I have a file containing many paths (files/links/dirs) and to remove duplicate or redundant paths. I want to open the file and read each path in that file and create a directory tree from it. Next, I want to copy that directory tree extracted from the file and move it underneath another directory (preserve the hierarchy). For example, my file contains the following paths: /a/b/c /a/b /a/b/d In the first path, 'c' is a regular file. The second path can be ignored since it is already covered by the first path. In the third path, 'd' is a symbolic link that points to (say) ../e/f (a regular file). I want to move this directory tree underneath another directory, say /tmp. Hence I will have /tmp/a/b/c, /tmp/a/b/d -> /tmp/a/e/f. Can you suggest an efficient data structure to capture the directory tree information? Regards Joe