note PrakashK I am assuming that you want to search using a <strong>str</strong><em>n</em> to get the corresponding <strong>value</strong><em>n</em>. <p/> In that case, a hash is an ideal solution (assuming your file is not too big as to cause memory problems for you). once you have the hash populated, getting a value is as easy as: <code> my $value_n = $hash{$str_n}; </code> <p/> /prakash 152771 152771