Avoid displaying duplicate results in PHP from database - php

Question

I have been trying to manage duplicate data which is shown to users.
I thought I can add the varibales to arrays and use the function array_unique
I want to be able to manage the rows which contain a duplicate date and split them into different sections for example
if(duplicate.exists == true)
{
//do something to the duplicate row
}
else
{
//do something to the row which isnt a duplicate
}
I cant figure out why array_unique is not working.
Help would be appreciated, Thanks.
$result = mysqli_query($con, "SELECT *
FROM quotes order by DATE asc ");
$index1 = array();
$fact1 = array();
$newDate1 = array();
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
$index = $row['id'];
$dbdate = $row['date'];
$fact = $row['quote'];
$newDate = date("d-m-Y", strtotime($dbdate));
$index1[] = $fact;
$fact1[] = $fact;
$newDate1[] = $newDate;
}
Then have a function which loops through each array and finds out if a certain date has already exists.
for($i=0; $i<count($index1); $i++) {
echo(array_unique($newDate1));
}
else
{
}
Thats an example of the data that will be in the DB.
It's the id, fact, date example 1, fact, 2015-01-22
1 Steve Jobs unveiled the first Apple #Mac computer and changed technology forever (1984) - 2015-01-24
2 In 2011, the Urban Technology Innovation Center was launched in New York City - 2015-01-25
3 #Bebo was launched a whole decade ago today (2005), who feels old? - 2015-01-26
4 Sun Microsystems was acquired by Oracle Corporation for $7.4 bn (2010) - 2015-01-27

Answer 1

Considering you are sorting your query on date and that makes something a duplicate, all you need to do is track the last date.
$lastdate = '';
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
$dbdate = $row['date'];
if ($lastdate==$dbdate) {
//duplicate
} else {
//first or unique
}
$lastdate = $dbdate;
}

Answer 2

It can be quicker to do this in SQL
Find the duplicates
SELECT * FROM quotes GROUP BY `date` HAVING COUNT(`date`) > 1 order by DATE asc
Find the non-duplicates
SELECT * FROM quotes GROUP BY `date` HAVING COUNT(`date`) = 1 order by DATE asc

Answer 3

So as noted by the OP, he wants a way to detect duplicates and not remove them.
To detect duplicates you can use something like this, answered in another question.
I would prefer this:
function array_has_dupes($array) {
return count($array) !== count(array_unique($array));
}

Answer 4

Use SQL "count" and "group".
create table z (x varchar(100),y varchar(100));
insert into z values ('a','b');
insert into z values ('a','b');
insert into z values ('a','c');
select x,y,count(*) as count from z group by x,y;
You get values:
+------+------+-------+
| x | y | count |
+------+------+-------+
| a | b | 2 |
| a | c | 1 |
+------+------+-------+
And use it in php code.