DICT(1) DICT(1)
🔖 NAME
dict - DICT Protocol Client
🚀 Quick Reference
| Use Case | Command | Description |
|---|
| 🔍 Look up a word | dict word | Search all databases for definition |
| 🧠 Match with strategy | dict -m -s strategy word | Perform match using given strategy |
| 📚 List databases | dict -D | Show available databases |
| 📋 List strategies | dict -S | Show available match strategies |
| 🆘 Server help | dict -H | Display server help information |
| ℹ️ Database info | dict -i dbname | Request information about a database |
| 🌍 Specify server | dict -h dict.org | Connect to specific DICT server |
| 🚫 No spelling correction | dict -C word | Disable automatic spelling correction |
📜 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/re‐
sponse 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.
⚙️ 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 in the configuration file 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 spec‐
ified 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 correc‐
tion 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/dictd/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.
ℹ️ -i dbname or --info dbname
Request information on the specified database (usually the server will provide origi‐
nation, 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.
4️⃣ -4
Forces dict to use IPv4 addresses only.
6️⃣ -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 mil‐
lion 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 Codes
- 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 AT cs.edu) and is distributed under the terms of the
GNU General Public License. If you need to distribute under other terms, write to the au‐
thor.
The main libraries used by this programs (zlib, regex, libmaa) are distributed under differ‐
ent 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 ig‐
nored.
If a
dict: URL contains a specifier for the nth definition or match of a word, it will be ig‐
nored 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 🏠
User's
dict configuration file
/etc/dictd/dict.conf 🌐
System
dict configuration file
📚 SEE ALSO
dictd(8),
dictzip(1),
http://www.dict.org, RFC 2229
