hmm: if you already know what it is that you are looking for you do not need to search for it in first place, no? Say, you know that the three items are "handy", "bread" and "wine". Why would you need to search for them in the first file if you already know them?

I could understand you need to search if you know something like "its always the third word in the second line" and you are interested in its value, like "bread" or - the next time - "wine". But to search for "bread" only makes sense if there are two possibilities: the word is there or it is not. If it is guaranteed to be there searching for it makes simply no sense, no?

OK, but in your example you have 3 items: "handy", "bread" and "wine". Where do the other two lines:

Code:

plane      = airbus
car        = vw

come from? And where do the categories of the items come from? Why is the finding of "handy" triggering a line like

Code:

electronic = handy

? From where should the computer know that "handy" is an electronic device?

Please explain - in a non-technical manner - what you are trying to do and what the outcome should be like. It might help to take a step back and - instead of concentrating on the method - first work out and cleanly define the requirements.

I hope this helps.

bakunin