Code for parsing a key/value in in file from shell script

Question

I have a file that I need to look up a value by key using a shell script. The file looks like:

HereIsAKey This is the value

How can I do so

Answer 1

If the file is unsorted, lookups will be slow:

my_var=$( awk '/^HereIsAKey/ { $1=""; print $0; exit}' value-file )

If the file is sorted, you can get a faster lookup with

my_var=$( look HereIsAkey value-file | cut -d ' ' -f 2- )