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| Chapter 27 Searching Through Files |

## 27.18 Fast Searches and Spelling Checks with "look"

Every so often, someone has designed a new, faster grep-type program. Public domain software archives have more than a few of them. One of the fastest search programs has been around for years: look. It uses a binary search method that's very fast. But look won't solve all your problems: it works only on files that have been sorted (36.1). If you have a big file or database that can be sorted, searching it with look will save a lot of time. For example, to search for all lines that start with Alpha:

>     % look Alpha filename
>     Alpha particle
>     Alphanumeric

look | The look program can also be used to check the spelling of a word or find a related word; see article 29.3. If you don't have look installed on your system, you can get it from the CD-ROM.

- JP

27.17 Finding a Character in a Column |  | 27.19 Finding Words Inside Binary Files