Interactive Mode (GNU Dico Manual)

7.2 Interactive Mode

If neither word nor URL nor any operation mode option were given on the command line, dico enters interactive mode. In this mode it reads commands from the standard input, executes them and displays results on the standard output. If the standard input is connected to a terminal, the readline and history facilities are enabled (see Command Line Editing in GNU Readline Library).

When in interactive mode, dico displays its prompt and waits for you to enter a command. The default prompt is the name of the program, followed by a ‘greater than’ sign and a single space:

dico> _

The input syntax is designed so as to save you the maximum amount of typing.

If you type any word, the default action is to look up its definition using the default server and database settings, for example:

dico> man
From eng-swa, English-Swahili xFried/FreeDict Dictionary:
man  <n.>

    mwanamume

To match the word, instead of defining it, prefix it with a slash, much as you do in vi:

dico> /man
From eng-swa, English-Swahili xFried/FreeDict Dictionary:
0) ``can''
1) ``man''
2) ``many''
3) ``map''
4) ``may''
5) ``men''

Displayed is a list of matches retrieved using the default strategy. To see a definition for a particular match, type the number shown at its left. For example, to define “men”:

dico> 5
From eng-swa, English-Swahili xFried/FreeDict Dictionary:
men <n.>

    wanaume

Define and match are two basic actions. To discern from them, the rest of dico commands begin with a command prefix, a single punctuation character selected for this purpose. The default command prefix is a dot, but it can be changed using the prefix command (see prefix).

We will discuss the dico commands in the following subsections.

7.2.1 Server Commands

The open command establishes connection to a remote server. It takes up to two arguments, first of them specifying the IP or host name of the server, and the optional second one specifying the port number to connect to. For example:

dico> .open gnu.org.ua

If any or both of its arguments are absent, the open command reuses the value supplied with its previous invocation, or, if it is issued for the first time, the default values. The default for server name is ‘gnu.org.ua’ and the default port number is 2628. Both values can be changed at configuration time, see Default Server for a detailed instruction.

When given one argument, open checks if it begins with a directory separator (‘/’). If so, the argument is handled as the full file name of a UNIX socket.

Note that you are not required to issue this command. If it is not given, dico will attempt to establish a connection using its default settings before executing any command that requires a connection to the server.

The close command closes the connection. It does not take any arguments.

7.2.2 Database and Strategy

The database command changes or displays the database name which is used by define and match commands. To display the database name, type the command without arguments:

dico> .database
!

To change the database, give its name as an argument to the command:

dico> .database *

Once the connection with the server is established, you may use command line completion facility to select the database from among those offered by the server. Typing TAB will show you a list of databases that begin with the characters you typed:

dico> .database enTAB
en-pl-naut  eng-afr     eng-deu     eng-swa

If you supply enough characters to identify a single choice, TAB will automatically select it. In the example above, typing a TAB after

dico> .database en-

completes the database name to:

dico> .database en-pl-naut

The strategy command displays or changes the default strategy name. As with database, the strategy completion is available for this command.

dico> .strategy
.
dico> .strategy dlev

If the remote server supports ‘xlev’ experimental capability (see XLEV), you can use the distance command to set the maximum Levenshtein distance for strategies that use Levenshtein algorithm. If used without arguments, this command displays the distance reported by the server and the configured distance, e.g.:

dico> .distance
Reported Levenshtein distance: 1
No distance configured

If used with a single numeric argument, it attempts to set the distance to the supplied value.

7.2.3 Informational Commands

The ls command lists available strategies (see SHOW STRAT):

dico> .ls
exact "Match words exactly"
prefix "Match word prefixes"
soundex "Match using SOUNDEX algorithm"
all "Match everything (experimental)"
lev "Match headwords within given Levenshtein distance"
dlev "Match headwords within given Damerau-Levenshtein
      distance"
re "POSIX 1003.2 (modern) regular expressions"
regexp "Old (basic) regular expressions"
suffix "Match word suffixes"
rev-qu "Reverse search in Quechua databases"

The ld command lists available databases (see SHOW DB):

dico> .ld
eng-swa "English-Swahili xFried/FreeDict Dictionary"
swa-eng "Swahili-English xFried/FreeDict Dictionary"
afr-eng "Afrikaans-English FreeDict Dictionary"
eng-afr "English-Afrikaans FreeDict Dictionary"

The info command displays information about a database, whose name is given as its argument. If used without arguments, it displays information about the current database.

dico> .info pl-en-naut
pl-en-naut - A Polish-English dictionary of nautical terms.
Copyright (C) 2008 Sergey Poznyakoff

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the
Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no
Front-Cover and Back-Cover Texts.

7.2.4 History Commands

Each issued command is stored in a history list and assigned a unique event number. When dico exits, it saves the command history to a file named .dico_history in your home directory. Upon startup, it retrieves the history from this file, so the history is preserved between sessions.

