Converting huge ASCII file to flat and convert I am not a db administrator but I thought to ask this question here.

I have several very large ASCII files (3-5GB each) that I need to extract the data and then sort it.  The instructions say to "extract the zip file into a flat file" and then to "create a program to convert that flat file to whatever application the client chooses to use".  

I am not sure if this is something that is simple to do, or if I should hire a database pro to do this.  I am familiar with the basic workings of SQL but maybe enough to get into trouble.

So far I have used something called gVim to look at the files, but they are not delimited in any way except for spaces.

Could someone give me advice on this?
Thanks!
When using a databse to sort the data one needs to know the structure of the data. In other words, there must be a field delimiter and a row delimiter. 
Then you can import the file into a SQL-table and index it and sort it the way you want. Importing flat files is easy done with tools provided by any Database Engine, for example SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) or MySQL LOAD.