DICT(7)                                                   DICT(7)

     NAME
          dict - dictionary browser

     SYNOPSIS
          dict [ -k ] [ -d dictname ] [ -c command ] [ pattern ]

     DESCRIPTION
          Dict is a dictionary browser.  If a pattern is given on the
          command line, dict prints all matching entries; otherwise it
          repeatedly accepts and executes commands.  The options are

          -d dictname  Use the given dictionary.  The default is oed,
                       the second edition of the Oxford English Dic-
                       tionary.  A list of available dictionaries is
                       printed by option -d?.
          -c command   Execute one command and quit.  The command syn-
                       tax is described below.
          -k           Print a pronunciation key.

          Patterns are regular expressions (see regexp(6)), with an
          implicit leading `^' and trailing `$'.  Patterns are matched
          against an index of headwords and variants, to form a `match
          set'.  By default, both patterns and the index are folded:
          upper case characters are mapped into their lower case
          equivalents, and accented characters are mapped into their
          base equivalents.  In interactive mode, there is always a
          `current match set' and a `current entry' within the match
          set.  Commands can change either or both, as well as print
          the entries or information about them.

          Commands have an address followed by a command letter.
          Addresses have the form:

          /re/    Set the match set to all entries matching the regu-
                  lar expression re, sorted in dictionary order.  Set
                  the current entry to the first of the match set.
          !re!    Like /re/ but use exact matching, i.e., without case
                  and accent folding.
          n       An integer n means change the current entry to the
                  nth of the current match set.
          #n      The integer n is an absolute byte offset into the
                  raw dictionary.  (See the A command, below.)
          addr+   After setting the match set and current entry
                  according to addr, change the match set and current
                  entry to be the next entry in the dictionary (not
                  necessarily in the match set) after the current
                  entry.
          addr-   Like addr+ but go to previous dictionary entry.

          The command letters come in pairs: a lower case and the

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     DICT(7)                                                   DICT(7)

          corresponding upper case letter.  The lower case version
          prints something about the current entry only, and advances
          the current entry to the next in the match set (wrapping
          around to the beginning after the last).  The upper case
          version prints something about all of the match set and
          resets the current entry to the beginning of the set.

          p,P  Print the whole entry.
          h,H  Print only the headword(s) of the entry.
          a,A  Print the dictionary byte offset of the entry.
          r,R  Print the whole entry in raw format (without translat-
               ing special characters, etc.).

          If no command letter is given for the first command, H is
          assumed.  After an H, the default command is p.  Otherwise,
          the default command is the previous command.

     FILES
          /lib/dict/oed2
          /lib/dict/oed2index
          Other files in /lib.

     SEE ALSO
          regexp(6)

     SOURCE
          /sys/src/cmd/dict

     BUGS
          A font with wide coverage of the Unicode Standard should be
          used for best results.  (Try
          /lib/font/bit/pelm/unicode.9.font.)
          If the pattern doesn't begin with a few literal characters,
          matching takes a long time.
          The dictionaries are not distributed outside Bell Labs.

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