." Revised: Fri Mar 29 14:51:59 2002 by faith@acm.org
NAME
dict - DICT Protocol Client
SYNOPSIS
I dict word
I dict [options] [word]
I dict [options] dict://host:port/d:word:database
I 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.
dict
uses the system's default pager ($PAGER) to display responses. This
default behavior may be modified in the configuration file or on the
command line.
Exit status is 0 if operation succeeded, or non-zero otherwise.
See
EXIT STATUS
section.
OPTIONS
I -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. (This is a compile-time option, ./configure
--enable-dictorg, which is disabled by default.) 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.
I -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.
I -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.
R -m or --match
Instead of printing a definition, perform a match using the specified
strategy.
I -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.
R -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.
I -c file or --config file
Specify the configuration file. The default is to try
~/.dictrc
and
/etc/dict.conf (/etc/dictd/dict.conf on Debian systems),
using the first file that exists. If a specific configuration file is
specified, then the defaults will not be tried.
R -D or --dbs
Query the server and display a list of available databases.
R -S or --strats
Query the server and display a list of available search strategies.
R -H or --serverhelp
Query the server and display the help information that it provides.
I -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).
R -I or --serverinfo
Query the server and display information about the server.
R -M or --mime
Send
OPTION MIME
command to the server.
NOTE:
Server's capabilities are not checked.
R -a or --noauth
Disable authentication (i.e., don't send an AUTH command).
I -u user or --user user
Specifies the username for authentication.
I -k key or --key key
Specifies the shared secret for authentication.
R -V or --version
Display version information.
R -L or --license
Display copyright and license information.
--help
Display help information.
R -v or --verbose
Be verbose.
R -r or --raw
Be very verbose: show the raw client/server interaction.
I -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.
I --client text
Specifies additional text to be sent using the CLIENT command.
I --debug flag
Set a debugging flag. Valid flags are:
verbose
The same as
R -v or --verbose .
raw
The same as
R -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, and the compile-time option
(./configure --enable-dictorg) is enabled, then an attempt will be made to
connect on
localhost
and on
dict.org
at the standard part (2628). (This option is disabled by default.)
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
R pager ),
similar to the
--pager
option.
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 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.
When
OPTION MIME
command is sent to the server
(-M option)
, server's capabilities are not checked.
FILES
~/.dictrc
/etc/dict.conf (/etc/dictd/dict.conf on Debian systems.)
SEE ALSO
ČLÁNKY DO MAILU