Everything makes sense but how do I look up the values of field 2 in file1? As you can see, the number of fields in each line are different. How do you know for sure that you're getting the correct field? Here are the facts: The first column has only word(s)(because they are names/titles). The second and third column will have mix of numbers/letters. Using regex, I though there is a way to isolate the 2nd column by: (starts w/ any comb of word characters and \s)2nd col(ends with space and numbers/letters only) I will try it. If i get it i'll post it. If there is a another way, please let me know. Thanks!

In reply to Re^2: comparing columns using regular expression by rocky13
in thread comparing columns using regular expression by rocky13

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