Excel unique value query - excel

Question

I'm not very experienced with excel -- I'm much more of a c# guy -- was hoping some of the excel gurus could help me out here!
Basically I have a spreadsheet that has only one column of text data (column a). I need to query this list of data.
I will be needing to basically copy in some more text data into another column (let's say column b), and then filter out the records in column b that are already present somewhere in column a, leaving me with only the unique records that are in column b, but not column a.
I've tried using the advanced filter but can't seem to get it to work. Any tips or advice on how I can do this would be great.
Thanks

Answer 1

You can filter your data dynamically, say into column C with formulas like
=IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(B1,A:A,1,FALSE)),B1,"")
And then filter non-empty cells in column C
Otherwise this simple macro will clear the duplicates in place
Sub FilterDuplicates()
Dim r As Range
For Each r In ActiveSheet.Columns("B").Cells
If r.Value <> "" Then
On Error Resume Next
WorksheetFunction.VLookup r, ActiveSheet.Columns("A"), 1, False
If Err.Number = 0 Then r.ClearContents
On Error GoTo 0
End If
Next r
End Sub

Answer 2

This should do what you need. It looks for each value in column B in column A and deletes the cell if it finds a match. Run the code after you've pasted your data into column B. Note that it doesn't remove duplicates from column B, it just removes any values from column B that are in column A. To remove dupes from column B, select the column and choose Remove Duplicates from the Data tab.
You'll need to add a module to the workbook and insert the following code in the module:
code:
Option Explicit
Sub RemoveMatchesFromColumn()
On Error Resume Next
Dim LastRow As Long
Dim SearchText As String
Dim MatchFound As String
LastRow = Range("b" & ActiveSheet.Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
SearchText = Range("b" & LastRow).Value
Do Until LastRow = 0
MatchFound = Find_Range(SearchText, Columns("A")).Value
If SearchText = MatchFound Then
Range("b" & LastRow).Delete Shift:=xlUp
End If
LastRow = LastRow - 1
SearchText = Range("b" & LastRow).Value
Loop
End Sub
Function Find_Range(Find_Item As Variant, _
Search_Range As Range, _
Optional LookIn As Variant, _
Optional LookAt As Variant, _
Optional MatchCase As Boolean) As Range
' Function written by Aaron Blood
' http://www.ozgrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27240
Dim c As Range
Dim firstAddress As Variant
If IsMissing(LookIn) Then LookIn = xlValues 'xlFormulas
If IsMissing(LookAt) Then LookAt = xlPart 'xlWhole
If IsMissing(MatchCase) Then MatchCase = False
With Search_Range
Set c = .Find( _
What:=Find_Item, _
LookIn:=LookIn, _
LookAt:=LookAt, _
SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _
SearchDirection:=xlNext, _
MatchCase:=MatchCase, _
SearchFormat:=False)
If Not c Is Nothing Then
Set Find_Range = c
firstAddress = c.Address
Do
Set Find_Range = Union(Find_Range, c)
Set c = .FindNext(c)
Loop While Not c Is Nothing And c.Address <> firstAddress
End If
End With
End Function
Run the sub RemoveMatchesFromColumn. You can step into it to see what it's doing F8 or run it with F5.

Answer 3

NON VBA METHOD
Put this formula in Cell C1
=IF(VLOOKUP(B1,A:A,1,0)=B1,"DELETE ME","")
Drag it till the end. and then filter the data on Col C for DELETE ME And then delete the duplicate data.
VBA METHOD
Option Explicit
Sub Sample()
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim lRow As Long, i As Long
Dim delRange As Range, aCell As Range
Set ws = Sheets("Sheet1")
With ws
lRow = .Range("B" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
For i = 1 To lRow
Set aCell = .Columns(1).Find(What:=.Range("B" & i).Value, _
LookIn:=xlValues, LookAt:=xlWhole, _
SearchOrder:=xlByRows, SearchDirection:=xlNext, _
MatchCase:=False, SearchFormat:=False)
If Not aCell Is Nothing Then
If delRange Is Nothing Then
Set delRange = .Range("B" & i)
Else
Set delRange = Union(delRange, .Range("B" & i))
End If
End If
Next i
If Not delRange Is Nothing Then delRange.Delete shift:=xlUp
End With
End Sub