Turns out that the unix sort was exactly the prior step that was missing to help speed this up. With a correct choice of keys, the file now is in sequential order by "ID" and when a new Query comes in, it is now easy to check if the current "ID" = the prior "ID" and flush any accumulated hash entries and continue. This keeps the hash to, in testing, no more than 3-7 'extra' keys for each set of "ID"s in the file and then dumps the set.

Memory usage has stayed small and the processing is now approx 1/4 the total time of the prior runs.

In reply to Re^2: Memory utilization and hashes by bfdi533
in thread Memory utilization and hashes by bfdi533

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