GSP
Quick Navigator

Search Site

Unix VPS
A - Starter
B - Basic
C - Preferred
D - Commercial
MPS - Dedicated
Previous VPSs
* Sign Up! *

Support
Contact Us
Online Help
Handbooks
Domain Status
Man Pages

FAQ
Virtual Servers
Pricing
Billing
Technical

Network
Facilities
Connectivity
Topology Map

Miscellaneous
Server Agreement
Year 2038
Credits
 

USA Flag

 

 

Man Pages
DICT(1) DICT(1)

dict - DICT Protocol Client

dict word

dict [options] [word]
dict [options] dict://host:port/d:word:database
dict [options] dict://host:port/m:word:database:strategy

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. Exit status is 0 if operation succeeded, or non-zero otherwise.
See EXIT STATUS section.

-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 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 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 implementation. 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 /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.

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.

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

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.

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.

When OPTION MIME command is sent to the server (-M option) , server's capabilities are not checked.

~/.dictrc
User's dict configuration file
/usr/local/etc/dict.conf
System dict configuration file

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

Search for    or go to Top of page |  Section 1 |  Main Index

Powered by GSP Visit the GSP FreeBSD Man Page Interface.
Output converted with ManDoc.