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SQL Selection with bad data

Hi,

I have been asked to work with a query that gets a series of results which works quite well other than one table has has records with the same branch code, but a different branch text information.

for instance

65510000      5550000       Dave Wildes      273
65510000      5550000       David Wildes      273
65510000      5550001       Dave Wildes      273

The above section of results the first two records are actually the same, just someone has managed to enter the information in twice with a different way of providing the text, and the third result is correct because of the second column.

What I am after is how to get just two records back but am a little stumped at the moment so any and all help would be appreciated.

The SQL I am using to generate this result is

WITH CTE AS (
SELECT DISTINCT
  
  AF.DLR_CD				AS [Branch]				,
  AF.DLR_NM				AS [BranchText]			,		
  AF.DLR_CITY			AS [BranchTown]			,
  AF.DLR_POST_CD		AS [BranchPostalCode]
FROM tableName_af  AF
LEFT JOIN tableName_bm  BM ON BM.BRANCH_ACC_CD = SUBSTRING(AF.DLR_CD, 2, LEN(AF.DLR_CD)) -- JOINING ON A SUBSTRING DUE TO BM AND BN TABLES DO NOT HAVE THE PREFIXED NUMBER 
LEFT JOIN tableName_bn BN ON BM.BRANCH_ACC_CD = BN.BRANCH_ACC_CD AND 
							 BM.PRNCPL_ACC_CD = BN.PRNCPL_ACC_CD
WHERE 
BM.PRNCPL_ACC_CD = @MainDealer),

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I have disguised the actual data, but this is an accurate representation of the data.

If i remove branch text from this query it looks fine, however i need branch text as part of the results.

Any and all help appreciated

ste5an

Your given tabular data looks like a violation of 2NF. Thus either your model is flawed or your way you retrieve the data. As you have decided to post an incomplete and imprecise example I need to guess:

Your JOIN condition using SUBSTRING() is incorrect.

A concise and complete example contains table DDL of the involved tables - preferably as table variables - and sample data INSERT statements as runnable T-SQL script. A complete query of your query showing the wrong data. And a tabular (ASCII) view of your desired result.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Pawan Kumar

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SimonPrice3376

ASKER

I thought that was going to be the case, thank you

ste5an

I strongly disagree, Pawan..Cause when you can enter data like that, then the problem is not the data, but the model violating 2NF.