What is /usr/share/dict used for

dictionaryterminal

Where is this used, I read the README and it didn't say what program it was from, I do not think that it is the stock dictionary app because I tried some very obscure looking words that were in some of the files and they did not come up in the stock dictionary app.

Any idea where this comes from?

Best Answer

The origins go way back as a place holder for the dictionary words used by the spell utility. spell is not available but the program look will use the words dictionary. You could use one of these alias/function courteous of Wilfredo Sanchez Jr. to do word look ups.

For ksh, zsh, and bash

word () { grep -F -i "$*" /usr/share/dict/web2 ; }

For tcsh

alias word  'grep \!* /usr/share/dict/web2'

Related Solutions

MacOS – Dictionary: Syllable-hyphenation interpuncts (dots) missing

You can install the old dictionary from your old OS X install disk.

Here's what I did with my Snow Leopard disk on my Mavericks installation:

Quit Dictionary
Turn ON hidden file visibility in Finder by typing this into Terminal:
```
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles Yes
```
Rename /Library/Dictionaries/New Oxford American Dictionary.dictionary to something like New Oxford American Dictionary-orig.dictionary, since you'll be putting the older OS X version of this dictionary here.
Grab the application Pacifist from http://www.charlessoft.com and run it
Pop in your old OS X Install disk to your DVD Drive

Find the dictionary package. I found mine here:

/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/System/Installation/Packages/OxfordDictionaries.pkg

drag this package into Pacifist
Within Pacifist, find your dictionary folder named New Oxford American Dictionary.dictionary
Drag this folder into /Library/Dictionaries
Start up Dictionary
Optional: Go into preferences and enable/disable the dictionaries you want. The just-copied dictionary is probably already enabled, since it has the same name as the original dictionary. But you can also enable the original dictionary so that both are active.
You can turn off HIDDEN FILE view by typing into Terminal:
```
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles No
```

Now, I have the syllables displayed on Mavericks!

MacOS – way to dynamically manipulate the spellcheck dictionary

When you press the Learn button, the word is added to ~/Library/Spelling/LocalDictionary if the language is set to automatic or to ~/Library/Spelling/en if the language is set to U.S. English. en_GB is used for British English and en is used only for U.S. English.

If you edit the files in ~/Library/Spelling/ directly, you can apply the changes by terminating the AppleSpell process.

So try to assign a shortcut to a script like this:

cd ~/Library/Spelling
if [[ -e fiction ]]; then
  mv en normal; mv fiction en; d=fiction
else
  mv en fiction; mv normal en; d=normal
fi
killall AppleSpell
terminal-notifier -title "Using dictionary $d" -message '' -group spellingdictionary
sleep 3
terminal-notifier -remove spellingdictionary

If for example you use the British English dictionary, change en to en_GB.

You can install terminal-notifier with sudo /usr/bin/gem install terminal-notifier.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MacOS – Dictionary: Syllable-hyphenation interpuncts (dots) missing

MacOS – way to dynamically manipulate the spellcheck dictionary

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