Avoiding duplicate entries

[dotty]

I have a table with lots of data and want to import lots more but need to check for duplicates on import. The table won't accept changing a field to 'unique' as there are already lots of duplications.

So for the new material which I will be importing in csv format, does anyone know of another way to check for duplicates?

thanks

[thorpe]

run a SELECT query before your INSERT, if mysql_num_rows returns > 0, then you have a duplicate.