thanks jim! the code was a big help and i especially like the sorted output!

my problem is now reduced to the following:
1. how can i exclude the lines without "..................................." (the first 5 lines and last 2 lines in the file)
2. for lines with strings in the first column that are not suffixed by " ** ", how can i keep the rest of the line from being displayed? (only the string in the first column should be displayed)

does anyone have any ideas?
thank you!