This is not advisable for several reasons: first - as you noticed - field splitting will occur and may bite you in the behind. Second, there is a much easier way to do this, see below.

Not seeing your script i can only speculate but probably the problem was quoting (or, rather, the lack thereof). You probably did:

Code:

while read line ; do
     grep $line /some/file
done < /some/file_with_phrases

Notice that you always ALWAYS have to protect your variables - you don't go outside naked, they shouldn't be made to go outside unquoted. Do it like:

Code:

while read line ; do
     grep "$line" /some/file
done < /some/file_with_phrases

But there is a much better way and it doesn't even involve a script - TADAAAAHHHH:

Well, sometimes, when the time is right, i can make a little room in my busy schedule which is filled with coming up with witty formulations for heightening the suspense and avoiding to lead to a premature climax of this most interesting topic ......*)

...to come up with a single command that does it all: grep!

Do it like this:

Code:

grep -f /some/file_with/phrases /file/to/grep/in

and grep will read the file_with_phrases, line by line, then do a search in the other file for that line. Sounds like this is what you wanted, no? To find out more about how to use grep i suggest to peruse the man page. If you still have questions, you'll be welcome.

I hope this helps.

bakunin
__________
*) You might not believe it but i can prolong that for a nearly indefinite time.