diff --git a/bin/look b/bin/look
index 994e7a1a..1cbf3c20 100755
--- a/bin/look
+++ b/bin/look
@@ -16,20 +16,24 @@ License: perl
 
 use strict;
 use locale;
+
+use File::Basename qw(basename);
+use Getopt::Std qw(getopts);
 use Search::Dict;
 
-END {
-    close STDOUT || die "$0: can't close stdout: $!\n";
-    $? = 1 if $? == 255;  # from die
-}
+use constant EX_SUCCESS => 0;
+use constant EX_FAILURE => 1;
+
+my $Program = basename($0);
 
 sub usage {
-    warn "$0: @_\n" if @_;
-    die "usage: $0 [-df] string [file ...]\n";
+    warn "usage: $Program [-df] string [file]\n";
+    exit EX_FAILURE;
 }
 
 my (
     @dicts,     # file list
+    $filearg,   # optional file argument
     $search,    # the string to look for
     %opt,       # option hash
     $opened,    # did we ever open something?
@@ -37,16 +41,7 @@ my (
     $def_dict,  # did we use the default dict list?
 );
 
-@opt{ qw/d f/ } = (0, 0);
-
-while ($ARGV[0] =~ /^-/) {
-    $ARGV[0] =~ s/^-//;
-    for my $flag (split(//,$ARGV[0])) {
-    usage("unknown flag: `$flag'") unless 'df' =~ /\Q$flag/;
-        warn "$0: `$flag' flag already set\n" if $opt{$flag}++;
-    }
-    shift;
-}
+getopts('df', \%opt) or usage();
 
 @dicts = qw(
     /usr/dict/words
@@ -56,9 +51,18 @@ while ($ARGV[0] =~ /^-/) {
 $opened = $found = 0;
 
 $search = shift;
-
+if (!defined($search)) {
+    warn "$Program: missing search pattern\n";
+    usage();
+}
+$filearg = shift;
 if (@ARGV) {
-    @dicts = @ARGV;
+    warn "$Program: extra argument: '$ARGV[0]'\n";
+    usage();
+}
+
+if (defined $filearg) {
+    @dicts = ($filearg);
     $def_dict = 0;
 } else {
     @opt{ qw/d f/ } = (1, 1);
@@ -68,9 +72,12 @@ if (@ARGV) {
 $search = squish($search);
 
 FILE: for my $file (@dicts) {
-
+    if (-d $file) {
+        warn "$Program: '$file' is a directory\n";
+        next FILE;
+    }
     unless (open(DICT, '<', $file)) {
-        warn "$0: can't open $file: $!\n" unless $def_dict;
+        warn "$Program: can't open '$file': $!\n" unless $def_dict;
         next FILE;
     }
 
@@ -89,7 +96,10 @@ LINE:
             last LINE;
         }
     }
-    close(DICT) || die "can't close $file: $!";
+    if (!close(DICT)) {
+        warn "$Program: can't close '$file': $!\n";
+        exit EX_FAILURE;
+    }
     last FILE;
 }
 
@@ -99,7 +109,7 @@ if ($opened == 0) {
     exit 2;
 }
 
-exit($found == 0 ? 1 : 0);
+exit($found == 0 ? EX_FAILURE : EX_SUCCESS);
 
 sub squish {
     my $str = shift;
@@ -117,7 +127,7 @@ look - find lines in a sorted list
 
 =head1 SYNOPSIS
 
-look [ -df ] I<string> [ I<file> ... ]
+    look [-df] string [file]
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION