So in your solution, don't you have to check each entry in the hash to test for pattern match.
This seems kind of strange. Does it have to be a full regular expression to match. can you
use the first four characters or something as a key into the hash.
Just thinking out loud here. The first and second directory, do they have any effect on what
variables are changed. can you create a tree of hashes (hashes of hashes) representing categories
of changes so you can get rid of looping through all 100 or so patterns.
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I always wanted to be somebody... I guess I should have been more specific.