I have a text file test.txt which contains : inst_f1 inst_f2 inst_f3 inst_f4 . . . . inst_fn where inst_f1.... inst_fn are particular function type used in a given cpp file I have to read the file test.txt line by line Suppose the First fn is inst_f1. I have to find the fn in which this fn is called from the cpp and so on for eg: the contents of cpp file are void clas_name :: rvvd_inst_into_tabl ( void ) { rvvd_call_tabl() } void clas_name :: rvvd_call_tabl ( void ) { rvvd_chck_tabl() } void clas_name :: rvvd_chck_tabl ( void ) { inst_f1() } So the flow would be inst_f1 <<--- rvvd_chck_tabl <<---- rvvd_call_tabl <<----- rvvd_inst_into_tabl and I have to keep all things dynamic ie ( Number of Fncs in test.txt will change for diff cpp class) Your Suggestions appreciated Thanks -Ultimatix

Interesting problem ...... #!/bin/ksh # reverse the cppfile sed '1!G;h;$!d' cpp.file > tmp.cpp.file mystring="" ft=0 while read line do # look for lines ending with () if echo "$line"|egrep "\(\)$" > /dev/null then if [[ $ft -eq 0 ]] then ft=1 mystring=${line} else mystring="${mystring} <<--- ${line}" fi continue fi # look for lines with :: if echo "$line"|egrep "::" > /dev/null then # 3rd field is the function set - $(IFS=":"; echo ${line}) if [[ $ft -eq 0 ]] then ft=1 mystring=$3 else mystring="${mystring} <<--- $3}" fi fi done < tmp.cpp.file echo $mystring