Hi, thanks for the help thats been given so far, im in the process of understanding the code thats been given.
heres the code i have done so far...probably not the best or most efficient code there is. It probably has a few minor bugs to get it to output where i am at so far...it starts from where i have divided the contents of the input file into approved and newly added (or unapproved), here it is.

#!/usr/bin/perl

my $filename02 = "unapproved.txt";
my $filename03 = "approved.txt";
my $filename04 = "compared.txt";

open(UNAPPROVED,"+<$filename02") || die "Can't open file $filename02";
+ # open destination text file
open(APPROVED,"+<$filename03") || die "Can't open file $filename03"; #
+ open destination text file
open(COMPARED,"+>$filename04") || die "Can't open file $filename04"; #
+ open destination text file

my @unapprovedline;
my @approvedline;

@approvedall = <APPROVED>;
@unapprovedall = <UNAPPROVED>;

close APPROVED;
close UNAPPROVED;

$numoflines01 = @unapprovedall;
$numoflines02 = @approvedall;

for ($x = 0; $x < $numoflines01; $x++) {

    $line01 = @unapprovedall[$x];
    @unapprovedline = split (/\"/, $line01);

    for ($y = 0; $y < $numoflines02; $y++) {
        $line02 = @approvedall[$y];
        @approvedline = split (/\"/, $line02);

        $uleft = @unapprovedline[5];
        $aleft = @approvedline[5];
        $uright = @unapprovedline[7];
        $aright = @approvedline[7];
        $uping = @unapprovedline[13];
        $aping = @approvedline[13];

        if ($uping eq $aping && $uleft eq $aleft && $uright eq $aright
+) {
            print COMPARED "\"", @approvedline[1], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @approvedline[3], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @approvedline[5], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @approvedline[7], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", "@approvedline[9] @unapprovedline[1],
+", "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @approvedline[11], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @approvedline[13], "\"", "\t", "\n";

        }
        else {
            print COMPARED "\"", @unapprovedline[1], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @unapprovedline[3], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @unapprovedline[5], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @unapprovedline[7], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @unapprovedline[9], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @unapprovedline[11], "\"", "\t";
            print COMPARED "\"", @unapprovedline[13], "\"", "\t", "\n"
+;

        }
    }
}

close COMPARED;


# delete UNAPPROVED

[download]

Heres the file that is produced from the above code... 

"A1000000"    ""    "DB50F-LEFT"    "DB50F-RIGHT"        ""        "" 
+   "L1:R1 L2:R2 L3:R3 L4:R4 L5:R5 L6:R6 L7:R7"    
"M50DFFU"    ""    "DB50F-LEFT"    "DB50F-RIGHT"        " 1000000,"   
+ ""    "L1:R1 L2:R2 L3:R3 L4:R4 L5:R5 L6:R6 L7:R7"    
"A1000000"    ""    "DB50F-LEFT"    "DB50F-RIGHT"        ""        "" 
+   "L1:R1 L2:R2 L3:R3 L4:R4 L5:R5 L6:R6 L7:R7"    
"A1000000"    ""    "DB50F-LEFT"    "DB50F-RIGHT"        ""        "" 
+   "L1:R1 L2:R2 L3:R3 L4:R4 L5:R5 L6:R6 L7:R7"    
"A1000000"    ""    "DB50F-LEFT"    "DB50F-RIGHT"        ""        "" 
+   "L1:R1 L2:R2 L3:R3 L4:R4 L5:R5 L6:R6 L7:R7"    
"P000001"    ""    "DB9F-LEFT"    "DB9F-RIGHT"        " 5000001,"    "
+"    "L1:R1 L2:R2 L6:R6"    
"A5000001"    ""    "DB9F-LEFT"    "DB9F-RIGHT"        ""        ""   
+ "L1:R1 L2:R2 L6:R6"    
"A5000001"    ""    "DB9F-LEFT"    "DB9F-RIGHT"        ""        ""   
+ "L1:R1 L2:R2 L6:R6"    
"A5000001"    ""    "DB9F-LEFT"    "DB9F-RIGHT"        ""        ""   
+ "L1:R1 L2:R2 L6:R6"    
"A5000001"    ""    "DB9F-LEFT"    "DB9F-RIGHT"        ""        ""   
+ "L1:R1 L2:R2 L6:R6"    
"A9999999"    ""    "DB00F-LEFT"    "DB00F-RIGHT"        ""        "" 
+   "L1:R1 L3:R3 L4:R4 L6:R6"    
"A9999999"    ""    "DB00F-LEFT"    "DB00F-RIGHT"        ""        "" 
+   "L1:R1 L3:R3 L4:R4 L6:R6"    
"A9999999"    ""    "DB00F-LEFT"    "DB00F-RIGHT"        ""        "" 
+   "L1:R1 L3:R3 L4:R4 L6:R6"    
"A9999999"    ""    "DB00F-LEFT"    "DB00F-RIGHT"        ""        "" 
+   "L1:R1 L3:R3 L4:R4 L6:R6"    
"A9999999"    ""    "DB00F-LEFT"    "DB00F-RIGHT"        ""        "" 
+   "L1:R1 L3:R3 L4:R4 L6:R6"

[download]

And this is what i im trying to do with the results produced above...again this is probably a very long way of solving this problem but i cant really think of any other way to do it as my perl knowledge is limited 


# for each line, get the part no., compare to contents of 
# the notes field on every other line, if it is in the
# notes field, delete the line otherwise leave and move on
# to the next line.  Finally delete all dupes and merge the
# list with the approved.txt

open(COMPARED,"+<$filename04") || die "Can't open file $filename04"; #
+ open destination text file

@comparedall = <COMPARED>;
$numoflines03 = @comparedall;

for ($a = 0; $a < $numoflines03; $a++) {

    $line03 = @comparedall[$a];
    @comparedline = split (/\"/, $line03);

    $part = @comparedline[1];

    $notes = @comparedline[9];
    @notes = split (/\,/, $notes);
    $numofnotes = @notes;

    for ($b = 0; $b <= $numofnotes; $b++) {
                
        $notescontent = @notes[$b];
        print $notescontent, "\n";

        if ($part eq $notescontent) {
            print "hello";
        }
        

    }
}

[download]

Thanks for everyones help, Steve.

In reply to Re: Comparing files and and elements of arrays by Anonymous Monk
in thread Comparing files and and elements of arrays by sjd6

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