hello,

i have 2 text files, one is small (file_1: about 200 lines) and the other is fairly large (file2: 12 k - 20 k lines).

file_1:
tango 12
beta 256
alpha 1700
tango 1200

file_2:
tango 12
tango 125 hello world
beta 256
alpha 1700
Recent gama 5100 hi friend
Test charlie 502 hello dear
.......
....

I need to remove lines in file_2 which contains file_1 entries.
ie. read line by line from file_2, compare with file_1 lines, if match , remove , else append to a new file.
mathces are exact string matches, both are text files.

output_file:
test tango 125 hello world
Recent gama 5100 hi friend
Test charlie 502 hello dear
.......
....

Appreciate your kind assistance to build-up program either in C++ or VB

Thanks,

I can give you VBScript. Try this (not tested):

Dim found
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objInputFile2 = objFSO.OpenTextFile ("C:\file_2.txt", True)
Set objOutputFile = objFSO.createtextfile("c:\output_file.txt", True)

Do Until objInputFile2.AtEndOfStream

found = false
strNextLine2 = objInputFile2.Readline

Set objInputFile1 = objFSO.OpenTextFile ("C:\file_1.txt", True)
Do Until objInputFile1.AtEndOfStream
strNextLine1 = objInputFile1.Readline
If (strNextLine2 = strNextLine1) Then
found = true
End If
Loop

objInputFile1.Close
If (found = false) Then
objOutputFile.WriteLine strNextLine2
End If
Loop

objInputFile2.Close
objOutputFile.Close
Set objInputFile1 = nothing
Set objInputFile2 = nothing
Set objOutputFile = nothing

Michael J