reading data from columns that span rows
 

I'm not sure how to describe this exactly. I have a data file that I am
trying to read (using C# but I can adapt to other methods with some
direction at this point...)

The first column is a value that corresponds to the following column entries
in a number (variable) of rows... for example


--------------------------------------------
| var1
data value 1 | var2
| var3
----------------------------------------------

in the above example the first column spans 3 rows and corresponds to all
three rows of data in column 2. Excel shows borders around the values
similar to what I've created but if I try to access the data I get blank
rows for column1 row1 and row 3 and no way (that I have been able to find)
to associate them with column1 row 2. the data isn't consistent as far as
how many rows for each column1 value so i can't simply parse it and count...
that would be too easy! :)

i hope i've explained the delima well enough. I need to read these files
and then populate some databases with the data but I need to be able to
associate the following columns with the correct column 1 values...

thanks in advance,

Max