You can view the command history using the history command:

dico> .history
  1) .open dict.org
  2) entdeckung
  3) /geschwindigkeit

A number of editing commands is provided, that allow you to refer to previous events from the history list and to edit them. For example, to re-issue the 3rd event from the above list, type ‘!3’. The command with this index will be inserted at the dico prompt and you will be given a possibility to edit it. For a detailed description of all history-editing commands, please refer to Using History Interactively in GNU History User Manual.

7.2.5 Pager

When a command produces output that contains more lines than there are rows on the terminal, dico attempts to use a pager program to display it. The name (and arguments) of the pager program are taken from the dico internal variable, or, if it is not set, from the PAGER environment variable.

The dico pager setting can be examined or changed using the pager command. When used without arguments, it displays the current setting:

dico> .pager
less
(Pager set from environment)

When used with a single argument, it sets the pager:

dico> .pager "less -R"

The argument ‘-’ (a dash) disables pager.

7.2.6 Program Settings

The commands described in this subsection are designed mostly for use in dico initialization file (see Initialization File).

The autologin command sets the name of autologin file to be used for authentication. When used without arguments, it displays the current setting. The argument to autologin command is subject to tilde expansion, i.e. if it begins with ‘~/’, this prefix is replaced with the name of the current user home directory, followed by ‘/’. Similarly, a prefix ‘~login/’ is replaced by the home directory for user login, followed by a slash.

See Autologin, for a detailed discussion of the autologin feature.

The quiet command toggles the display of dico startup banner. When started, dico prints a short list of information useful for beginning users: the program version and warranty conditions and a command to get help, e.g.:

dico 2.10
Copyright (C) 2005-2016 Sergey Poznyakoff
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and
redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Type ? for help summary

dico>

If you find this output superfluous and useless, you can suppress it by setting

quiet yes

in your initialization file.

7.2.7 Session Transcript

Session transcript is a special mode, which displays raw DICT commands and answers as they are executed. It is useful for debugging purposes.

You enable session transcript by issuing the following command:

dico> .transcript yes
# or
dico> .transcript on

Starting from then, each DICT transaction will be displayed on standard error output, for example:

dico> .open
dico: Debug: S:220 Pirx.gnu.org.ua dicod (dico 2.10)
  <mime.xversion.xlev> <32004.1216639476@gnu.org.ua>
dico: Debug: C:CLIENT "dico 1.99.91"
dico: Debug: S:250 ok
dico: Debug: C:SHOW DATABASES
dico: Debug: S:110 26 databases present
…
dico: Debug: S:.
dico: Debug: S:250 ok
dico: Debug: C:SHOW STRATEGIES
dico: Debug: S:111 10 strategies present: list follows
dico: Debug: S:exact "Match words exactly"
dico: Debug: S:prefix "Match word prefixes"
dico: Debug: S:soundex "Match using SOUNDEX algorithm"
…
dico: Debug: S:.
dico: Debug: S:250 ok

In the example above, ellipses are used to replace long lists of data. As you see, session transcripts may produce large amount of output.

To turn the session transcript off, use the following command:

dico> .transcript no
# or
dico> .transcript off

Finally, to query the current state of session transcript, issue this command without arguments:

dico> .transcript
transcript is on

7.2.8 Other Commands

The prefix command queries or changes the current command prefix:

dico> .prefix
Command prefix is .
dico> .prefix @
dico> @prefix
Command prefix is @

The prompt command changes the dico command line prompt. For example, to change it to ‘dico$’, followed by a single space, type:

dico> .prompt "dico$ "
dico$ _

Note the use of quotes to include the space character in the argument.

The help command displays a short command usage summary. For convenience, a single question mark can be used instead of it:

dico> ?
/WORD                    Match WORD.
/                        Redisplay previous matches.
NUMBER                   Define NUMBERth match.
!NUMBER                  Edit NUMBERth previous command.

.open [HOST [PORT]]      Connect to a DICT server.
.close                   Close the connection.
…

The version command displays the package name and version number, and the warranty command displays the copyright statement.

Finally, the quit command leaves the dico shell. Typing end-of-file character (C-d) has the same effect.

7.2.9 Dico Command Summary

For convenience, this subsection lists all available dico commands along with their short description and a reference to the part of this manual where they are described in detail. The command names are given without prefix.

open host port

Connect to a DICT server. Both arguments are optional. If any of them is absent, the value supplied with the previous open command is used. If there was no previous value, the default is used, i.e., ‘gnu.org.ua’ for host, and 2628 for port.

See open.

close

Close the connection.

See close.

autologin [file]

Set or display the autologin file name.

See Autologin.

sasl [bool]

Without argument, show whether the SASL authentication is enabled. With argument, enable or disable it, depending on the value of bool. See Autologin.

database [name]