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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.

GNU Dico Manual (split by node):   Section:   Chapter:FastBack: dico client   Up: dico client   FastForward: gcider   Contents: Table of ContentsIndex: Concept Index