=pod

Code submission from: Paul Schaap (schaappa@ozemail.com.au)

fastFind 1.0.0 Release Notes

WHY
===
A very,very fast way to do a search on a very large file. Achieved by 
presorting the file and making the length of each field the same. You 
can then use the awesomely quick sysseek and sysread Perl functions.

INSTALLATION
============
ï Install MacPerl 5.1.4r4 or greater.(Thanx Matthias) And add Chris 
Nandors Sort Perl Module on the Mac, or, use Alpha or Word to sort the 
Index file.

USAGE
=====
1) Drop a file with the structure :-
  1. Name
  2. Address
  3. Suburb
  4. Postal Code
  5. Phone number
delimited by pipe "|" onto 'generateIndex Droplet' (e.g. generateIndex 
Input).

2) Open and run fastFind.pl then maybe use it as a require in an 
application or cgi.

CHANGES
=======
V1.0.0

ï Well none really, first cut.

CHEERS
schaapp@ozemail.com.au - I Only read email once a fortnight, sorry.




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#!/usr/bin/perl
#####################################################################
# PROGRAM : generateIndex Droplet
# BY      : Paul Schaap
# DATED   : 05/01/1998
# PURPOSE : To generate an index file for fastFind
#####################################################################
$|=1;
print "Writing Index ....\n";
open(PI,">:indexFile") or die "Cannot open indexFile.\n";
while(<>){
  $k++;
  chomp;
  @Detail       = split(/\|/);
  $Name         = $Detail[0];
  $Address      = $Detail[1];
  $Suburb       = $Detail[2];
  $State        = $Detail[3];
  $Postal_Code  = $Detail[4];
  $Phone_Number = $Detail[5];
  printf PI ("%10.10s" ,$Phone_Number);
  printf PI ("%-40.40s",$Name        );
  printf PI ("%-40.40s",$Address     );
  printf PI ("%-20.20s",$Suburb      );
  printf PI ("%-3.3s"  ,$State       );
  printf PI ("%-8.8s"  ,$Postal_Code );
  print  PI "\n";
}
print "........Done\n";
close PI;
MacPerl::SetFileInfo("ttxt", "TEXT", ":indexFile");

# I dont like this but it was the only way I could do it.
# The numbers in the next print refer to the field sizes above.
open(PC,">:indexCount") or die "Cannot open Phone.count.\n";
print PC "$k,10,40,40,20,3,8";
close PC;
MacPerl::SetFileInfo("ttxt", "TEXT", ":indexCount");

print "$k row(s) written to Phone.index.\n";
print "PLEASE USE AN APPLICATION TO SORT index file (ALPHA is a goodun) or\n";
print "use Chris Nandor's File::Sort module.\n";

#########