LOOK(1) General Commands Manual 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.
LOOK(1)
