Question

Okay I have 2 files. One file is data that is updated every 10 minutes while the second is data that was previously used. What I am trying to do is take one line from the new file and loop through each line of the second file and see if it matches one. If it does I dont want to use it, but if there is no match than I want to add it to a string. In what I have done so far it seems that the check does not ever find a match even though there is one. Here is what I have and a sample of the data I have been using from both files. CHECKHAIL and USEDHAIL are the two files

while(my $toBeChecked = <CHECKHAIL>){
        my $found = 0;
        seek USEDHAIL, 0, 0 or die "$0: seek: $!";
        while(my $hailCheck = <USEDHAIL>){
            if( $toBeChecked == $hailCheck){
                $found += 1;
            }
        }
        print USEDHAIL $toBeChecked;
        if ($found == 0){
            $toEmail .= $toBeChecked;
        }
    }
    print $toEmail;
    return;
}

CHECKHAIL sample data

2226  175   2 NE      LAWRENCE           DEADWOOD         SD    44.4    -103.7  (UNR)

2305  200   2 S       SISKIYOU           GREENVIEW        CA    41.52   -122.9  2 INCH HAIL REPORTED WITH STORM JUST SOUTH OF GREENVIEW. (MFR)

2350  200             DANIELS            E FLAXVILLE      MT    48.8    -105.17 GOLF BALL TO HEN EGG SIZED HAIL (GGW)

2350  175   5 N       DANIELS            RICHLAND         MT    48.89   -106.05 DESTROYED CROPS (GGW)

USEDHAIL sample data

2226  175   2 NE      LAWRENCE           DEADWOOD         SD    44.4    -103.7  (UNR)

2305  200   2 S       SISKIYOU           GREENVIEW        CA    41.52   -122.9  2 INCH HAIL REPORTED WITH STORM JUST SOUTH OF GREENVIEW. (MFR)

Answer 1

Why wouldn’t you just create a hash for the first (used) file?

use strict; 
use warnings;
my %fromUsedFile;
open USEDFILE, '<', '/the/data/file/that/is/10minutesold';
$fromUsedFile{$_}++  while <USEDFILE>;
close USEDFILE;

while ($toBeChecked = <CHECKHAIL>) {
    if (defined $fromUsedFile{$toBeChecked}) {
        # ... line is in both the new and old file
    } else {
        # ... line is only in the new file
        $toBeEmailed .= $toBeChecked;
    }
}