sdcv - Man Page

• Start sdcv interactively: sdcv
• List installed dictionaries: sdcv --list-dicts
• Display a definition from a specific dictionary: sdcv --use-dict dictionary_name search_term
• Look up a definition with a fuzzy search: sdcv search_term
• Look up a definition with an exact search: sdcv --exact-search search_term
• Look up a definition and format the output as JSON: sdcv --json search_term
• Search for dictionaries in a specific directory: sdcv --data-dir path/to/directory search_term

tldr.sh

sdcv [ options ]  [list of words]

sdcv is a simple, cross-platform text-based utility for working with dictionaries in StarDict format. Each word from "list of words" may be a string with a leading '/' for using a Fuzzy search algorithm, with a leading '|' for using full-text search, and the string may contain '?' and '*' for regexp search. It works in interactive and non-interactive mode. To exit from interactive mode press Ctrl+D.  In interactive mode,  if sdcv was compiled with readline library support, you can use the UP and DOWN keys to cycle through history.

-h  --help

Display help message and exit

-v --version

Display version and exit

-l --list-dicts

Display list of available dictionaries and exit

-u --use-dict filename

For search use only dictionary with this bookname

-n --non-interactive

For use in scripts

-x --only-data-dir

For use in scripts: only use the dictionaries in data-dir, do not search in user and system directories

-e --exact-search

Do not fuzzy-search for similar words, only return exact matches

-j --json

Print the results of list-dicts and searches as json, not as plain text. For use in automatically processing the results of a dictionary lookup.

--utf8-output

Force sdcv to not convert to locale charset, output in utf8

--utf8-input

Force sdcv to not convert from locale charset, assume that input is in utf8

--data-dir path/to/directory

Use this directory as the path to the stardict data directory. This means that sdcv searches for dictionaries in data-dir/dic directory.

--color

Use ANSI escape codes for colorizing sdcv output (does not work with json output).

/usr/share/stardict/dic

$(XDG_DATA_HOME)/stardict/dic

Place where sdcv expects to find dictionaries. Instead of /usr/share/stardict/dic you can use any directory you want, just set the STARDICT_DATA_DIR environment variable. For example, if you have dictionaries in /mnt/data/stardict-dicts/dic, set STARDICT_DATA_DIR to /mnt/data/stardict-dicts.

$(XDG_DATA_HOME)/sdcv_history

This file includes the last $(SDCV_HISTSIZE) words, which you sought with sdcv. SDCV uses this file only if it was compiled with readline library support.

$(XDG_CONFIG_HOME)/sdcv_ordering

This is a text file containing one dictionary bookname per line. It specifies in which order the results of a search should be shown.

Environment Variables Used By sdcv:

STARDICT_DATA_DIR

If set, sdcv uses this variable as the data directory, this means that sdcv searches dictionaries in $STARDICT_DATA_DIR/dic

SDCV_HISTSIZE

If set, sdcv writes in $(XDG_DATA_HOME)/sdcv_history (or $(SDCV_HISTFILE)) the last $(SDCV_HISTSIZE) words, which you look up using sdcv. If it is not set, then the last 2000 words are saved in $(XDG_DATA_HOME)/sdcv_history.

SDCV_HISTFILE

If set, sdcv writes it's history to $(SDCV_HISTFILE). If it is not set, then the default $(XDG_DATA_HOME)/sdcv_history path will be used.

SDCV_PAGER

If SDCV_PAGER is set, its value is used as the name of the program to use to display the dictionary article.

Email bug reports to dushistov at mail dot ru. Be sure to include the word "sdcv" somewhere in the "Subject:" field.

Evgeniy A. Dushistov, Hu Zheng

stardict(1), http://sdcv.sourceforge.net/, http://stardict.sourceforge.net