Help! Matching query

[countyweb]

Hello everybody,
I need to match a massive text file with another text file on two columns.
I've added a 'matched' column to the massive text file and I want to make it '1' when I have a match.

I need to do a match on the first 5 characters of one column and the whole of another with the spaces trimmed off.

Could anyone help?

I'm new to sql and lost.
thanks

 

[RiverGuy]

Well....what I would do would be to first import the text files to a database to run sql against, and export the results when done. Otherwise, you will need to use an application which can use an ODBC-text driver and send sql statements against the files. All you really need to do is a simple UPDATE MassiveFile SET Matched = 1 WHERE EXISTS (SELECT Something FROM OtherFile WHERE SUBSTRING(MassiveFile.Something, 1,5) = OtherFile.Something etc.

 

[countyweb]

Thanks mate,
I'll give it a go.
cheers