DICT(1) DICT(1) NAME dict - DICT Protocol Client SYNOPSIS dict word dict [options] [word] dict [options] dict://host:port/d:word:database dict [options] dict://host:port/m:word:database:strategy DESCRIPTION dict is a client for the Dictionary Server Protocol (DICT), a TCP transac- tion based query/response protocol that provides access to dictionary defi- nitions from a set of natural language dictionary databases. Exit status is 0 if operation succeeded, or non-zero otherwise. See EXIT STATUS section. OPTIONS -h server or --host server Specifies the hostname for the DICT server. Server/port combina- tions can be specified in the configuration file. If no servers are specified in the configuration file or or on the command line, dict will fail. If IP lookup for a server expands to a list of IP ad- dresses (as dict.org does currently), then each IP will be tried in the order listed. -p service or --port service Specifies the port (e.g., 2628) or service (e.g., dict) for connec- tions. The default is 2628, as specified in the DICT Protocol RFC. Server/port combinations can be specified in the configuration file. -d dbname or --database dbname Specifies a specific database to search. The default is to search all databases (a "*" from the DICT protocol). Note that a "!" in the DICT protocol means to search all of the databases until a match is found, and then stop searching. -m or --match Instead of printing a definition, perform a match using the speci- fied strategy. -s strategy or --strategy strategy Specify a matching strategy. By default, the server default match strategy is used. This is usually "exact" for definitions, and some form of spelling-correction strategy for matches ("." from the DICT protocol). The available strategies are dependent on the server im- plementation. For a list of available strategies, see the -S or --strats option. -C or --nocorrect Usually, if a definition is requested and the word cannot be found, spelling correction is requested from the server, and a list of pos- sible words are provided. This option disables the generation of this list. -c file or --config file Specify the configuration file. The default is to try ~/.dictrc and /usr/local/etc/dict.conf, using the first file that exists. If a specific configuration file is specified, then the defaults will not be tried. -D or --dbs Query the server and display a list of available databases. -S or --strats Query the server and display a list of available search strategies. -H or --serverhelp Query the server and display the help information that it provides. -i dbname or --info dbname Request information on the specified database (usually the server will provide origination, descriptive, or other information about the database or its contents). -I or --serverinfo Query the server and display information about the server. -M or --mime Send OPTION MIME command to the server. NOTE: Server's capabilities are not checked. -f or --formatted Enables formatted output, i.e. output convenient for postprocessing by standard UNIX utilities. No, it is not XML ;-) Also error and warning messages like " No matches...", " Invalid strategy..." etc. are sent to stderr, not to stdout. Format: -I, -i, -H and similar: host<TAB>port <SPC><SPC>line1 <SPC><SPC>line2 ... -S: host<TAB>port<TAB>strategy1<TAB>short description1 host<TAB>port<TAB>strategy2<TAB>short description2 ... -D: host<TAB>port<TAB>database1<TAB>database description1 host<TAB>port<TAB>database2<TAB>database description2 ... -m: host<TAB>port<TAB>database1<TAB>match1 host<TAB>port<TAB>database2<TAB>match2 ... -a or --noauth Disable authentication (i.e., don't send an AUTH command). -u user or --user user Specifies the username for authentication. -k key or --key key Specifies the shared secret for authentication. -V or --version Display version information. -L or --license Display copyright and license information. -4 Forces dict to use IPv4 addresses only. -6 Forces dict to use IPv6 addresses only. --help Display help information. -v or --verbose Be verbose. -r or --raw Be very verbose: show the raw client/server interaction. --pipesize Specify the buffer size for pipelineing commands. The default is 256, which should be sufficient for general tasks and be below the MTU for most transport media. Larger values may provide faster or slower throughput, depending on MTU. If the buffer is too small, requests will be serialized. Values less than 0 and greater than one million are silently changed to something more reasonable. --client text Specifies additional text to be sent using the CLIENT command. --debug flag Set a debugging flag. Valid flags are: verbose The same as -v or --verbose. raw The same as -r or --raw. scan Debug the scanner for the configuration file. parse Debug the parser for the configuration file. pipe Debug TCP pipelining support (see the DICT RFC and RFC1854). serial Disable pipelining support. time Perform transaction timing. CONFIGURATION The configuration file currently has a very simple format. Lines are used to specify servers, for example: server dict.org or, with options: server dict.org { port 8080 } server dict.org { user username secret } server dict.org { port dict user username secret } the port and user options may be specified in any order. The port option is used to specify an optional port (e.g., 2628) or service (e.g., dict) for the TCP/IP connection. The user option is used to specify a username and shared secret to be used for authentication to this particular server. Servers are tried in the order listed until a connection is made. EXIT STATUS 0 Successful completion 20 No matches found 21 Approximate matches found 22 No databases available 23 No strategies available 30 Unexpected response code from server 31 Server is temporarily unavailable 32 Server is shutting down 33 Syntax error, command not recognized 34 Syntax error, illegal parameters 35 Command not implemented 36 Command parameter not implemented 37 Access denied 38 Authentication failed 39 Invalid database 40 Invalid strategy 41 Connection to server failed CREDITS dict was written by Rik Faith (faith@cs.unc.edu) and is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License. If you need to distribute un- der other terms, write to the author. The main libraries used by this programs (zlib, regex, libmaa) are distrib- uted under different terms, so you may be able to use the libraries for ap- plications which are incompatible with the GPL -- please see the copyright notices and license information that come with the libraries for more in- formation, and consult with your attorney to resolve these issues. BUGS If a dict: URL is given on the command line, only the first one is used. The rest are ignored. If a dict: URL contains a specifier for the nth definition or match of a word, it will be ignored and all the definitions or matches will be pro- vided. This violates the RFC, and will be corrected in a future release. If a dict: URL contains a shared secret, it will not be parsed correctly. When OPTION MIME command is sent to the server (-M option) , server's capa- bilities are not checked. FILES ~/.dictrc User's dict configuration file /usr/local/etc/dict.conf System dict configuration file SEE ALSO dictd(8), dictzip(1), http://www.dict.org, RFC 2229 15 February 1998 DICT(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | CONFIGURATION | EXIT STATUS | CREDITS | BUGS | FILES | SEE ALSO
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