Lookup Words from the Command Line Using a Simple Bash Script

Productivity Sauce
The humble nano text editor can be a rather handy distraction-free drafting tool, but now and then I need to look up words and their definitions in WordNet. To do that, I tweaked a simple Bash script I stumbled upon on the Stack Overflow Web site. The original script pulls data from the Google Define source, but it took just a few minutes to make it work with WordNet. So if you, like me, need to look up words and their definitions without leaving the terminal, here is a script that can help you with this:
#!/bin/bash echo "Enter your word:" read word /usr/bin/curl -s -A 'Mozilla/4.0' 'http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s='$word \ | html2text -ascii -nobs -style compact -width 500 | grep "*"
For this script to work, you need to install curl and html2text packages. On Ubuntu, you can do this using the sudo apt-get install curl html2text command. Copy and paste the script text into a blank text file, save it as the wn.sh script, and make it executable using the chmod +x wn.sh command. Now you can run the script by issuing the ./wn.sh command.
Obviously, you can use this script with any other online resource. All you have to do is to replace the existing query URL with your own and tweak the parameters of the html2text command.
Comments
comments powered by DisqusIssue 261/2022
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
Manjaro 21.3.0 Is Now Available
Manjaro “Ruah” has been released and includes the latest Calamares installer, GNOME 42, and much more.
-
SpiralLinux is a New Linux Distribution Focused on Simplicity
A new Linux distribution, from the creator of GeckoLinux, is a Debian-based operating system with a focus on simplicity and ease of use.
-
HP Dev One Linux Laptop is Now Available for Pre-Order
The System76/HP collaboration Dev One laptop, geared toward developers, is now available for pre-order.
-
NixOS 22.5 Is Now Available
The latest release of NixOS with a much-improved package manager and a user-friendly graphical installer.
-
System76 Teams up with HP to Create the Dev One Laptop
HP and System76 have come together to develop a new laptop, powered by Pop!_OS and aimed toward developers.
-
Titan Linux is a New KDE Linux Based on Debian Stable
Titan Linux is a new Debian-based Linux distribution that features the KDE Plasma desktop with a focus on usability and performance.
-
Danielle Foré Has an Update for elementary OS 7
Now that Ubuntu 22.04 has been released, the team behind elementary OS is preparing for the upcoming 7.0 release.
-
Linux New Media Launches Open Source JobHub
New job website focuses on connecting technical and non-technical professionals with organizations in open source.
-
Ubuntu Cinnamon 22.04 Now Available
Ubuntu Cinnamon 22.04 has been released with all the additions from upstream as well as other features and improvements.
-
Pop!_OS 22.04 Has Officially Been Released
From the makers of some of the finest Linux-powered desktop and laptop computers on the market comes the latest version of their Ubuntu-based distribution, Pop!_OS 22.04.
500 words
My version for looking up words
#! /bin/bash
wn $1 -over | less
And as an option, like Joe Klemmer suggested, you can customize the code so that it would prompt to enter a word if you forget to do so.That's it. Very simple.
Re: Lookup Words from the Command Line Using a Simple Bash Script
#!/bin/bash
echo ""
if [ "x$1" == "x" ] ;
then
echo -n "Enter your word: ";
read word;
else
word=$1;
fi
/usr/bin/curl -s -A 'Mozilla/4.0' 'http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s='$word | html2text -ascii -nobs -style compact -width 500 | grep "*"
Side note:
It might be easier to use the dict utility in some cases. If it isn't installed on your system just run -
# yum install dictd
The output is formatted much cleaner and it returns more information.