CLDictP: A Command-Line Dictionary Tool

A command line dictionary written in Perl using Merriam-Webster APIs.

This is my first project using Perl. I feel it is tedious to type formatted definitions to Quizlet(A website which can make flashcards for you) and I’m too lazy to open browser and online dictionary pages. Why not combining these two?

It uses following APIs:

• Merriam-Webster Learner

• Merriam-Webster Collegiate

For each entry, it contains:

• Pronunciation: IPA(International Phonetic Alphabet)

• Part of Speech

• Grammar

• Definition

• Common Usage

• Examples

All searched words are saved in a set and saved to searched.txt.

It also save searched words and definitions into the file quizlet.txt so that they can be imported into Quizlet which makes flashcards. The format is:

• between term and definition: $

• between cards: ---

Usage

1. Get API Keys: DictionaryAPI.

2. Add API Keys to api_template.json and change the file name to api.json.

3. Install dependencies with

   1	$ cpan Term::ANSIColor Term::ReadKey LWP::UserAgent LWP::Protocol::https Readonly XML::LibXML JSON::XS Data::Dumper Set::Light

4. Run the script with

   1	$ perl dict.pl

5. To exit, use Ctrl+D.

Demo

Source Files

The source files are hosted on Github.