Definition query to remove duplicate field values?

Question

Is there a way of adding a definition query to a layer, to remove features that have a duplicate field value in the table?

I routinely have an FC with a table added to the layout, where some feature attributes are identical and don't need to be visible in the table. I don't want to delete the feature, but I also don't want duplicate rows in the table, so could point the table to a version of the layer with duplicates queried out, but don't know how to do this. Any ideas?

JoshuaBixby · Answer

Depending on the back-end DBMS, you can do subqueries in definition queries that would be able to do what the OP asks.  The issue is it would be a performance killer, and would make the layer slow for anything but the smallest of data sets.

curtvprice · Answer

Nope, Remove Identical deletes records -- I always run it on a copy, just in case...

jcarlson · Answer

Oh, a good query layer is always a nice solution. Can you use Remove Identical without modifying the input layer? That sounds like it could be a good route, too.