Fast binary searching is useful for scanning large databases for strings that match the beginning of a line. They use the standard Perl module Search::Dict, and are enabled through use of the mv_dict_look, mv_dict_end, mv_dict_limit, mv_dict_fold, and mv_dict_order variables.
The field to search is the first field in the file, then the product code should be in the second field, delimited by Delimiter. You will also have to set mv_return_fields=1 to return the product code in the search.
The search must be done on a dictionary-ordered pre-built index, which can be produced with the database INDEX modifier. See Dictionary indexing with INDEX.
If you use the mv_dict_look parameter by itself, and the proper index file is present, MiniVend should set the options:
mv_return_fields=1
mv_dict_limit=-1
This will make the search behave much like the simple search described above, except it will be much faster on large files and will match only from the beginning of the field.