How I can delete a line item that contain first and last name in a file several time on different line item?

Question

62705300019623531 0000009200AR000000027283 HILL , CLAY
62705300019623531 0000009200AR000000046485 HILL , CLAY
62705300019623531 0000009200AR000000027787 HILL, DORIS M

like on the file i post i have a huge file with different duplicate names, for example i want to delete the second line item for Hill Clay even the other numbers are not duplicate , i need only the first record (line Item) and remove the are lines that contain the same first and last name. In Excel i can highlights the column and remove duplicate,it is not working for me, even when I use mark all or RegRex place? maybe I am using wrong path or formula ? please advise!

Answer 1

This is not a task for an editor, although it could be done via (python) scripting of np++.

I would rather suggest using the awk interpreter (you can download native windows executable):

Create script.awk with content:

{ name=gensub(/^[0-9A-Z]+ [0-9A-Z]+ /, "", 1) }

$1 == oldnum && name==oldname {next}

{ print $0, oldnum=$1; oldname=name}

Then run

awk -f script.awk yourfile.txt > output.txt

And let's see how it's possible within np++ using the python scripting. Assuming that the Python Script plugin and the python interpreter is installed, you can write this code selecting Plugins->Python Script->New Script (the identation levels must be kept):

from Npp import *

content = editor.getText()
newcontent = ""

oldnum=""
oldname=""
for line in content.splitlines():
    fields = line.split( None, 2)
    if fields[0] != oldnum or fields[2] != oldname:
        newcontent += line + "\n"
        oldnum = fields[0]
        oldname = fields[2]

editor.clearAll()       
editor.appendText( newcontent)

Just name it something like dedup.

Load your data file into a tab and within that tab, select Plugins->Python Scripts->Scripts->dedup ... and it should be ok now.