NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     look - display lines beginning with a given string

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

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

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     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.

     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.

     The options are as follows:

     -d      Dictionary character set and order, i.e.,  only  alphanumeric characters
 are compared.

     -f      Ignore the case of alphabetic characters.

     -t termchar
             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, or >1 if an error occurred.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /usr/share/dict/words  the dictionary

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     grep(1), sort(1)

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

     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    [Toc]    [Back]

     The look command appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.

OpenBSD      3.6                           June      14,     1993