{"id":8390,"date":"2019-01-20T14:46:18","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T14:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw92\/?p=8390"},"modified":"2019-03-09T03:43:29","modified_gmt":"2019-03-09T03:43:29","slug":"linux-today-pyvoc-a-command-line-dictionary-and-vocabulary-building-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.appservgrid.com\/paw92\/index.php\/2019\/01\/20\/linux-today-pyvoc-a-command-line-dictionary-and-vocabulary-building-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Linux Today – Pyvoc – A Command line Dictionary And Vocabulary Building Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pyvoc<\/p>\n

Howdy! I have a good news for non-native English speakers. Now, you can improve your English vocabulary and find the meaning of English words, right from your Terminal. Say hello to\u00a0Pyvoc<\/strong>, a cross-platform, open source, command line dictionary and vocabulary building tool written in\u00a0Python<\/strong>\u00a0programming language. Using this tool, you can brush up some English words meanings, test or improve your vocabulary skill or simply use it as a CLI dictionary on Unix-like operating systems.<\/p>\n

Installing Pyvoc<\/h4>\n

Since Pyvoc is written using Python language, you can install it using\u00a0Pip3<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0package manager.<\/p>\n

$ pip3 install pyvoc<\/pre>\n
Once installed, run the following command to automatically create necessary configuration files in your $HOME directory.<\/p>\n
$ pyvoc word<\/pre>\n
Sample output:<\/p>\n
|Creating necessary config files\r\n\/getting api keys. please handle with care!\r\n|\r\n\r\nword \r\nNoun: single meaningful element of speech or writing\r\nexample: I don't like the word \u2018unofficial\u2019\r\n\r\nVerb: express something spoken or written\r\nexample: he words his request in a particularly ironic way\r\n\r\nInterjection: used to express agreement or affirmation\r\nexample: Word, that's a good record, man<\/pre>\n
Done! Let us go ahead and brush the English skills.<\/p>\n
Use Pyvoc as a command line Dictionary tool<\/h4>\n
Pyvoc fetches the word meaning from\u00a0Oxford Dictionary API<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Let us say, you want to find the meaning of a word\u00a0\u2018digression\u2019<\/strong>. To do so, run:<\/p>\n
$ pyvoc digression<\/pre>\n
\"pyvoc1\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Find a word meaning using Pyvoc<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
See? Pyvoc not only displays the meaning of word\u00a0\u2018digression\u2019<\/strong>, but also an example sentence which shows how to use that word in practical.<\/p>\n
Let us see an another example.<\/p>\n
$ pyvoc subterfuge<\/strong>\r\n|\r\n\r\nsubterfuge \r\nNoun: deceit used in order to achieve one's goal\r\nexample: he had to use subterfuge and bluff on many occasions<\/pre>\n
It also shows the word classes as well. As you already know,\u00a0English has four major\u00a0word classes<\/b>:<\/span><\/p>\n
    \n
  1. Nouns,<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Verbs,<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Adjectives,<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Adverbs.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Take a look at the following example.<\/p>\n
    $ pyvoc welcome\r\n \/\r\n\r\nwelcome \r\nNoun:            instance or manner of greeting someone\r\nexample:         you will receive a warm welcome\r\n\r\nInterjection:    used to greet someone in polite or friendly way\r\nexample:         welcome to the Wildlife Park\r\n\r\nVerb:            greet someone arriving in polite or friendly way\r\nexample:         hotels should welcome guests in their own language\r\n\r\nAdjective:       gladly received\r\nexample:         I'm pleased to see you, lad\u2014you're welcome<\/pre>\n
    As you see in the above output, the word \u2018welcome\u2019 can be used as a verb, noun, adjective and interjection. Pyvoc has given example for each class.<\/p>\n
    If you misspell a word, it will inform you to check the spelling of the given word.<\/p>\n
    $ pyvoc wlecome<\/strong>\r\n\\\r\nNo definition found. Please check the spelling!!<\/pre>\n
    Useful, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
    Create vocabulary groups<\/h4>\n
    A vocabulary group is nothing but a collection words added by the user. You can later revise or take quiz from these groups. 100 groups of 60 words are\u00a0reserved<\/strong>\u00a0for the user.<\/p>\n
