<pre>function findAbbrev theAbbrev,abbreviations  if theAbbrev is empty or abbreviations is empty then exit findAbbrev  toComputer  set itemDelimiter to tab  repeat with x = 1 to the number of lines of abbreviations    if item 1 of line x of abbreviations is theAbbrev    then return item 2 of line x of abbreviations  end repeat  return theAbbrevend findAbbrev</pre>