CFLib.org – Common Function Library Project

Description:
This UDF takes a list that may have duplicate values in it and returns only the distinct values, either using the default comma delimiter or a delimiter of the user's choice that is passed in.

Return Values:
Returns a string.

Example:

<cfset variables.list = "BO,BO,AT,DC,BO,AT,HO,DC,DC,GA,VT" />
<cfoutput>distinct values with comma: #listGetDistinctValues(variables.list)#<br /></cfoutput>

<cfset variables.list = "BO.BO.AT.DC.BO.AT.HO.DC.DC.GA.VT" />
<cfoutput>distinct values: #listGetDistinctValues(variables.list,".")#</cfoutput>

Parameters:

Full UDF Source:

/**
 * Returns a list of distinct values from a passed-in list.
 * 
 * @param theList      The list. (Required)
 * @param delimiter      List delimiter. Defaults to a comma. (Optional)
 * @return Returns a string. 
 * @author Dave Carabetta (dcarabetta@gmail.com) 
 * @version 1, February 24, 2005 
 */
function listGetDistinctValues(theList) {
    var distinctValues = "";
    var totalValues = 0;
    var i = 0;
    var currentElement = "";
    var delimiter = ",";
    
    // If the user specifies their own delimiter, use that one instead
    if (arrayLen(arguments) GT 1) delimiter = arguments[2];
    
    totalValues = listLen( theList, delimiter );
    
    // Loops over each element in the original list and appends the current
    // element if it does not already exist in the distinct values list
    for (i=1; i LTE totalValues; i=i+1) {
        currentElement = listGetAt(theList, i, delimiter);
        if (not listFind(distinctValues, currentElement, delimiter) ) {
            distinctValues = listAppend(distinctValues, currentElement, delimiter);
        }
    }
    
    return distinctValues;
}