i need a perl script that will read two text files and write to one of
them. in the first file are four coloums, the last two contain an
english word and beside it is its spanish transalation. the second
file contains six coloums one of which is a list of english words. I
need a scipt that will read each line of the first file, checking to
see it the english word in file one is contained in file 2, if this is
the case then I need the spanish word to replace the english word in
the second file.

I'll write the script for you for the listed fee if no one answers. 
Comment if you're interested, I'll be checking back periodically.

Which column in the second file contains the English words?

#!/usr/bin/perl
## Reads in the 1st file that is tab delimited and then makes subsitutions
##  in the second file.

## 1st file name
$fileone="1.txt";

## 2nd file
$filetwo="2.txt";

## Column number in the 2nd file from 1 to 6 that is the column to be replaced
$column_english = 5;



## Open the 1xt file to read in the English and Spanish words
open (FILEIN, $fileone)  or die "Can't open first file.\n";;

## Read in each line and create a hash table
while ($linein = <FILEIN>) {
        chomp $linein;
        @arrayin = split(/\t/, $linein);
        $englishword = $arrayin[2];
        $spanishword = $arrayin[3];
        print "$englishword -> $spanishword\n";
        $langhash{$englishword} = $spanishword;
}
close(FINEIN);

## Open second file to convert from English to Spanish
open (FILEIN, $filetwo)  or die "Can't open second file.\n";;

## Go through each line and replace
while ($linein = <FILEIN>) {
        chomp $linein;
        @arrayin = split(/\t/, $linein);
        $englishword = $arrayin[$column_english-1];

        ## If the word exists in the hash then replace
        if (exists $langhash{$englishword})
        {
                for($i=0;$i<6;$i++)
                {
                        if ($column_english==($i+1)) {
                                print $langhash{$englishword};
                        } else {
                                print $arrayin[$i];
                        }
                        print "\t" if ($i <= 4);
                }
                print "\n";
        }
        else {
                print "$linein\n";
        }
}
close(FINEIN);

If you need it output to a file, let me know, it's an easy fix.

Unfortunately that is not working. It is reading both files but it is
not making the replacements. It is possible my files are different
from what you are thinking of so below is a sample of each

File1

id	ref	english_column	spanish_column
22456	a	above	        arriba
22457	d	back	        revés
22458	d	behind	        tras
22459	e	below	        abajo

File2
key_2	number	pref	fhgj	english_word	tag_count
987	1	q	1	above	0
988	2	w	1	back	0
965	3	a	1	back	0
654	1	z	1	back	0

Unfortunately that is not working. It is reading both files but it is
not making the replacements. It is possible my files are different
from what you are thinking of so below is a sample of each

File1

id	ref	english_column	spanish_column
22456	a	above	        arriba
22457	d	back	        revés
22458	d	behind	        tras
22459	e	below	        abajo

File2
key_2	number	pref	fhgj	english_word	dvr
987	1	q	1	above	        0
988	2	w	1	back	        0
965	3	a	1	back	        0
654	1	z	1	back	        0

Have figured out the problem. If you can just add a fix so that it
outputs to a new file I would be happy to accept this as the answer

thanks

JM

#!/usr/bin/perl
## Reads in the 1st file that is tab delimited and then makes subsitutions
##  in the second file.

## 1st file name
$fileone="1.txt";

## 2nd file
$filetwo="2.txt";

## output file
$fileout="out.txt";

## Column number in the 2nd file from 1 to 6 that is the column to be replaced
$column_english = 5;


## Open the 1xt file to read in the English and Spanish words
open (FILEIN, $fileone)  or die "Can't open first file.\n";;

## Read in each line and create a hash table
while ($linein = <FILEIN>) {
        chomp $linein;
        @arrayin = split(/\t/, $linein);
        $englishword = $arrayin[2];
        $spanishword = $arrayin[3];
        print "$englishword -> $spanishword\n";
        $langhash{$englishword} = $spanishword;
}
close(FINEIN);

## Open second file to convert from English to Spanish
open (FILEIN, $filetwo)  or die "Can't open second file.\n";;
open (FILEOUT, ">$fileout")  or die "Can't open output file.\n";;

## Go through each line and replace
while ($linein = <FILEIN>) {
        chomp $linein;
        @arrayin = split(/\t/, $linein);
        $englishword = $arrayin[$column_english-1];

        ## If the word exists in the hash then replace
        if (exists $langhash{$englishword})
        {
                for($i=0;$i<6;$i++)
                {
                        if ($column_english==($i+1)) {
                                printf FILEOUT $langhash{$englishword};
                        } else {
                                printf FILEOUT $arrayin[$i];
                        }
                        printf FILEOUT "\t" if ($i <= 4);
                }
                printf FILEOUT "\n";
        }
        else {
                printf FILEOUT "$linein\n";
        }
}
close(FINEIN);
close(FINEOUT);

Does it handle the spanish unique characters correctly?

Thanks for that - just one problem the out file does not contain the
changes, the changes are appearing on the screen but the out file is
just a duplication of file2. whereas I need the changes actually in
the file, i.e. I need the spanish word to replace the english word in
the out file.

Is this possible?

Yes.  However I'm not getting the same type of response.  See below:

[manningr@fileserve ~]$ cat 1.txt
d       ref     english_column  spanish_column
22456   a       above           arriba
22457   d       back            reves
22458   d       behind          tras
22459   e       below           abajo
[manningr@fileserve ~]$ cat 2.txt
key_2   number  pref    fhgj    english_word    tag_count
987     1       q       1       above   0
988     2       w       1       back    0
965     3       a       1       back    0
654     1       z       1       back    0
[manningr@fileserve ~]$ cat out.txt
key_2   number  pref    fhgj    english_word    tag_count
987     1       q       1               arriba  0
988     2       w       1               reves   0
965     3       a       1               reves   0
654     1       z       1               reves   0
[manningr@fileserve ~]$

Do you have tabs seperating each column or something else?  This would
cause the problem.  There is a second easier option.  We could just
replace every english word in the file with the spanish word
regardless of the column it is in.  Your thoughts?

yes, i think then replace every english word in the file with the spanish word
regardless of the column it is in.

Two more questions.  Do you have admin or root access to the box? 
Secondly approximately how many lines in the second file are there? 
(10, 1000, million, etc..)

Hi,

I dont think its an access problem though I still dont know why the
file is working for you and not for me because the way it works for
you is ideal for my purposes.  also both files are tab separated and
appear exactly as the sample shown.

There are over 1 million lines in the second file..

thanks for all the help

JM

Thats great it works, thats answered my question