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Name

look - display lines beginning with a given string

Synopsis

look [options] string [file]

Description

The look utility displays any lines in file which contain string. 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

-a, --alternative
Use the alternative dictionary file.
-d, --alphanum
Use normal dictionary character set and order, i.e. only alphanumeric characters are compared. (This is on by default if no file is specified.)
-f, --ignore-case
Ignore the case of alphabetic characters. (This is on by default if no file is specified.)
-t, --terminate character
Specify a string termination character, i.e. only the characters in string up to and including the first occurrence of character are compared.
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
-V, --version
Display version information and exit.

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.

Example


sort -d /etc/passwd -o /tmp/look.dict
look -t: root:foobar /tmp/look.dict

Files /usr/share/dict/wordsthe dictionary /usr/share/dict/web2the alternative
dictionary See Alsogrep(1), sort(1) CompatibilityThe original manual page
stated that tabs and blank characters participated in comparisons when
the alphanum option was specified.  This was incorrect, and the current
man page matches the historic implementation. HistoryThe look utility appeared
in Version 7 AT&T Unix. AvailabilityThe look command is part of the util-linux
package and is available from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.