-=Drew wrote ...

I know that Excel is not the optimal tool- my problem is that I need to go
step by step to get the data into a DB- ultimately a SQL w/ Access Front End
interface.

You may be able to use ADO to query the text file to get meaningful
in-memory *sets* of data:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ng03092004.asp

Row-by-row processing must surely be impractical. How long have you
forecasted it will take you to step through 3 million rows? Are you
planning to transform you data with 3 million cell formulas? Don't hit
F9 g.

Jamie.

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