LOOK(1)LOOK(1)

NAME

look – find lines in a sorted list

SYNOPSIS

look [ -dfnixtc ] [ string ] [ file ]

DESCRIPTION

Look consults a sorted file and prints all lines that begin with string. It uses binary search.

The following options are recognized. Options dfnt affect comparisons as in sort(1).

-i

Interactive. There is no string argument; instead look takes lines from the standard input as strings to be looked up.  

-x

Exact. Print only lines of the file whose key matches string exactly.  

-d

‘Directory’ order: only letters, digits, tabs and blanks participate in comparisons.  

-f

Fold. Upper case letters compare equal to lower case.  

-n

Numeric comparison with initial string of digits, optional minus sign, and optional decimal point.  

-t[c]

Character c terminates the sort key in the file. By default, tab terminates the key. If c is missing the entire line comprises the key.  

If no file is specified, /lib/words is assumed, with collating sequence df.

FILES

/lib/words

SOURCE

/sys/src/cmd/look.c

SEE ALSO

sort(1), grep(1)

DIAGNOSTICS

The exit status is not found if no match is found, and no dictionary if file or the default dictionary cannot be opened.