It surely would be a waste of node-space to reply to each and every helpful answer with "Thank you!". A personal message to some which have particularly struck you as helpful is always appreciated, but in general I find that an update of your original node by adding a small summary of the solutions you have applied and/or wish to comment upon is much preferred.
CountZero
A program should be light and agile, its subroutines connected like a string of pearls. The spirit and intent of the program should be retained throughout. There should be neither too little or too much, neither needless loops nor useless variables, neither lack of structure nor overwhelming rigidity." - The Tao of Programming, 4.1 - Geoffrey James
