Question

I have an sql statement as follow:

    SELECT  s.sp_id,s.synopsis,s.logline,s.user_id,s.bin_status,s.sp_order,s.sp_down_count,s.sp_name,
            `users`.firstname as `firstname`,`users`.lastname as `lastname`,s.status,
            `users`.email as `email`,`users`.phone as `phone`,`users`.address1 as `address1`,
            `users`.address2 as `address2`,`users`.`r_group`, view_coverages.grade,coverages.comments  

    FROM s 
    LEFT JOIN `users` ON `users`.user_id=s.user_id  
    LEFT JOIN view_coverages ON view_coverages.sp_id=s.sp_id 
    LEFT JOIN `coverages` ON `coverages`.sp_id=s.sp_id  

    WHERE $email_filter lower(s.synopsis) like '%$search_word_fix%'
    OR lower(s.sp_name) like '%$search_word_fix%'
    OR lower(s.logline) like '%$search_word_fix%'
     OR lower(coverages.comments) like '% $search_word_fix %'
    ORDER BY view_coverages.grade DESC

when I display the results I get a lot of duplicates.
I would like to display the results of the search where s.sp_name is not duplicate.

Answer 1

You have two options:

1. Select only the unique, non-duplicate results by changing your SELECT to SELECT DISTINCT.
2. GROUP BY s.sp_name but you will need to perform an aggregate function on all of the other fields you are selecting.

As I am sure you can’t average or sum a person’s name, address, phone number, etc., you should probably just try option 1 (SELECT DISTINCT). If you have a non-unique field in your otherwise duplicate row, you will need to GROUP BY every field except the unique field; use an aggregate function (i.e., SUM, AVG, etc.) on the remaining unique field(s).