hi, I have large txt file with lines like this: ['DDB0216437'] 1166 1174 9 ZZZ 100 What I want to do is quickly count the number of lines that share a value in the 4th column and 5th (i.e. in this line I would count all the line that have '9' and 'ZZZ'). Anyone got any ideas for the quickest way to do this? The solution I have is really ugly. thanks, Chris