Delete Identical (Data Management)

Summary

Deletes records in a feature class or table which have identical values in a list of fields. If the field Shape is selected, feature geometries are compared.

The Find Identical tool can be used to report which records are considered identical without deleting the identical records.

Usage

Caution:

This tool modifies the input data. See Tools with no outputs for more information and strategies to avoid undesired data changes.

• This tool finds identical records based on input field values, then deletes all but one of the identical records from each set of identical records. The values from multiple fields in the input dataset can be compared. If more than one field is specified, records are matched by the values in the first field, then by the values of the second field, and so on.

• With feature class or feature layer input, select the field Shape in the Field(s) parameter to compare feature geometries to find identical features by location. XY Tolerance and Z Tolerance parameters are only valid when Shape is selected as one of the input fields.

Syntax

DeleteIdentical_management (in_dataset, fields, {xy_tolerance}, {z_tolerance})

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
in_dataset	The table or feature class that will have its identical records deleted.	Table View
fields [fields,...]	The field or fields whose values will be compared to find identical records.	Field
xy_tolerance (Optional)	The xy tolerance that will be applied to each vertex when evaluating if there is an identical vertex in another feature.	Linear unit
z_tolerance (Optional)	The z tolerance that will be applied to each vertex when evaluating if there is an identical vertex in another feature.	Double

Code Sample

DeleteIdentical example 1 (Python window)

The following Python window script demonstrates how to use the DeleteIdentical function in a Python window.

import arcpy

arcpy.DeleteIdentical_management("C:/data/fireincidents.shp", ["ZONE", "INTENSITY"])

DeleteIdentical example 2 (stand-alone script)

The following stand-alone script demonstrates how to use the DeleteIdentical function to identify duplicate records of a table or feature class.

# Name: DeleteIdentical_Example2.py
# Description: Delete identical features in a dataset based on Shape (geometry) and a TEXT field.


# Import system modules
import arcpy
from arcpy import env

env.overwriteOutput = True

# Set workspace environment
env.workspace = "C:/data/sbfire.gdb"

# Set input feature class
in_dataset = "fireincidents"

# Set the field upon which the identicals are found
fields = ["Shape", "INTENSITY"]

# Set the XY tolerance within which to identical records to be deleted
xy_tol = "0.02 Miles"

# Set the Z tolerance to default
z_tol = ""

# Execute Delete Identical 
arcpy.DeleteIdentical_management(in_dataset, fields, xy_tol, z_tol)

Environments

Current Workspace, Maintain Spatial Index

Licensing Information

ArcView: No

ArcEditor: No

ArcInfo: Yes