How to say removing redundancy and/or duplicate entries from a list of items?

Question

How to say removing redundancy and/or duplicate entries from a list of items with a single word?

Is this a programming question? short_list = unique(long_list); is the normal idiom. — tchrist, Apr 04 '13 at 17:44
That's too bad because uniquifying is good and proper programming slang for the process: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uniquify — Wayfaring Stranger, Apr 04 '13 at 18:40

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 04 '13 at 17:44

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To eliminate redundant duplicate data from.

answered Apr 04 '13 at 17:44

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Funny that it isn’t unduplicate. – tchrist Apr 04 '13 at 18:06
@tchrist I would speculate that this is because the data haven't been actively duplicated, rather there just happen to be duplicates. There is no act of duplication to reverse as an un- prefix would imply, perhaps. – donothingsuccessfully Apr 04 '13 at 19:15
@tchrist I appears I'm wrong about un- and de- :http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/25941/is-there-a-general-rule-for-the-prefixation-of-un-and-de-to-words – donothingsuccessfully Apr 04 '13 at 19:19

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 04 '13 at 17:44

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"Pruning" a list or database is an expression I've heard several times.

answered Apr 04 '13 at 17:44

Roberta Davies

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"Pruning" doesn't necessarily imply removing duplicates; it could also be used to describe, for example, removing old entries from a database. – Wooble Apr 04 '13 at 18:18
True! It describes removing any unwanted stuff, not necessarily duplications.
On the other hand, if my job involved going through a list or database and eliminating duplicates, I'd describe it as pruning. We're getting down to context, really.
– Roberta Davies Apr 04 '13 at 18:58

2 Answers2