NAME

look − find lines in a sorted list

SYNOPSIS

look [ -dfnix ] [ -r endkey ] [ -tc ] [ string ] [ file ]

DESCRIPTION

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

The following options are recognised:

-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. 

-r endkey
Limit the range of matching values, to include the word endkey but no larger values. 

-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

/appl/cmd/look.b

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.