i think the sort-merge join you explained earlier should solve my problem immediately (i didn't have an idea on how to do it). now i'm more debating on whether i need to incorporate this into a database because my programming is really beginner's level.
the entire purpose of doing this is explained here. the estimated size of all hash tables is probably a few hundred GB.
let me try your suggestion first. thank you very much for your help. really appreciate it.

In reply to Re^4: how to merge many files of sorted hashes? by andromedia33
in thread how to merge many files of sorted hashes? by andromedia33

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