I'm not certain I fully understand the problem, but this would seem to cry out for using bitvectors and bitwise operations. Then you could just: 
foreach my $bigfile_bitvector (@bigfile_bitvectors) {
  foreach my $smallfile_bitvector (@smallfile_bitvectors) {
    my $diff_bitvector = $bigfile_bitvector ^ $smallfile_bitvector;
    write_diffs($diff_bitvector);
  }
}

[download]
You'll have to craft an appropriate write_diffs function to look for the 1s in the diff bitvector and write them in your necessary format.

In reply to Re: What is a "big job" in the industry? by Anonymous Monk
in thread What is a "big job" in the industry? by punch_card_don

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