1DICT(1)                                                                DICT(1)
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NAME

6       dict - DICT Protocol Client
7

SYNOPSIS

9       dict word
10       dict [options] [word]
11       dict [options] dict://host:port/d:word:database
12       dict [options] dict://host:port/m:word:database:strategy
13

DESCRIPTION

15       dict  is  a  client  for  the  Dictionary Server Protocol (DICT), a TCP
16       transaction based query/response protocol that provides access to  dic‐
17       tionary  definitions  from  a  set of natural language dictionary data‐
18       bases.  Exit status is 0 if operation succeeded, or non-zero otherwise.
19       See EXIT STATUS section.
20
21

OPTIONS

23       -h server or --host server
24              Specifies the hostname for the DICT server.  Server/port  combi‐
25              nations  can  be  specified  in  the  configuration file.  If no
26              servers are specified in the configuration file  or  or  on  the
27              command  line,  dict will fail.  (This is a compile-time option,
28              ./configure --enable-dictorg, which is disabled by default.)  If
29              IP  lookup  for  a  server expands to a list of IP addresses (as
30              dict.org does currently), then each IP  will  be  tried  in  the
31              order listed.
32
33       -p service or --port service
34              Specifies the port (e.g., 2628) or service (e.g., dict) for con‐
35              nections.  The default is 2628, as specified in the DICT  Proto‐
36              col  RFC.  Server/port combinations can be specified in the con‐
37              figuration file.
38
39       -d dbname or --database dbname
40              Specifies a specific database to  search.   The  default  is  to
41              search  all databases (a "*" from the DICT protocol).  Note that
42              a "!" in the DICT protocol means to search all of the  databases
43              until a match is found, and then stop searching.
44
45       -m or --match
46              Instead  of  printing  a  definition,  perform a match using the
47              specified strategy.
48
49       -s strategy or --strategy strategy
50              Specify a matching strategy.  By  default,  the  server  default
51              match  strategy  is  used.   This is usually "exact" for defini‐
52              tions, and some form of spelling-correction strategy for matches
53              ("."  from  the  DICT  protocol).   The available strategies are
54              dependent on the server implementation.  For a list of available
55              strategies, see the -S or --strats option.
56
57       -C or --nocorrect
58              Usually,  if  a  definition  is requested and the word cannot be
59              found, spelling correction is requested from the server,  and  a
60              list  of  possible words are provided.  This option disables the
61              generation of this list.
62
63       -c file or --config file
64              Specify the configuration file.  The default is to try ~/.dictrc
65              and /etc/dict.conf, using the first file that exists.  If a spe‐
66              cific configuration file is specified, then  the  defaults  will
67              not be tried.
68
69       -D or --dbs
70              Query the server and display a list of available databases.
71
72       -S or --strats
73              Query  the server and display a list of available search strate‐
74              gies.
75
76       -H or --serverhelp
77              Query the server and display the help information that  it  pro‐
78              vides.
79
80       -i dbname or --info dbname
81              Request  information  on  the  specified  database  (usually the
82              server will provide origination, descriptive, or other  informa‐
83              tion about the database or its contents).
84
85       -I or --serverinfo
86              Query the server and display information about the server.
87
88       -M or --mime
89              Send OPTION MIME command to the server.
90              NOTE: Server's capabilities are not checked.
91
92
93       -f or --formatted
94              Enables  formatted  output,  i.e. output convenient for postpro‐
95              cessing by standard UNIX utilities. No, it is not XML  ;-)  Also
96              error and warning messages like
97               "  No  matches...",  "  Invalid  strategy..."  etc. are sent to
98              stderr, not to stdout.
99              Format:
100               -I, -i, -H and similar:
101                  host<TAB>port
102                  <SPC><SPC>line1
103                  <SPC><SPC>line2
104                  ...
105               -S:
106                  host<TAB>port<TAB>strategy1<TAB>short description1
107                  host<TAB>port<TAB>strategy2<TAB>short description2
108                  ...
109               -D:
110                  host<TAB>port<TAB>database1<TAB>database description1
111                  host<TAB>port<TAB>database2<TAB>database description2
112                  ...
113               -m:
114                  host<TAB>port<TAB>database1<TAB>match1
115                  host<TAB>port<TAB>database2<TAB>match2
116                  ...
117
118
119       -a or --noauth
120              Disable authentication (i.e., don't send an AUTH command).
121
122       -u user or --user user
123              Specifies the username for authentication.
124
125       -k key or --key key
126              Specifies the shared secret for authentication.
127
128       -V or --version
129              Display version information.
130
131       -L or --license
132              Display copyright and license information.
133
134       --help Display help information.
135
136       -v or --verbose
137              Be verbose.
138
139       -r or --raw
140              Be very verbose: show the raw client/server interaction.
141
142       --pipesize
143              Specify the buffer size for pipelineing commands.   The  default
144              is  256,  which  should  be  sufficient for general tasks and be
145              below the MTU for most transport media.  Larger values may  pro‐
146              vide faster or slower throughput, depending on MTU.  If the buf‐
147              fer is too small, requests will be serialized.  Values less than
148              0 and greater than one million are silently changed to something
149              more reasonable.
150
151       --client text
152              Specifies additional text to be sent using the CLIENT command.
153
154       --debug flag
155              Set a debugging flag.  Valid flags are:
156
157              verbose
158                     The same as -v or --verbose.
159
160              raw    The same as -r or --raw.
161
162              scan   Debug the scanner for the configuration file.
163
164              parse  Debug the parser for the configuration file.
165
166              pipe   Debug TCP  pipelining  support  (see  the  DICT  RFC  and
167                     RFC1854).
168
169              serial Disable pipelining support.
170
171              time   Perform transaction timing.
172

