[Gllug] Puke - Berlin Bundestag will switch to Outlook and Exchange

[Matthew King]

Christopher Currie <ccurrie at usa.net> writes:

> At work we have been using M$ Word 97 to extend & sort, once a week, a 
> growing 'database' (actually a Word .doc file alphabetised by paragraphs) for 
> some years. As the file grew, Word 97 became unable to sort it. Increasing 
> the RAM on the PC kept it going for a few weeks but it started to hang again.  
> I assume that the number of paragraphs exceeds some array-dimension or key 
> limit in Word.
>
> ...
>
> Any other software solutions that people can suggest? (I can't imagine the 
> bosses agreeing to convert the PC to dual-booting with Linux). 
>
> We have two similar smaller 'databases' which are still Word-sortable and 
> likely to remain so for some years, and copies of the files need to be 
> mailable to one or two staff to work with at home. So I don't want to suggest 
> a proper relational database system, which would seem to be a sledgehammer to 
> crack a walnut.

As a paragraph in Word (and indeed most word processors) is really just
a line, how about storing it as a text file and using sort(1).

It has two interesting (for you) options:

       -b, --ignore-leading-blanks
       -f, --ignore-case

If you lack a real OS, there is surely a win32 sort binary.

Matthew

-- 
I must take issue with the term "a mere child", for it has been my
invariable experience that the company of a mere child is infinitely
preferable to that of a mere adult.
                                           --  Fran Lebowitz

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