Example

The data is stored in file sonderdr.dat. \readtabline results in an online dialog question:
Please type the name of the tabular input data file:
\inputfile=
The user types:sonderdr.dat.

The data look like: 

    265/89
    Study of Plasma Potential Effects in a 40 MHz ...
    Spectrochim. Acta
    1989
    44B
    219-228
    ww
    264/89
    Atomic Emission and Atomic Absorption Spectrometric ...
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    263/89
    Comparative Surface and Bulk Analysis of Oxygen in Si3N4 ...
    Fresenius Z.Anal.Chem.
    1989
    333
    502-506
    WW
    262/89
Seven records build one tabular line. There must be a blank record for each empty entry (marked by . in the above example).

Here is the definition of the tabular: 

    \small\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{.8}
    \tablehead{\hline Publ-Nr. & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Titel}
               & ersch. & Jahr & Bd. & Seite & Institut \\
               \hline}
    \tabletail{\hline}
    \begin{center}
    \begin{supertabular}{|l|p{5cm}|p{3cm}|l|l|l|l|}
    \noalign{\readtabline{7}}
    \autotabline
    \end{supertabular}
    \end{center}

And here is the result:


\begin{supertabular}{\vert l\vert p{5cm}\vert p{3cm}\vert l\vert l\vert l\vert l\vert} \noalign{\readtabline{7}} \autotabline \end{supertabular}