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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "DICT 1p"
.TH DICT 1p "2022-10-15" "perl v5.34.0" "User Contributed Perl Documentation"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
.if n .ad l
.nh
.SH "NAME"
pdict \- a perl client for accessing network dictionary servers
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
\&\fBpdict\fR [\s-1OPTIONS\s0] \fIword\fR
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
\&\fBpdict\fR is a client for the Dictionary server protocol (\s-1DICT\s0),
which is used to query natural language dictionaries hosted on
a remote machine.  When used in the most simple way,
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    % pdict word
.Ve
.PP
\&\fBpdict\fR will look for definitions of \fIword\fR in the dictionaries
hosted at \fBdict.org\fR. If no definitions are found, then dict
will look for words which are similar, and list them:
.PP
.Vb 3
\&    % pdict bonana
\&      no definition for "bonana" \- perhaps you meant:
\&        banana, bonanza, Banana, Bonanza, Bonasa
.Ve
.PP
This feature is only available if the remote \s-1DICT\s0 server supports
the \fIsoundex\fR or \fILevenshtein\fR matching strategies.
You can use the \fB\-stats\fR switch to find out for yourself.
.PP
You can specify the hostname of the \s-1DICT\s0 server using the \fB\-h\fR option:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    % pdict \-h dict.org dictionary
.Ve
.PP
A \s-1DICT\s0 server can support a number of databases;
you can use the \fB\-d\fR option to specify a particular database.
For example, you can look up computer-related terms
in the Free On-line Dictionary Of Computing (\s-1FOLDOC\s0) using:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    % pdict \-h dict.org \-d foldoc byte
.Ve
.PP
To find out what databases (dictionaries) are available on
a server, use the \fB\-dbs\fR option:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    % pdict \-dbs
.Ve
.PP
There are many dictionaries hosted on other servers around the net;
a list of some of them can be found at
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    http://www.dict.org/links.html
.Ve
.SS "\s-1MATCHING\s0"
.IX Subsection "MATCHING"
Instead of requesting word definitions, you can use pdict
to request a list of words which match a pattern.
For example, to look for four-letter words starting in 'b'
and ending in 'p', you would use:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    % pdict \-match \-strategy re \*(Aq^b..p$\*(Aq
.Ve
.PP
The \fB\-match\fR option says you want a list of matching words rather
than a definition.
The \fB\-strategy re\fR says to use \s-1POSIX\s0 regular expressions
when matching the pattern \fB^b..p$\fR.
.PP
Most \s-1DICT\s0 servers support a number of matching strategies;
you can get a list of the strategies provided by a server
using the \fB\-strats\fR switch:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    % pdict \-h dict.org \-strats
.Ve
.SH "OPTIONS"
.IX Header "OPTIONS"
.IP "\fB\-h\fR \fIserver\fR or \fB\-host\fR \fIserver\fR" 4
.IX Item "-h server or -host server"
The hostname for the \s-1DICT\s0 server. If one isn't specified
then defaults to \fBdict.org\fR.
.IP "\fB\-p\fR \fIport\fR or \fB\-port\fR \fIport\fR" 4
.IX Item "-p port or -port port"
Specify the port for connections (default is 2628, from \s-1RFC 2229\s0).
.IP "\fB\-d\fR \fIdbname\fR or \fB\-database\fR \fIdbname\fR" 4
.IX Item "-d dbname or -database dbname"
The name of a specific database (dictionary) to query.
.IP "\fB\-m\fR or \fB\-match\fR" 4
.IX Item "-m or -match"
Look for words which match the pattern (using the specified strategy).
.IP "\fB\-i\fR \fIdbname\fR or \fB\-info\fR \fIdbname\fR" 4
.IX Item "-i dbname or -info dbname"
Request information on the specified database.
Typically results in a couple of pages of text.
.IP "\fB\-c\fR \fIstring\fR or \fB\-client\fR \fIstring\fR" 4
.IX Item "-c string or -client string"
Specify the \s-1CLIENT\s0 identification string sent to the \s-1DICT\s0 server.
.IP "\fB\-D\fR or \fB\-dbs\fR" 4
.IX Item "-D or -dbs"
List the available databases (dictionaries) on the \s-1DICT\s0 server.
.IP "\fB\-s\fR \fIstrategy\fR or \fB\-strategy\fR \fIstrategy\fR" 4
.IX Item "-s strategy or -strategy strategy"
Specify a matching strategy. Used in combination with \fB\-match\fR.
.IP "\fB\-S\fR or \fB\-strats\fR" 4
.IX Item "-S or -strats"
List the matching strategies (used in \-strategy) supported
by the \s-1DICT\s0 server.
.IP "\fB\-I\fR or \fB\-serverinfo\fR" 4
.IX Item "-I or -serverinfo"
Request information on the selected \s-1DICT\s0 server.
.IP "\fB\-help\fR" 4
.IX Item "-help"
Display a short help message including command-line options.
.IP "\fB\-doc\fR" 4
.IX Item "-doc"
Display the full documentation for \fBpdict\fR.
.IP "\fB\-version\fR" 4
.IX Item "-version"
Display the version of \fBpdict\fR
.IP "\fB\-verbose\fR" 4
.IX Item "-verbose"
Display verbose information as \fBpdict\fR runs.
.IP "\fB\-debug\fR" 4
.IX Item "-debug"
Display debugging information as \fBpdict\fR runs.
Useful mainly for developers.
.SH "KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS"
.IX Header "KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS"
.IP "\(bu" 4
\&\fBpdict\fR doesn't know how to handle firewalls.
.IP "\(bu" 4
The authentication aspects of \s-1RFC 2229\s0 aren't currently supported.
.IP "\(bu" 4
Display of list results (eg from \fB\-strats\fR and \fB\-dbs\fR) could be better.
.IP "\(bu" 4
\&\fBpdict\fR isn't very smart at handling combinations of options.
.IP "\(bu" 4
Currently no support for a configuration file \- will add one soon.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
.IP "www.dict.org" 4
.IX Item "www.dict.org"
The \s-1DICT\s0 home page, with all sorts of useful information.
There are a number of other \s-1DICT\s0 clients available.
.IP "dict" 4
.IX Item "dict"
The C dict client written by Rik Faith;
the options are pretty much lifted from Rik's client.
.IP "\s-1RFC 2229\s0" 4
.IX Item "RFC 2229"
The document which defines the \s-1DICT\s0 network protocol.
.Sp
http://www.cis.ohio\-state.edu/htbin/rfc/rfc2229.html
.IP "Net::Dict" 4
.IX Item "Net::Dict"
The perl module which implements the client \s-1API\s0 for \s-1RFC 2229.\s0
.SH "VERSION"
.IX Header "VERSION"
\&\f(CW$Revision:\fR 1.2 $
.SH "AUTHOR"
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
Neil Bowers <neil@bowers.com>
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
Copyright (C) 2002 Neil Bowers. All rights reserved.
.PP
This script is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.