diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 38ce427..3ea542f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -121,3 +121,6 @@ dmypy.json
 
 # Pyre type checker
 .pyre/
+
+# PyCharm
+.idea
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sort_requirements/__init__.py b/sort_requirements/__init__.py
index 73c49b2..cb5af96 100644
--- a/sort_requirements/__init__.py
+++ b/sort_requirements/__init__.py
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 import re
 
 
-VERSION = (1, 3, 0)
+VERSION = (1, 4, 0)
 DEPS_RE = r"((?:#[^\n]+?\n)*)([^\n]+?)([=!~>]=)([^\\\n]+)((?:\\\n[^\\\n]+)*)"
 
 
 __version__ = ".".join(str(v) for v in VERSION)
 
 
-def sort_requirements(requirements):
+def sort_requirements(requirements, remove_duplicates=False):
+
     matches = re.findall(DEPS_RE, requirements)
     data = re.sub(DEPS_RE, "{}", requirements)
     matches = sorted(matches, key=lambda d: d[1].lower())
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/duplicates.txt b/tests/fixtures/duplicates.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e245a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fixtures/duplicates.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+bottle==1.0
+bottle==1.0
+apple!=0.2
+core~=3.1.1
+core~=3.1.1
+east>=1.0
+delta==2.0
diff --git a/tests/test_sort_requirements.py b/tests/test_sort_requirements.py
index b4c132d..f4eb781 100644
--- a/tests/test_sort_requirements.py
+++ b/tests/test_sort_requirements.py
@@ -29,3 +29,11 @@ def test_complex_file(self):
             expected = f.read()
         txt = sort_requirements(txt)
         assert txt == expected
+
+    def test_duplicates_file(self):
+        with open(os.path.join(FIXTURES_DIR, "duplicates.txt"), "r") as f:
+            txt = f.read()
+        with open(os.path.join(FIXTURES_DIR, "simple-sorted.txt"), "r") as f:
+            expected = f.read()
+        txt = sort_requirements(txt, remove_duplicates=True)
+        assert txt == expected