DICT

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 transaction based query/response protocol that provides access to dictionary definitions from a set of natural language dictionary databases.

OPTIONS

-h server or --host server

Specifies the hostname for the DICT server. Server/port combinations can be specified in the configuration file. If no servers are specified the default behavior is to try dict.org, alt0.dict.org, alt1.dict.org, and alt2.dict.org, in that order. If IP lookup for a server expands to a list of IP addresses (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 connections. 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 specified 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 implemenation. 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 possible 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 /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.

-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.

--help

Display help information.

-v or --verbose

Be verbose.

-r or --raw

Be very verbose: show the raw client/server interaction.

-P program or --pager program

Specify program to use as pager. Use "-" for none.

--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. If none of the specified servers are available, then an attempt will be made to connect on localhost and on dict.org at the standard part (2628). We expect that dict.org will point to one or more DICT servers (perhaps in round-robin fashion) for the foreseeable future (starting in July 1997), although it is difficult to predict anything on the Internet for more than about 3-6 months. The configuration file also allows the setting of a pager (keyword pager), similar to the --pager option.

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 under other terms, write to the author. The main libraries used by this programs (zlib, regex, libmaa) are distributed under different terms, so you may be able to use the libraries for applications which are incompatible with the GPL -- please see the copyright notices and license information that come with the libraries for more information, 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 provided. 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.

FILES

~/.dictrc
/etc/dict.conf