    To add a word (E.g\u00a0sporadic<\/strong>) to a group, just run:<\/p>\n
    $ pyvoc sporadic -a<\/strong>\r\n-\r\n\r\nsporadic \r\nAdjective: occurring at irregular intervals or only in few places\r\nexample: sporadic fighting broke out\r\n\r\n\r\nwriting to vocabulary group...\r\nword added to group number 51<\/strong><\/pre>\n
    As you can see, I didn\u2019t provide any group number and pyvoc displayed the meaning of given word and automatically added that word to group number\u00a051<\/strong>. If you don\u2019t provide the group number, Pyvoc will\u00a0incrementally add words<\/strong>\u00a0to groups\u00a051-100<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
    Pyvoc also allows you to specify a group number if you want to. You can specify a group from 1-50 using\u00a0-g<\/strong>option. For example, I am going to add a word to Vocabulary group 20 using the following command.<\/p>\n
    $ pyvoc discrete -a -g 20<\/strong>\r\n \/\r\n\r\ndiscrete \r\nAdjective:       individually separate and distinct\r\nexample:         speech sounds are produced as a continuous sound signal rather\r\n               than discrete units\r\n\r\ncreating group Number 20...\r\nwriting to vocabulary group...\r\nword added to group number 20<\/pre>\n
    See? The above command displays the meaning of \u2018discrete\u2019 word and adds it to the vocabulary group 20. If the group doesn\u2019t exists, Pyvoc will create it and add the word.<\/p>\n
    By default, Pyvoc includes three predefined vocabulary groups (101, 102, and 103). These custom groups has 800 words of each. All words in these groups are taken from\u00a0GRE<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0SAT<\/strong>\u00a0preparation websites.<\/p>\n
    To view the user-generated groups, simply run:<\/p>\n
    $ pyvoc word -l<\/strong>\r\n -\r\n\r\nword \r\nNoun:            single meaningful element of speech or writing\r\nexample:         I don't like the word \u2018unofficial\u2019\r\n\r\nVerb:            express something spoken or written\r\nexample:         he words his request in a particularly ironic way\r\n\r\nInterjection:    used to express agreement or affirmation\r\nexample:         Word, that's a good record, man\r\n\r\n\r\nUSER GROUPS<\/strong>\r\nGroup no.      No. of words<\/strong>\r\n20             1<\/strong>\r\n\r\nDEFAULT GROUP\r\nGroup no.      No. of words\r\n51             1<\/pre>\n
    <\/pre>\n
    As you see, I have created one group (20) including the default group (51).<\/p>\n
    Test and improve English vocabulary<\/h4>\n
    As I already said, you can use the Vocabulary groups to revise or take quiz from them.<\/p>\n
    For instance, to revise the group no.\u00a0101<\/strong>, use\u00a0-r<\/strong>\u00a0option like below.<\/p>\n
    $ pyvoc 101 -r<\/pre>\n
    You can now revise the meaning of all words in the Vocabulary group 101 in random order. Just hit ENTER to go through next questions. Once done, hit\u00a0CTRL+C<\/strong>\u00a0to exit.<\/p>\n
    \"pyvoc2\"<\/a><\/p>\n
    Revise Vocabulary group<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
    Also, you take quiz from the existing groups to brush up your vocabulary. To do so, use\u00a0-q<\/strong>\u00a0option like below.<\/p>\n
    $ pyvoc 103 -q 50<\/pre>\n
    This command allows you to take quiz of 50 questions from vocabulary group 103. Choose the correct answer from the list by entering the appropriate number. You will get 1 point for every correct answer. The more you score the more your vocabulary skill will be.<\/p>\n
    \"pyvoc3\"<\/a><\/p>\n
    Take quiz using Pyvoc<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
    Pyvoc is in the early-development stage. I hope the developer will improve it and add more features in the days to come.<\/p>\n
    As a non-native English speaker, I personally find it useful to test and learn new word meanings in my free time. If you\u2019re a heavy command line user and wanted to quickly check the meaning of a word, Pyvoc is the right tool. You can also test your English Vocabulary at your free time to memorize and improve your English language skill. Give it a try. You won\u2019t be disappointed.<\/p>\n
    And, that\u2019s all for now. Hope this was useful. More good stuffs to come. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n
    Cheers!<\/p>\n
    Resource:<\/strong><\/p>\n