%phone = map { ( unpack $layout1, $_ ) , $_ } <$IN1>

> <

Harleypig - as for : print “Match: ” . $counter++ . “\r”

just to be pedantic to you dont’ use the concat operator (.) in a print. If you think about it the print operator is set to handle arrays, so why not just give it one. Benchmark the difference to verify, but using concat will force it to concat a new string first, then print, instead of print array.

In this case, no. The files that I am searching have no rhyme and reason to the layout. Well, they do, but it differs from file to file, and I don’t know before hand what the layout will be. I only know where certain variables are in the layout. So, with that, I can just use substr() or unpack(), as seen here, to get right to where I need to be in the file.

1) Wordpress likes to lowercase anything that sits between < and >. As in the case with this code, it got lower case, but I do use uppercase filehandles. Also, you’ll notice “# </in1>”. This is because Wordpress will automatically close my tags if I don’t, so I just put it in the code.
2) I store the line of the key in the hash, because I actually am using it later. I probably shouldn’t have put it in my example code.
3) I think some of your example is preference to the programmer, but at any case, goes to show that there is more than one way to skin a cat! But I agree that it could get a bit more efficient.

use strict;

# I realize a lot of these are not
# specifically related to your problem
# but I’m pedantic.

# First, filehandles in perl are
# idiomatically uppercase, just to
# help distinguish them.
#
# Second, use variable filehandles. It
# makes error handling easier.
#
# Third, predeclare as much as possible.
# It’ll save a little bit of time. Right
# now you’re declaring a variable every
# time through both loops, but it’s not
# changing.

# I don’t use (un)pack that often so I
# can’t comment on that.

my %phone;

my $layout1 = ‘@1384 A10′;
my $layout2 = ‘@0 A10′;

if ( open my $IN1, “P1514.FIN” ) {

while( ) {

chomp;

# You don’t need to assign a variable
# for temporary use, it just slows you
# down and takes up memory.

# Why are you saving the line if you’re
# not using it later?
$phone{ unpack $layout1, $_ } = ”;

}

# $IN1 loses scope here. Perl will
# automatically close the file.

} else {

# It’s confusing when you get bogus data,
# or no data.

die “Unable to open P1514.FIN: $!\n”;

}

if ( open my $IN2, “p1514.afo” ) {

my $counter = 0;

while( ) {

# I’m not sure what you’re trying to
# accomplish here, but taking what you
# have, you can increase the efficiency
# quite a bit by using a little more
# idiomatic perl.

print “Match: ” . $counter++ . “\r”
if exists $phone{ unpack $layout2, $_ };

}
} else {

die “Unable to open p1514.afo: $!\n”;

}

print “\n”;

# Not having a copy of the data I can’t test this
# but it passes perl -c