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DICT(1) DICT(1)

📖 NAME

dict - DICT Protocol Client

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
🔍 Look up a word definition	dict word	Search all databases for the definition of word.
📚 List available databases	dict -D	Query the server and display a list of available databases.
🔬 List available strategies	dict -S	Query the server and display a list of search strategies.
🔎 Match words using a strategy	dict -m -s strategy word	Perform a match using the specified strategy (e.g., "prefix", "substring").
🖥️ Get server info	dict -I	Display information about the server.
🌐 Use a specific server	dict -h server -p port word	Specify hostname and port for the DICT server.
📁 Use a specific database	dict -d dbname word	Search only the specified database.

🔧 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. Exit status is 0 if operation succeeded, or non-zero otherwise. See 🚪 Exit Codes 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 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 — ❌ Disable spelling correction. 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/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.
• -i dbname or --info dbname — ℹ️ Request information on the specified database (usually the server will provide origin, 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 — ℹ️ Display version information.
• -L or --license — ©️ Display copyright and license information.
• -4 — 4️⃣ Forces dict to use IPv4 addresses only.
• -6 — 6️⃣ 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 pipelining 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.

🚪 Exit Codes

Exit Code	Meaning
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 author.

The main libraries used by this program (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 — 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

15 February 1998 DICT(1)

📖 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 🔧 SYNOPSIS 📝 DESCRIPTION ⚙️ OPTIONS 🛠️ CONFIGURATION 🚪 Exit Codes 🙏 CREDITS 🐛 BUGS 📁 FILES 🔗 SEE ALSO