look - Unix, Linux Command

NAME

look - display lines beginning with a given string

SYNOPSIS

look [-dfa] [-t termchar] string [file]

DESCRIPTION

The look utility displays any lines in file which contain string as a prefix. As look performs a binary search, the lines in file must be sorted (where sort(1) got the same options -d and/or -f that look is invoked with).

If file is not specified, the file /usr/share/dict/words is used, only alphanumeric characters are compared and the case of alphabetic characters is ignored.

Options:

Tag	Description
-d	Dictionary character set and order, i.e. only alphanumeric characters are compared.
-f	Ignore the case of alphabetic characters.
-a	Use the alternate dictionary `/usr/share/dict/web2`
-t	Specify a string termination character, i.e. only the characters in string up to and including the first occurrence of termchar are compared.

The look utility exits 0 if one or more lines were found and displayed, 1 if no lines were found, and >1 if an error occurred.

FILES

Tag	Description
`/usr/share/dict/words`
	the dictionary
`/usr/share/dict/web2`	the alternate dictionary

COMPATIBILITY

The original manual page stated that tabs and blank characters participated in comparisons when the -d option was specified. This was incorrect and the current man page matches the historic implementation.

HISTORY

Look appeared in Version 7 AT&T Unix.