Here's the code

#!/usr/bin/perl -W
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
# Usage: year_pri.pl 3 year_1.txt year_2.txt year_3.txt input_data.txt
# ###### Note the stupid 3 to tell it 3 files to follow, I wasn't showing him
# the getopts lib yet.

my $file_count = shift;
my $bug = 1;

my @pri_files;
while ($file_count--){
my $file = shift;
push(@pri_files, $file);
}

my %priority_rec;
foreach my $priority (@pri_files){
my ($tmp) = read_file($priority);
$priority_rec{$priority} = $tmp;
}

my %save_records;

while (<>){
my $in_rec = $_;

#"1990118STTSKYJH","BA","INH_ALL-PNCOA3-2011|Work|51207","LAST","FIRST","","","","PATTERSON & KELLY PA","",

if (/|(d+)"/){
my $id = $1;
YEAR_LOOP:
foreach my $priority (@pri_files){
if (defined($priority_rec{$priority}->{$id})){
push (@{$save_records{$priority}},$in_rec);
last YEAR_LOOP;
}
}
} #end if we got a match for the id
else{
die "Cannot get id from: [$_]n";
}

}
foreach my $priority (@pri_files){
print @{$save_records{$priority}};
}

exit (0);

sub read_file {
my $file = shift;

my %ret;

open (IN, $file) or die "Can't open $file for read - $!n";
while (<IN>){
my (@rec) = split(/t/, $_, 2);
$ret{$rec[0]}++;
}
close(IN);

return(%ret);
}

#!/usr/bin/python



# Usage:  cat input_data.txt | ./sort-id.py pri1.txt pri2.txt pri3.txt -



import fileinput, re, sys



pri_files, id_cache, save_records = [], {}, {}



matcher = re.compile('"(\d+)') # not necessary but faster



def process_priority_file(line):

    if fileinput.isfirstline(): # save the file name and initialize the record capture list

        pri_files.append(fileinput.filename())

        save_records[fileinput.filename()] = []



    id, separator, rest_of_line = line.partition('\t') # compare to line.split()...



    # You're not printing out multiple copies of the same record if it shows up in more than one

    # priority file, so I'm not sure what the point of saving a hash per priority filename was.

    if id not in id_cache:

        id_cache[id] = fileinput.filename()

        



def process_stdin(line):

    matches = matcher.match(line) # matches = re.match('"(\d+)', line) if not precompiled

    if not matches:

        print 'Cannot get id from %s' % line

        sys.exit(1)



    rec_id = matches.group(1)



    pri = id_cache.get(rec_id)

    if pri:

        save_records[pri].append(line)



def print_prioritized():

    for priority in pri_files:

        for r in save_records[priority]:

            # didn't see you doing a chomp, but here's the Python version since print adds a newline

            print r.rstrip('\r\n')



def read_files():

    # http://docs.python.o...ry/fileinput.html is worth reading.

    # I didn't feel like reading the filename count.

    for line in fileinput.input():

        if fileinput.isstdin(): 

            process_stdin(line)

        else:

            process_priority_file(line)

        

    print_prioritized()



    

# This test lets you only run something if the module is run from the command line.

# This code won't run if someone does 'import thisfilename'; idiomatically, people will

# sometimes put test code in this stanza so tests can be easily run from the command line.

# You could also put getopts tests for --help, etc. in here.

if __name__ == "__main__":

    read_files()

Also, if you don't want to add a number to the command line and don't like the stdin trick I used, just use:

def read_files():

    priority_files, input_file = sys.argv[1:-1], sys.argv[-1]

    for line in fileinput.input(priority_files):

        process_priority_file(line)



    for line in fileinput.input(input_file):

        process_stdin(line)

        

    print_prioritized()

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