[PD] manipulation of text files - grep - shell - coll

[robcanning]

hello,
could anyone recommend a library for, or method of, manipulating lists 
of strings in textfile format?
i need to be able to grep, sort, file etc.
up until now i have been using [coll] but its not powerful enough for my 
needs.
recently i have been experimenting with [shell] but it doesn't respond 
fast enough -  if i dump a load of information triggered by an [until] 
then shell gives me the "old process still running message"
i could regulate the flow if info into the [shell] but before i start in 
that direction i was wondering is there a library or method  out there 
that would do it more efficiently.
thanks,
rob c