Hopefully there is a simple solution to this one!

I have set up a scientific database which is relatively complex in that from 15 locations, 3 plant species were studied. For each 3 plant species, 10 samples were taken. On each sample a number of different organisms were identified. The organisms were often repeated on each sample. The location name, plant species name and sample number were all combined to provide a unique name.

I now want to be able to view a list of what organisms were found on what plants, but can not get the data to another file without getting repeated data where the same organisms have occurred on the same plant types in the same locations.

I can simply delete the repeated records, but as this means that I would have to go through several thousand records individually, I'd rather not. The data will also have to be edited in the original file and would therefore like the new file to update as the changes occur.

Sorry, I find this very difficult to explain.

The filemaker 5 manual has a good script example for finding and marking duplicate records on pages 10-13 thru 10-15. It should be able to work in your situation.