How to remove Duplicate Lines in Visual Studio Code

# How to remove Duplicate Lines in Visual Studio Code

To remove the duplicate lines in Visual Studio Code:

1. Select the text.
2. Press:

• Ctrl + Shift + P on Windows and Linux
• Command + Shift + P on macOS

3. Type Delete Duplicate Lines and select the option.

Here is a short clip that demonstrates the process.

Make sure to select the text prior to running the Delete Duplicate Lines command, otherwise it does nothing.

# Setting a keyboard shortcut for the Delete Duplicate lines command

If you need to set a keyboard shortcut for the Delete Duplicate lines command:

1. Press:

• Ctrl + Shift + P on Windows and Linux.
• Command + Shift + P on macOS.

2. Type Keyboard Shortcuts and select Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts.

3. Search for remove duplicate lines and double-click on the option.

You can also click on the plus icon to add a keyboard shortcut.

4. Specify a key combination and press Enter to confirm.

For example, I've bound the command to Ctrl + F4.

Here is a short clip in which I use the custom keyboard shortcut.

# Remove duplicate lines in VS Code if the order is not important

You can also use a regular expression to remove the duplicate lines.

The following example assumes that the order of the lines in the file is not important.

1. If the lines in the file are not already sorted alphabetically, sort them:

First, select the lines.

Then, press:

• Ctrl + Shift + P on Windows and Linux
• Command + Shift + P on macOS

Type sort lines and select Sort Lines Ascending.

Here is a short clip that demonstrates the process.

2. Press Ctrl + F on Windows and Linux or Cmd + F on macOS to show the search field.

3. Type the following regular expression in the Find field - ^(.*)(\n\1)+$.

Copied!
^(.*)(\n\1)+$

4. Click on the arrow to expand the Replace field and enable regular expression search by clicking on the . * button.

5. Type $1 in the Replace field.

Copied!
$1

6. Click on the Replace All button.

Here is a short clip that demonstrates the process.

# Remove duplicate lines in VS Code if the order is important

If you need to remove the duplicate lines and the order of lines is important:

1. Press Ctrl + F on Windows and Linux or Cmd + F on macOS to show the search field.

2. Click on the arrow to expand the Replace field and enable regular expression search by clicking on the . * button.

3. Paste the following regular expression in the Find field - ((^[^\S$]*?(?=\S)(?:.*)+$)[\S\s]*?)^\2$(?:\n)?.

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((^[^\S$]*?(?=\S)(?:.*)+$)[\S\s]*?)^\2$(?:\n)?

5. Type $1 in the Replace field.

Copied!
$1

6. Click on the Replace All button.

You'll know that all duplicate lines have been replaced when the regex has no matches and the text No results is shown.

Here is a short clip that demonstrates the process.

This approach removes the duplicate lines and preserves the order.

I've also written an article on how to remove the trailing spaces automatically in VS Code

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

• How to Duplicate a Line or a Selection in VS Code
• How to show a Function/Method List in Visual Studio Code
• Remove unused imports and sort imports in VS Code
• VS Code: Sort Lines and JSON object properties
• How to Show and Set Line endings in Visual Studio Code
• How to render Whitespace Characters in Visual Studio Code
• VS Code: Replace Double quotes with Single or vice versa
• How to change the File Encoding in Visual Studio Code
• VS Code Prettier: Remove semicolon or trailing comma
• Relative Line Numbers in Visual Studio Code