Backporting New ColdFusion 2025 Function listGetDuplicates()

I saw a post on Linkedin regarding the "Unlocking the Power of listGetDuplicates". I like unlocking power, so I checked it out. The new Adobe ColdFusion 2025 listgetduplicates function accepts 4 parameters: list, delimiter, ignoreCase & includeEmptyFields. A List string is required, and the default delimiter is a comma. I'm not sure what the other 2 parameters default to. The values must be boolean, so one could assume that it's false since they added language to describe what happens "if true". (Documentation should be explicit, and much of Adobe's documentation doesn't include the default values of function properties & arguments.) None of our CFML projects have been migrated to ColdFusion 2025 yet. (This will require lots of testing as we use many third-party JAVA libraries). We've been using the "anti-duplicate" version of this function since 2008, listGetDistinctValues UDF from CFLib.org. This function doesn't support "case" or automatically trim values. (I've previously extended this function to accept & return arrays.) I wondered how difficult it would be to port this new function to an old, deprecated version of ColdFusion... like 2016. Built-in functions like structnew("casesensitive") didn't exist, so that method can't be used. My workaround was to use java's hashCode() function to quickly calculate a unique-ish signed integer to aid in identify character case. Additional support for the following has been added: list: Accept a list or an array trimValues: Boolean to ensure values are properly trimmed to avoid false duplicates. (default: true) returnFirstMatch: Boolean to return the first match and retain original sort order (default: false) returnDelimiter: Character(s) returned list elements (default: the original "delimiter") returnAsArray: Return the list elements as an array (default: false) Source Code https://gist.github.com/JamoCA/103625ffdf9688b810485183db9b648f

Mar 11, 2025 - 21:14

Backporting New ColdFusion 2025 Function listGetDuplicates()

I saw a post on Linkedin regarding the "Unlocking the Power of listGetDuplicates". I like unlocking power, so I checked it out.

The new Adobe ColdFusion 2025 listgetduplicates function accepts 4 parameters: list, delimiter, ignoreCase & includeEmptyFields. A List string is required, and the default delimiter is a comma. I'm not sure what the other 2 parameters default to. The values must be boolean, so one could assume that it's false since they added language to describe what happens "if true". (Documentation should be explicit, and much of Adobe's documentation doesn't include the default values of function properties & arguments.)

None of our CFML projects have been migrated to ColdFusion 2025 yet. (This will require lots of testing as we use many third-party JAVA libraries). We've been using the "anti-duplicate" version of this function since 2008, listGetDistinctValues UDF from CFLib.org. This function doesn't support "case" or automatically trim values. (I've previously extended this function to accept & return arrays.)

I wondered how difficult it would be to port this new function to an old, deprecated version of ColdFusion... like 2016. Built-in functions like structnew("casesensitive") didn't exist, so that method can't be used. My workaround was to use java's hashCode() function to quickly calculate a unique-ish signed integer to aid in identify character case.

Additional support for the following has been added:

list: Accept a list or an array
trimValues: Boolean to ensure values are properly trimmed to avoid false duplicates. (default: true)
returnFirstMatch: Boolean to return the first match and retain original sort order (default: false)
returnDelimiter: Character(s) returned list elements (default: the original "delimiter")
returnAsArray: Return the list elements as an array (default: false)

Source Code

https://gist.github.com/JamoCA/103625ffdf9688b810485183db9b648f