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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/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 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 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.

       -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
              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
              Request information on the specified  database  (usually  the  server  will  provide  origination,
              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.

       --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 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.  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.

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
              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)