Checking Data in File

UNIX for Beginners Q & A UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers
1

Using If_ELSE, how do check a particular piece of data in a file. My data file has three columns and say I want to check the data in the 2nd column. I want to do a comparsion against a another piece of data using IF_ELSE. How do I get that data in file to check?

2 
while read A B C
do
        if [ "$B" = "slartibartfast' ]
        then
                echo "do something"
        else
                echo "don't do something"
        fi
done <input