I have the following code to search a tab-delimited text file (the first column only) for PAIRS of names. The pairs of names are passed on the command line. There is a match when both names of any pair are found in that 1st column. A match 'CODE' starts a s '' (empty string). If the 1st pair matches it adds an 'A' to the match CODE. If the 2nd pair matches it adds an 'B' to the match CODE. 3rd pair a 'C', 4th pair a 'D', 5th pair an 'E'. So, depending on the pair of names matched, the match code could be any combo of the five letters ABCDE: any 1,2,3,4 or all five letter or none. If a match is found, the match code and the line are sent to the output file.

I simply need a way to make this overall process as fast as possible. Help on any area: string search, concatenation or whatever.

One other important point/question. I must search using string literals, not regexes. Would a language like C, C++ or C# have faster string literal searching functionality as opposed to Perl? If so is there a source of info on how to go about this. Thanks in advance.

--------------------------------------------------------- 

# use strict;
# use warnings;
$start_run = time();

use v5.10;
use Win32::OLE;
use autodie; 

# --------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------------------------------------------
sub name_search(@_, $search_string) {
    # say $search_string ;
    $found_code = '' ;
    if(((index $search_string, $ARGV[0]) >= 0) && ((index $search_stri
+ng, $ARGV[1]) >= 0))
        {$found_code = 'A' ;}
    if($#ARGV > 2) {
        if(((index $search_string, $ARGV[2]) >= 0) && ((index $search_
+string, $ARGV[3]) >= 0))
            {$found_code .= 'B' ;}
        if($#ARGV > 4) {
            if(((index $search_string, $ARGV[4]) >= 0) && ((index $sea
+rch_string, $ARGV[5]) >= 0))
                {$found_code .= 'C' ;}
            if($#ARGV > 6) {
                if(((index $search_string, $ARGV[6]) >= 0) && ((index 
+$search_string, $ARGV[7]) >= 0))
                    {$found_code .= 'D' ;}
                if($#ARGV > 8) {
                    if(((index $search_string, $ARGV[8]) >= 0) && ((in
+dex $search_string, $ARGV[9]) >= 0))
                        {$found_code .= 'E' ;}
                }
            }            
        }
    }
    return $found_code ;
}


$print_string = "" ;

# Create header for output file.
$print_string .=     "\t\t" . 'A: ' . $ARGV[0] . " " . $ARGV[1] . "\n"
+ . 
                        "\t\t" . 'B: ' . $ARGV[2] . " " . $ARGV[3] . "
+\n" . 
                        "\t\t" . 'C: ' . $ARGV[4] . " " . $ARGV[5] . "
+\n" . 
                        "\t\t" . 'D: ' . $ARGV[6] . " " . $ARGV[7] . "
+\n" . 
                        "\t\t" . 'E: ' . $ARGV[8] . " " . $ARGV[9] . "
+\n" .
                        'CODE' . "\t" . 'NAME' . "\t" . 'RUNNER' . "\t
+" .
                        'INFO1' . "\t" . 'INFO2' . "\t" . 'INFO3' . "\
+t" .
                        'INFO4' . "\t" . 'INFO5' . "\t" . 'INFO6' . "\
+t" . 'INFO7' . "\t" .
                        'INFO8' . "\t" . 'INFO9' . "\t" . 'INFO10' . "
+\t" . 'INFO11' . "\t" .
                        'INFO12' . "\n";

#print $print_string;

my @line ; $found_tag = '';
#=pod
open (my $data, "<", 'SearchTable.txt');
while(<$data>){
    chomp ;
    @line = split( /\t/, $_ ); $search_string = $line[0] ;
    $found_tag = &name_search(@_, $search_string) ; # say $found_tag u
+nless $found_tag eq '' ;
    if($found_tag ne '') {
        $print_string .= $found_tag . "\t" . $line[0] . "\t" . $line[1
+] . "\t" . $line[2] . "\t" . 
        $line[3] . "\t" . $line[4] . "\t" . $line[5] . "\t" . $line[6]
+ . "\t" . $line[7] . "\t" .
        $line[8] . "\t" . $line[9] . "\t" . $line[10] . "\t" . $line[1
+1] . "\t" . $line[12] . "\t" .
        $line[13] . "\n" ;
    }
}
close($data);

open (OUT1, ">nameS_RECORDS.txt") or die;
print OUT1 $print_string;
close(OUT1) ;
$run_time = time() - our $start_run;
print "\n\nJob took $run_time seconds\n";

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In reply to Need Speed:Search Tab-delimited File for pairs of names by mnnb

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