I've recreated your file structure and this works for me:
transcripts/
├── 2013-05
│ ├── 2013-05-12
│ │ ├── 2013-05-12-transcript1
│ │ │ └── 2013-05-12-transcript1.tex
│ │ └── 2013-05-12-transcript2
│ │ └── 2013-05-12-transcript2.tex
│ └── 2013-05-14
│ └── 2013-05-14-transcript1
│ └── 2013-05-14-transcript1.tex
└── 2013-06
└── 2013-06-07
└── 2013-06-07-transcript1
└── 2013-06-07-transcript1.tex
The file 2013-05-12-transcript1.tex is \textbf{First}, file 2013-05-12-transcript2.tex is \textbf{Second}, file 2013-05-14-transcript1.tex is \textbf{Third}, file 2013-05-14-transcript1.tex is \textbf{Fourth}, and the example file is as follows:
% arara: pdflatex
\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\input{2013-05-12-transcript1.tex}
...
\input{2013-05-12-transcript2.tex}
...
\input{2013-05-14-transcript1.tex}
...
\input{2013-06-07-transcript1.tex}
\end{document}
Windows
I've saved it in D:\transcripts
Temporary configuration
Open a command line cmd (you do not need administrator privileges) and execute:
set TEXINPUTS=.;D:/transcripts//;
pdflatex sampleforum.tex
this will work until you close the command line, that is, you must execute this every time after close a command line ... tedious ... yes.
Permanent configuration
Open a command line cmd (you do not need administrator privileges) and execute:
setx TEXINPUTS .;D:/transcripts//;
close command line, open a new and execute:
reg query HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment
pdflatex sampleforum.tex
In this way we have configured TEXINPUTSin your environment variable and now it is permeating.
If you need to delete TEXINPUTS from environment variable, use:
reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment /v TEXINPUTS /f
Alternatively this can be done in a graphical mode adjusting your environment variable.
Linux
I've saved it in ~/transcripts
Temporary configuration
in your command line execute:
export TEXINPUTS=.:~/transcripts//:
pdflatex sampleforum.tex
Permanent configuration
Add in your .bashrc the line:
export TEXINPUTS=.:~/transcripts//:
In both cases (Win/Linux) you do not need admin or root privileges, just a simple user account.
Another option would be to use tlmgr conf auxtrees, but the directory would have in TDS form.
Saludos
just in case someone else wants to replicate ... this line
mkdir -p transcripts/{2013-05/{2013-05-12/{2013-05-12-transcript1,2013-05-12-transcript2},2013-05-14/2013-05-14-transcript1},2013-06/2013-06-07/2013-06-07-transcript1}
it makes the job easier :)
Best Answer
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that we'd need more information. You can easily read a file one line at a time. The e-TeX extension
\readlineis especially helpful for reading files.How are these lines numbered? How many do you want to read at once? Are the lines sorted by these "specific numbers"? Is your list of numbers sorted? What else can you tell us about these lines?