use strict; 
use warnings; #good! 
use Win32::OLE;
use Date::Calc;
use diagnostics;

my %header_data;
my $f_mfg_desk = '//163.10.50.33/planning/logistics/programs/chicago_w
+ip_query2.txt';
my $f_mfg_desk2 = '//163.10.50.33/planning/logistics/programs/chicago_
+wip_query3.txt';

my ($sec, $min, $hour, $dayofmonth, $month, $year, $weekday, $day) = l
+ocaltime(time);
$month++;
$year += 1900;

open (INFILE, $f_mfg_desk);
($record);... or
while (<INFILE>)
{
  chomp;
  my @newrow = split /\t/;
# What does this below statement acutally mean? 
  $header_data{$newrow[2]} = [ $newrow[3..18] ];
}
close(INFILE);


open (OUTFILE, ">$f_mfg_desk2");

# If I am sorting by this data, why does it delelte most of # the data
+?
# Which data field is actually being used to sort?
for my $key (sort keys %header_data)
{
  for my $a (@{$header_data{$key}})
  {
    print OUTFILE "$a\t";
  }
  print OUTFILE "\n";
}
[download]

# What does this below statement acutally mean? 
  $header_data{$newrow[2]} = [ $newrow[3..18] ];
[download]

You are creating an array of the 4th through 19th elements of the @newrow array and associating it to the 3rd element of @newrow in the %header_data hash array (i.e. you are using the 3rd element as a key and setting the value to a reference to an array of the 4th through 19th elements -- remember arrays start at index zero).

If there are duplicates of the 3rd elements in the data, then only the last row will be saved (maybe that's why you're "losing data"?).

# Which data field is actually being used to sort?
for my $key (sort keys %header_data)
[download]

Each 3rd element that came from @newrow above.

Hi Kutsu

I couldn't reply on your thread so I thought I would just add to this one. I can actually open the file, so that is not a problem. The problem is totally in my lack of understanding on how the process works and gettng a bit of information here and there. I am a visual basic programmer, so Perl is very new to me and doesn't always seem as logical.

For instance, these are the values that are at the top row of my tab delimited file (if you think of it as an Excel spreadsheet this is line one):

"Oper_Cd","Pick_Ref_Num","Part_Id","Lot Qty","Order Id", "Order Lineitem Id","Order Lineline Id","Sublot Num", "Comm Invoice Num","Oper In Dt","Cust Early Shp Dt", "Cust Late Shp Dt" ,"Current Date","Business Class Cd", "Action Expedite Flg","Required Ship Saleable", "Required Ship Inventory Transfer","Total Required Ships"

I want to sort the data on the file by "Cust Late Shp Dt" (Bold Highlight). Then I want to eliminate all rows of data where the the date is greater than today's date (such as tomorrow or the next day). In VB this is a very easy task, but this alludes me in Perl.

I have read the document on sorting, but to me it is not clear as to what is the proper code to use to sort by one segment of a header file. If someone could please explain this in plain english (I know, I am still learning the jargon of Perl) then I would be extremely grateful.

Portree

Hi runrig,
Thanks for stoping by. If you don't mind, could I ask another question. You have said that you understand why I am loosing data. How do I prevent this? How do I take a header element and just sort by it without loosing my data? I have read all of the documentation that I can get my hands on but I just can't get it to work. I need to delete whole rows with certain data, and then sort the rest. Can you assist?

Regards
Portree