check box challenge

Hello

I have a database table say;

company(id,name, tel, fax, email)

problem is there are duplicate records eg

1,bigfoot store, 123, 321, t@t
2,bigfoot convient store, 123, 321, t@t

The two records are for the same shop.

I would like an ASP and PHP soultion that when a record is searched for by name returns a list of simillar records. It should allow a moderator to select those that are duplicate in checkboxes.

The choice is then returned to the database table. A new table is field is then added like;

company(id,name, tel, fax, email, code)

When a result of duplicate records is selected a unique identifier is given to the records so that the records can be grouped by code, so that subsequent searches are done by code, like;

1,bigfoot store, 123, 321, t@t, a1
2,bigfoot convient store, 123, 321, t@t, a1

The trouble is I have 25 different files that are constantly updated by data cature clerks with lots of duplicates and I want to group these by code without deleting any record.

If anyone can make head and tail of this problem, please assist.

regards

this isn't the best way to do it. If you want to normalize your database as they say, you should create a different table. This table would be something like this.

storecodes(StoreID, StoreCode)

and you would have things like...
1, a1
2, a1

personally though and with databases in general you want to avoid duplicates, so I would say your best solution may be in your data entry and only allowing your clerks to refer to a store in by one name.