LOOK(1) User Commands LOOK(1)
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 charac-
ters 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
Output 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/words
the dictionary
/usr/share/dict/web2
the alternative dictionary
SEE ALSO
grep(1), sort(1)
COMPATIBILITY
The original manual page stated that tabs and blank characters partici-
pated in comparisons when the alphanum option was specified. This was
incorrect, and the current man page matches the historic implementa-
tion.
HISTORY
The look utility appeared in Version 7 AT&T Unix.
AVAILABILITY
The look command is part of the util-linux package and is available
from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.
util-linux June 2011 LOOK(1)