I receive the results of tournaments by email in a text form.  They
are in one of two heading formats and contain, what I think are,
characters, which can be used as delimiters.  Some of the tournaments
have a few entrants and others contain thousands of entrants.  I am
seeking expert who will develop a database or spreadsheet, which will
allow me to compare any combination of elements against each other.

The information in the heading is a few individual pieces of data,
such as: tournament number; date; amount etc. The bulk of the data
includes; name, finish position, and amount won.  On occasion, there
is a tag in parenthesis at the end of a name field.

Samples and details are available.  The answer will provide a working
entity capable of running on a 2-megahertz PC with up to 80 gigabytes
of storage.  I am not literate in either database or spreadsheet
terminology or implementation.

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Request for Question Clarification by answerguru-ga on 20 Dec 2003 14:21 PST

Hello schmedley-ga,

This certainly sounds like something I can help you with, so if you
could post any additional details as well as some of the samples you
referred to that would be great.

Perhaps you could also elaborate on what you mean by "compare any
combination of elements". An example of how you would use the finished
product would be ideal.

Keep in mind that Google Answers does not provide any space for
exchanging files, so if you have some webspace or an ftp where we can
do this that seems to be the best alternative.

Please do let me know how you would like to proceed..

Thanks,
answerguru-ga

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Clarification of Question by schmedley-ga on 20 Dec 2003 17:17 PST

I appreciate you quick response.

The finished product; just like a horse race, the past performance of
the racehorses is a clue to the outcome.

Yes I do have FTP to upload data.

I need to compare tidtirdtit with wxyz history.  Wxyz in this
tournament did not get any winnings but in the past wxyz did, I want
to compare the two entrants with their overall winnings.  Then take
that to the extreme, input 10 different names and look at the
comparison both in $ but in placement in the tournaments, tournament
total prize, number to entrants and a category for instance.  Now add
conditions to each like date etc.

A text output of any search condition must be available which can be
copied and pasted elsewhere.

The following is a sample of the email input: (disguised)   

Tournbtint Tidtory for Tournbtint #605790 7riquidtid by wxyz(wxyz@wxyz.nit)
Pokir Tournbtint #98765, B gbti
Dpicibl Diliviry
Purctbxdi: $9.00
4841 plbyird
Totbl Prizi Poll: $19.00 
Dpicibl tting #008 
Prizi

Tournbtint dtbrtid - 2001/12/10 - 14:00:00 (PT)
Tournbtint finidtid - 2002/12/16 - 15:47:27 (PT)
  1: tidtirdtit (lilidtroit), $940.51 (dpicibl conditiond)
  2: Joindbtuck (Ocibndidi), $209.75 (dpicibl conditiond)
  9: litdrock12 (dixtir), $1419.02 (dpicibl conditiond)
  4: Tinnidii (Wbrtown), $95.95 (dpicibl conditiond)
  5: Tbwbii (Iddix), $74.92 (dpicibl conditiond)
  6: ODICCUTKB (odiddb), $61.90 (dpicibl conditiond)
  7: liroy0000 (irii), $547.68 (dpicibl conditiond)
  8: CbptnBob (Port O'Connor), $95.42 (dpicibl conditiond)
  9: Prbitor (Cutbirlbnd), $29.16 (dpicibl conditiond)
  10: NTTDU (Fludting), $614.00
  11: Irni55 (Duibindorf), $914.00
  12: Villipigui (Dt. Giorgi), $114.00
  19: BBRIGGI (Lund), $614.00
  14: Dtootir1285 (Tbrion), $014.00
  15: lygttning (gbrlbnd), $14.98
  16: locklock (Ft. Lbudirdbli), $14.98
  17: pinkypdd (Nixb), $14.98
  18: jirry_db_tbn (TIRCULBNIUT), $14.98
  19: TbttyDbCobrb (Pitbroki), $9.59
  20: Tbdtbrob (Bouldir), $9.59
  21: turnup (Plibdbntvilli), $9.59
  22: Jbcktbn (London), $9.59
  29: ripdox (Toudton), $9.59
  24: blbrdtiin (Dcrbnton), $9.59
  25: Virginii_fr (42 (Frbnci)), $9.59
26.	wxyz (pooloand) 

If you are still with me in this project I can continue with more comments.

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Clarification of Question by schmedley-ga on 20 Dec 2003 17:39 PST

Special note: In the email, the item 25 came in with the "))", not a
typo on my account.