Update duplicate varchars to be unique in SQL database

Question

I need to change a database to add a unique constraint on a table column, but the VARCHAR data in it is not unique.

How can I update those duplicate records so that each value is unique by adding a sequential number at the end of the existing data?

e.g. I would like to change 'name' to 'name1', 'name2', 'name3'

Answer 1

Here are 2 examples with using the MS SQL SERVER flavor of sql.

Setup Example:

create table test (id int identity primary key, val varchar(20) )
    --id is a pk for the cursor so it can update using "where current of"

-- name a is not duplicated
-- name b is duplicated 3 times
-- name c is duplicated 2 times

insert test values('name a')
insert test values('name b')
insert test values('name c')
insert test values('name b')
insert test values('name b')
insert test values('name c')

Sql 2005\2008: ( Computed Table Expression )

begin tran; -- Computed table expressions require the statement prior to end with ;

with cte(val,row) as (

    select val, row_number() over (partition by val order by val) row
    --partiton is important. it resets the row_number on a new val
    from test 
    where val in ( -- only return values that are duplicated
        select val
        from test
        group by val
        having count(val)>1
    )
)
update cte set val = val + ltrim(str(row))
--ltrim(str(row)) = converting the int to a string and removing the padding from the str command.

select * from test

rollback

Sql 2000: (Cursor example)

begin tran

declare @row int, @last varchar(20), @current varchar(20)
set @last = ''
declare dupes cursor
    for
    select val 
    from test 
    where val in ( -- only return values that are duplicated
        select val
        from test
        group by val
        having count(val)>1
    )
    order by val

    for update of val

open dupes
fetch next from dupes into @current
while @@fetch_status = 0
begin
    --new set of dupes, like the partition by in the 2005 example
    if @last != @current
        set @row = 1

    update test
        --@last is being set during the update statement
        set val = val + ltrim(str(@row)), @last = val
        where current of dupes

    set @row = @row + 1

    fetch next from dupes into @current
end
close dupes
deallocate dupes

select * from test

rollback

I rolled back each of the updates because my script file contains both examples. This allowed me to test the functionality without resetting the rows on the table.

Answer 2

Open a cursor on the table, ordered by that column. Keep a previous value variable, initialized to null, and an index variable initialized to 0. If the current value = the previous value, increment the index and append the index to the field value. if the current value <> the previous value, reset the index to 0 and keep the field value as is. Set the previous value variable = the current value. Move on to the next row and repeat.