vba: get unique values from array

Question

Is there any built-in functionality in vba to get unique values from a one-dimensional array? What about just getting rid of duplicates?

If not, then how would I get

Answer 1

No, nothing built-in. Do it yourself:

• Instantiate a Scripting.Dictionary object
• Write a For loop over your array (be sure to use LBound() and UBound() instead of looping from 0 to x!)
• On each iteration, check Exists() on the dictionary. Add every array value (that doesn't already exist) as a key to the dictionary (use CStr() since keys must be strings as I've just learned, keys can be of any type in a Scripting.Dictionary), also store the array value itself into the dictionary.
• When done, use Keys() (or Items()) to return all values of the dictionary as a new, now unique array.
• In my tests, the Dictionary keeps original order of all added values, so the output will be ordered like the input was. I'm not sure if this is documented and reliable behavior, though.