow To ThisRow Step -1
        If Cells(J, ThisCol) = "" Then
            Range(Cells(J, ThisCol), _
              Cells(J, RightCol)).Delete xlShiftUp
        End If
    Next J
    Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

The macro works on a selection you make before calling it. Thus, if you need to remove duplicate rows from the range D7:G85, simply select that range and then run the macro. It removes the duplicates from the range D7:D85, and then removes all rows in D7:G85 (four columns per row) for which the cell in column D is blank.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2108) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.