title: Using Python to search multiple text files for matches to a list of strings
body: <p>So am starting from scratch on a program that I haven't really seen replicated anywhere else. I'll describe exactly what I want it to do:</p>
  
  <p>I have a list of strings that looks like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>12482-2958
  02274+2482
  23381-3857
  ..........
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I want to take each of these strings and search through a few dozen files (all named wds000.dat, wds005.dat, wds010.dat, etc) for matches. If one of them finds a match, I want to write that string to a new file, so in the end I have a list of strings that had matches.</p>
  
  <p>If I need to be more clear about something, please let me know. Any help on where to start with this would be much appreciated. Thanks guys and gals!</p>