finally, a node that i can help with *grin*
i'm assuming that there is no header row
in your text files
we will also assume you want to return columns
6, 12, and 18

while(<>){  # read through each file specified on the command line one
+ line at a time
    my @temp = split(',',$_); # take that one line and split it into a
+n array determined by the commas
    my ($section,$value1,$value2) = ($temp[6],$temp[12],$temp[18]); # 
+set names to specific spots for readability
    $section =~ s/\"//g; # remove the ", you may have to remove 'g' to
+ make this work
    $value1 =~ s/\"//g;  # it's off the top of my head ;)
    $value2 =~ s/\"//g;

    $ALLDATA{$section} = push [($value1,$value2)]; #put an array of tw
+o numbers into an array those 
 
} # end while<>

foreach my $key (sort keys %ALLDATA) { # go through each section (in o
+rder)
        print "$key\n";
        foreach my $array (@{$ALLDATA{$key}}) { 
               print "\t";
               foreach my $value (@{$ALLDATA{$key}[$array]} {
                       print "$value,";
               }
               print "\n";
        }
        print "END_SECTION\n";
}
[download]

save the above line of code to a file
execute the command line

 perl progname.pl < datafilename >
  email me if it dosen't work achesser@nortelnetworks.com

  i wrote that off the top of my head

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