Hello all, I would appreciate some pointers to how I can accomplish the following I am using the following code in an object. **************** start java code **************************** while ( (line = br.readLine()) != null ) { StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer( line, "," ); while(st.hasMoreTokens()){ token = st.nextToken(); if (token.equalsIgnoreCase (city)) { System.out.println("\n Found "+city+"!\n"+line+"\n"); } } } **************end java code ******************************** The file that this reads is formatted like this *************start data********************************* city state address firsttime outofstate color initials CHARLESTON, SC, 125 FARRELL ST., YES, NO, RED, BD SUMMERVILLE, SC, 307 MAIN ST., YES, NO, BLUE, JK *************end data********************************** the above code compares a given string to every element of the file, split on the "," I need to assign each of the field into an array where city() state() address() etc. are each in an array of their own. that way I can not only search on each array individually, but I can also rewrite the file and otherwise manipulate the data. tia -- Rick Bauman Lowcountry Linux http://www.lowcountry.net/