Flat file text import

I need text file import capabilities similar to that found in MS Access “Get External Data” tool. I have text files containing flat file dumps of database records. The data is columnar for the most part, but there are often seperation lines (date or location info) preceding each block of record data. Field name or column headers are not always there. I’m looking for a Java or C/C++ library that I can modify to fit my specific needs.