CONFIGURATION

174       The  configuration  file currently has a very simple format.  Lines are
175       used to specify servers, for example:
176              server dict.org
177       or, with options:
178              server dict.org { port 8080 }
179              server dict.org { user username secret }
180              server dict.org { port dict user username secret }
181       the port and user options may be specified  in  any  order.   The  port
182       option  is  used  to  specify  an optional port (e.g., 2628) or service
183       (e.g., dict) for the TCP/IP connection.  The user  option  is  used  to
184       specify  a  username and shared secret to be used for authentication to
185       this particular server.
186
187       Servers are tried in the order listed until a connection is  made.   If
188       none  of  the  specified  servers  are  available, and the compile-time
189       option (./configure --enable-dictorg) is enabled, then an attempt  will
190       be  made  to  connect on localhost and on dict.org at the standard part
191       (2628).  (This option is disabled by default.)  We expect that dict.org
192       will point to one or more DICT servers (perhaps in round-robin fashion)
193       for the foreseeable future (starting in July 1997), although it is dif‐
194       ficult  to  predict  anything  on  the Internet for more than about 3-6
195       months.
196

EXIT STATUS

198        0  Successful completion
199
200        20 No matches found
201        21 Approximate matches found
202        22 No databases available
203        23 No strategies available
204
205        30 Unexpected response code from server
206        31 Server is temporarily unavailable
207        32 Server is shutting down
208        33 Syntax error, command not recognized
209        34 Syntax error, illegal parameters
210        35 Command not implemented
211        36 Command parameter not implemented
212        37 Access denied
213        38 Authentication failed
214        39 Invalid database
215        40 Invalid strategy
216        41 Connection to server failed
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218

CREDITS

220       dict was written by Rik Faith  (faith@cs.unc.edu)  and  is  distributed
221       under the terms of the GNU General Public License.  If you need to dis‐
222       tribute under other terms, write to the author.
223
224       The main libraries used by this programs (zlib, regex, libmaa) are dis‐
225       tributed under different terms, so you may be able to use the libraries
226       for applications which are incompatible with the GPL -- please see  the
227       copyright  notices and license information that come with the libraries
228       for more information, and consult with your attorney to  resolve  these
229       issues.
230

BUGS

232       If  a  dict:  URL  is  given on the command line, only the first one is
233       used.  The rest are ignored.
234
235       If a dict: URL contains a specifier for the nth definition or match  of
236       a  word,  it will be ignored and all the definitions or matches will be
237       provided.  This violates the RFC, and will be  corrected  in  a  future
238       release.
239
240       If  a  dict:  URL  contains a shared secret, it will not be parsed cor‐
241       rectly.
242
243       When OPTION MIME command is sent to the server (-M option)  ,  server's
244       capabilities are not checked.
245

FILES

247       ~/.dictrc
248              User's dict configuration file
249
250       /etc/dict.conf
251              System dict configuration file
252

SEE ALSO

254       dictd(8), dictzip(1), http://www.dict.org, RFC 2229
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258                               15 February 1998                        DICT(1)
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