phpman > man > dict(1)

Markdown | JSON | MCP    

TLDR: dict (tldr-pages)

Dictionary that uses the DICT protocol.

  • List available databases
    dict {{-D|--dbs}}
  • Get information about a database
    dict {{-i|--info}} {{database_name}}
  • Look up a word in a specific database
    dict {{-d|--database}} {{database_name}} {{word}}
  • Look up a word in all available databases
    dict {{word}}
  • Show information about the DICT server
    dict {{-I|--serverinfo}}
DICT(1)                                                                                      DICT(1)



NAME
       dict - DICT Protocol Client

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.

       -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.

       -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  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 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 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



                                          15 February 1998                                   DICT(1)
dict(1)
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION OPTIONS
-h server or --host server -p service or --port service -d dbname or --database dbname -m or --match -s strategy or --strategy strategy -C or --nocorrect -c file or --config file -D or --dbs -S or --strats -H or --serverhelp -i dbname or --info dbname -I or --serverinfo -M or --mime -f or --formatted -a or --noauth -u user or --user user -k key or --key key -V or --version -L or --license -4 Forces dict to use IPv4 addresses only. -6 Forces dict to use IPv6 addresses only. -v or --verbose -r or --raw --pipesize
CONFIGURATION EXIT STATUS CREDITS BUGS FILES SEE ALSO

Generated by phpman local Author: Che Dong Under GNU General Public License
2026-06-15 06:44 @216.73.216.200
CrawledBy Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
Valid XHTML 1.0 TransitionalValid CSS!

^_back to top