mySQL dedup

dedup.sql

/*********************************************************************************************
Remove duplicate entries / rows a mySQL database table
Credit To: 
http://www.justin-cook.com/wp/2006/12/12/remove-duplicate-entries-rows-a-mysql-database-table/
**********************************************************************************************/

/**************************************************************************
Step 1: Move the non duplicates (unique tuples) into a temporary table
***************************************************************************/
CREATE TABLE new_table LIKE old_table; 
INSERT new_table SELECT * FROM old_table WHERE 1 GROUP BY [column to remove duplicates by];
/**************************************************************************
Step 2: delete delete the old table
We no longer need the table with all the duplicate entries, so drop it!
***************************************************************************/

DROP TABLE old_table;
/**************************************************************************
Step 3: rename the new_table to the name of the old_table
***************************************************************************/

RENAME TABLE new_table TO old_table;