I need a script that I can run from a Unix command line that takes an input file and writes an output file. I am willing to pay someone to write it if it's more complicated than someone wants to tackle in a minute. :) The input file looks like this: VALASSIS 500573500827 Alavert, any $2 (12-31-06) 500573512936 Alavert, 24 ct.+ $4 (12-31-06) 500005510769 Caltrate, any $1 (11-30-06) 550000140768 Carnation Instant Breakfast Powder or Ready-to-Drink , any $1 (11-6-06) 500005411769 Centrum, any except 30 ct. $1 (10-31-06) 571249673749 LOreal Acne Response $5 (10-29-06) 541058992010 Schick Intuition 3 ct. Cartridge Pk FREE up to $9.99 wyb any Schick Intuition Razor (9-9-06) .50 each 563435100504 Scotties Facial Tissues .50/3 boxes or one multipack (11-30-06) The output file is delimiting the fields for upload into a database. The input file is not always exactly consistent, hence the complications. The basic line would look like this: "V";"500573500827";"Alavert, any";"$2";"12-31-06" The "V" is from Valassis on the first line of the file. As you can see, the dollar amount isn't always preficed with a $ sign, so it can't just read everything up to the $ sign and include it in the description. It could be .50 or . 50/3 or .75. So I'm not sure how to fix that - unless another script ran first that looked for all the possibilities (of .50, .50/1, etc) and inserted a $ before it.). Anything after the date in parentheses should be ignored. Anything that has FREE in the line should be sent to an exception file. Whew! Any questions, please ask! :) And thanks a million for even attempting this! :)

Not sure what you want your output to do, but have you considered entering the input to an HTML web form? That way the input can be saved to a database such as MySQL,as a CSV file, or whatever. Output can be to a screen, e-mail, text file, etc. Perl scripts will also do a similar job. You can get Apache, PHP, MySQL for a Mac: http://www.mamp.info/en/home/ Also, some shopping cart scripts allow product descriptions, prices, changes, etc. An example is Roman Cart. Take a look here: http://www.romancart.com/locale/integration.htm#z May be on the wrong track, tryingto get a feel for what you want to achieve.