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  5. Remove Duplicates

(AI Studio Core)

Synopsis

This operator removes duplicate examples from an ExampleSet by comparing all examples with each other on the basis of the specified attributes. Two examples are considered duplicate if the selected attributes have the same values in them.

Description

The Remove Duplicates operator removes duplicate examples from an ExampleSet by comparing all examples with each other on the basis of the specified attributes. This operator removes duplicate examples such that only one of all the duplicate examples is kept. Two examples are considered duplicate if the selected attributes have the same values in them. Attributes can be selected from the attribute filter type parameter and other associated parameters. Suppose two attributes 'att1' and 'att2' are selected and 'att1' and 'att2' have three and two possible values respectively. Thus there are total 6 (i.e. 3 x 2) unique combinations of these two attribute. Thus the resultant ExampleSet can have 6 examples at most. This operator works on all attribute types.

Input

  • example set input (Data table)

    This input port expects an ExampleSet. It is the output of the Retrieve operator in the attached Example Process. The output of other operators can also be used as input.

Output

  • example set output (Data table)

    The duplicate examples are removed from the given ExampleSet and the resultant ExampleSet is delivered through this port.

  • original (Data table)

    The ExampleSet that was given as input is passed without changing to the output through this port. This is usually used to reuse the same ExampleSet in further operators or to view the ExampleSet in the Results Workspace.

  • duplicates (Data table)

    The duplicated examples from the given ExampleSet are delivered through this port.

Parameters

  • attribute filter typeThis parameter allows you to select the attribute selection filter; the method you want to use for selecting the required attributes. It has the following options:
    • all: This option simply selects all the attributes of the ExampleSet. This is the default option.
    • single: This option allows selection of a single attribute. When this option is selected another parameter (attribute) becomes visible in the Parameters panel.
    • subset: This option allows selection of multiple attributes through a list. All attributes of the ExampleSet are present in the list; required attributes can be easily selected. This option will not work if the meta data is not known. When this option is selected another parameter becomes visible in the Parameters panel.
    • regular expression: This option allows you to specify a regular expression for attribute selection. When this option is selected some other parameters (regular expression, use except expression) become visible in the Parameters panel.
    • value type: This option allows selection of all the attributes of a particular type. It should be noted that types are hierarchical. For example real and integer types both belong to numeric type. Users should have a basic understanding of type hierarchy when selecting attributes through this option. When this option is selected some other parameters (value type, use value type exception) become visible in the Parameters panel.
    • block type: This option is similar in working to the value type option. This option allows selection of all the attributes of a particular block type. When this option is selected some other parameters (block type, use block type exception) become visible in the Parameters panel.
    • no missing values: This option simply selects all the attributes of the ExampleSet which don't contain a missing value in any example. Attributes that have even a single missing value are removed.
    • numeric value filter: When this option is selected another parameter (numeric condition) becomes visible in the Parameters panel. All numeric attributes whose examples all satisfy the mentioned numeric condition are selected. Please note that all nominal attributes are also selected irrespective of the given numerical condition.
  • attributeThe desired attribute can be selected from this option. The attribute name can be selected from the drop down box of attribute parameter if the meta data is known.
  • attributesThe required attributes can be selected from this option. This opens a new window with two lists. All attributes are present in the left list and can be shifted to the right list which is the list of selected attributes on which the conversion from nominal to numeric will take place; all other attributes will remain unchanged.
  • regular expressionThe attributes whose name matches this expression will be selected. Regular expression is a very powerful tool but needs a detailed explanation to beginners. It is always good to specify the regular expression through the edit and preview regular expression menu. This menu gives a good idea of regular expressions. This menu also allows you to try different expressions and preview the results simultaneously. This will enhance your concept of regular expressions.
  • use except expressionIf enabled, an exception to the selected type can be specified. When this option is selected another parameter (except value type) becomes visible in the Parameters panel.
  • except regular expressionThis option allows you to specify a regular expression. Attributes matching this expression will be filtered out even if they match the first expression (expression that was specified in the regular expression parameter).
  • value typeThe type of attributes to be selected can be chosen from a drop down list. One of the following types can be chosen: nominal, text, binominal, polynominal, file_path.
  • use value type exception If enabled, an exception to the selected type can be specified. When this option is selected another parameter (except value type) becomes visible in the Parameters panel.
  • except value typeThe attributes matching this type will be removed from the final output even if they matched the previously mentioned type i.e. value type parameter's value. One of the following types can be selected here: nominal, text, binominal, polynominal, file_path.
  • block typeThe block type of attributes to be selected can be chosen from a drop down list. The only possible value here is 'single_value'
  • use block type exceptionIf enabled, an exception to the selected block type can be specified. When this option is selected another parameter (except block type) becomes visible in the Parameters panel.
  • except block typeThe attributes matching this block type will be removed from the final output even if they matched the previously mentioned block type.
  • numeric conditionThe numeric condition for testing examples of numeric attributes is specified here. For example the numeric condition '> 6' will keep all nominal attributes and all numeric attributes having a value of greater than 6 in every example. A combination of conditions is possible: '> 6 && < 11' or '<= 5 || < 0'. But && and || cannot be used together in one numeric condition. Conditions like '(> 0 && < 2) || (>10 && < 12)' are not allowed because they use both && and ||. Use a blank space after '>', '=' and '<' e.g. '<5' will not work, so use '< 5' instead.
  • include special attributesThe special attributes are attributes with special roles which identify the examples. In contrast regular attributes simply describe the examples. Special attributes are: id, label, prediction, cluster, weight and batch.
  • invert selectionIf this parameter is set to true, it acts as a NOT gate, it reverses the selection. In that case all the selected attributes are unselected and previously unselected attributes are selected. For example if attribute 'att1' is selected and attribute 'att2' is unselected prior to checking of this parameter. After checking of this parameter 'att1' will be unselected and 'att2' will be selected.
  • treat missing values as duplicatesThis parameter specifies if missing values should be treated as duplicates or not. If set to true, missing values are considered as duplicate values.

Tutorial Processes

Removing duplicate values from the Golf data set on the basis of the Outlook and Wind attributes

The 'Golf' data set is loaded using the Retrieve operator. A breakpoint is inserted here so that you can have a look at the ExampleSet. You can see that the Outlook attribute has three possible values i.e. 'sunny', 'rain' and 'overcast'. The Wind attribute has two possible values i.e. 'true' and 'false'. The Remove Duplicates operator is applied on this ExampleSet to remove duplicate examples on the basis of the Outlook and Wind attributes. The attribute filter type parameter is set to 'value type' and the value type parameter is set to 'nominal', thus two examples that have same values in their Outlook and Wind attributes are considered as duplicate. Note that the Play attribute is not selected although its value type is nominal because it is a special attribute (because it has label role). To select attributes with special roles the include special attributes parameter should be set to true. The Outlook and Wind attributes have 3 and 2 possible values respectively. Thus the resultant ExampleSet will have 6 examples at most i.e. one example for each possible combination of attribute values. You can see the resultant ExampleSet in the Results Workspace. You can see that it has 6 examples and all examples have a different combination of the Outlook and Wind attribute values.

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