Quick Unix Tip: “Look”
You may already know about /usr/dict/words, /usr/local/share/dict/words, /usr/share/dict/words or wherever it is on your local system that the list of English-language words is installed. I don’t know how many times I have egrepped this file to check my spelling.
Apparently though, there’s been a handy command available since Version 7 AT&T UNIX. It is called “look” and it is handy for looking up words.
0-9:46 djh@otech ~> look spell spell spellable spellbind spellbinder spellbinding spellbound spellcraft spelldown speller spellful spelling spellingdown spellingly spellmonger spellproof spellword spellwork 0-13:06 djh@otech ~> look success success successful successfully successfulness succession successional successionally successionist successionless successive successively successiveness successivity successless successlessly successlessness successor successoral successorship successory
Not quite as powerful as egrep, but it saves you from having to recall the location of your local words file.
The dict command, available as a FreeBSD port, is not nearly as ubiquitous, but once installed, can be handy for looking up words.
0-13:10 djh@otech ~> look ubiquit
ubiquit
Ubiquitarian
ubiquitarian
Ubiquitarianism
ubiquitariness
ubiquitary
Ubiquitism
Ubiquitist
ubiquitous
ubiquitously
ubiquitousness
ubiquity
0-13:10 djh@otech ~> dict ubiquitous
2 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Ubiquitous U*biq"ui*tous, a. [See {Ubiquity}.]
Existing or being everywhere, or in all places, at the same
time; omnipresent. -- {U*biq"ui*tous*ly}, adv.
In this sense is he ubiquitous. --R. D.
Hitchcock.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
ubiquitous
adj : being present everywhere at once [syn: {omnipresent}]
