I originally that you wanted to match the whole sentence ($1-) against lines in a file, in which case $read would be enough (the loop on lines is made by $read when using the 'w' switch), but if you want to check each word in the sentence against lines in a file, you would need $read + a loop like it was shown.
In that code, to add what you want with the wildcard, you would use $+() (or $+, where "a $+ b" is "ab" and is equivalent to $+(a,b) : $+(*,$gettok(...),*), *$gettok(...)* wouldn't get mirc to evaluate the $gettok since there is a * before, it's just a litteral string.
From you first edit in your last post, it looks like you want to check each line in the file against the unique word entered ($1- is only one word), your second edit suggests you're using an inefficient method, if you could clarify with an concrete example what you want to do, we might give you better alternative.
