Filtering Columnar Data

[Gregory Lypny]

Hello everyone,

	I use the filter command on tab-delimited text files when I want to  
pick off a string in a particular column.  For example, if the string  
is located in the second column of a five column file, I use

	filter theData with "*" & tab & searchString & tab & "*" & tab & "*"  
& tab & "*"  .

This, I assume, ensures that my hits don't include lines where the  
string appears in any other column.  It works like lightening when I  
search in any of the first four columns, but beyond that I get the  
dreaded spinning beach ball in Mac OS X (Tiger).  Is there a better way?

	Regards,

		Greg