how to avoid duplicate entry of first and last names

avoid duplicate entry of first and last names

[nofia]

i have a project where i have to enter many names into my database, from many different reports
i have a table with a fname,lname and state column
i have no problem entering first and last names,

i hit submit and post to a php page that inserts the info into my table

WHAT I WANT TO BE ABLE TO DO IS
before i insert my names into my table is check to see if this combination of first and last name is already there, this way i can avoid entering the same person twice.

i understand that i may have more than one joe smith but i want to check to see before i insert if its the person who is already in the db without manually looking up each person in the db and comparing it to the reports, i want my db to do the checking for me

any suggestions
thanks
jd

[nofia]

i did a search on the site and found a solution
i love this site
jd

[dreamcatcher]

Hi nofia,

Glad you found what you were after. Sometimes people overlook a search. We are happy to have you here, hope you enjoy posting.

dc