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LOOK(1)			  BSD General Commands Manual		       LOOK(1)

NAME
     look -- display lines beginning with a given string

SYNOPSIS
     look [-df]	[-t termchar] string [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
     The look utility displays any lines in file which contain string as a
     prefix.  As look performs a binary	search,	the lines in file must be
     sorted.

     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:

     -d	     Dictionary	character set and order, i.e. only alphanumeric	char-
	     acters are	compared.

     -f	     Ignore the	case of	alphabetic characters.

     -t	     Specify a string termination character, i.e. only the characters
	     in	string up to and including the first occurrence	of termchar
	     are compared.

     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.

FILES
     /usr/share/dict/words  the	dictionary

SEE ALSO
     grep(1), sort(1)

COMPATIBILITY
     The original manual page stated that tabs and blank characters partici-
     pated in comparisons when the -d option was specified.  This was incor-
     rect and the current man page matches the historic	implementation.

HISTORY
     A look utility appeared in	Version	7 AT&T UNIX.

BSD				 June 14, 1993				   BSD

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | FILES | SEE ALSO | COMPATIBILITY | HISTORY

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