Thanks for idea #2. So I've got my {key, offset} pair nicely sorted - no problem there. I can also seek to each offset in the unsorted file without a problem. My problem is this: once I'm in the correct starting position for my next record in the unsorted file (i.e after calling seek), how can I extract *just* the next record and not the rest of the file from that point on: 
for my $zip(sort{ $a <=> $b }(keys(%zips))) {
   seek FILE, $zips{$zip}, 0;
   print NEW <FILE>;
}

[download]
Obviously, <FILE> contains the rest of the file following OFFSET (i.e $zips{$zip}) and not just the next record. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

In reply to Re: Re: Sorting A File Of Large Records by Anonymous Monk
in thread Sorting A File Of Large Records by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.