CLI Overview

The ODict CLI is the fastest way to create, inspect, combine, and query dictionaries from a terminal. Most workflows start with XML, compile it to a .odict file, and then use the compiled file for lookup, search, tokenization, or serving over HTTP.

What you can do

Task	Command	Use it when
Create a starter XML file	odict new	You want a blank ODXML file with the dictionary name filled in.
Compile XML	odict compile	You are ready to turn ODXML into a compact .odict file.
Inspect a dictionary	odict info	You want basic metadata such as file version, size, and entry count.
List headwords	odict lexicon	You need every term defined in a dictionary.
Look up entries	odict lookup	You know the word and want an exact dictionary entry.
Split compound text	odict split	You want to break a term into known dictionary words without trying the whole term first.
Build a search index	odict index	You want full-text search across definitions.
Search definitions	odict search	You know the meaning or phrase, but not necessarily the headword.
Tokenize text	odict tokenize	You want language-aware tokens matched against dictionary entries.
Convert back to text	odict dump	You want XML or SQL output from a compiled dictionary.
Merge dictionaries	odict merge	You want to combine entries from multiple dictionaries.
Download dictionaries	odict download	You want a dictionary from the remote registry.
Manage aliases	odict alias	You want short names for local or downloaded dictionaries.
Serve over HTTP	odict serve	You want JSON lookup, search, split, or tokenization endpoints.

Common workflow

odict new animals -n "Animal Dictionary"
odict compile animals.xml
odict lookup animals.odict cat

Add search when you need discovery by definition text:

odict index animals.odict
odict search animals.odict "domesticated mammal"

Use dump when you want to inspect or transform a compiled dictionary:

odict dump animals.odict -f xml
odict dump animals.odict -f sqlite -o animals.sql

Use merge when you want to combine multiple compiled dictionaries:

odict merge base.odict extra.odict -o combined.odict

Paths, aliases, and remote names

Most commands accept a local .odict path. Commands that load dictionaries can also use aliases or remote names, depending on the feature:

odict download wiktionary/eng
odict alias set eng ./eng.odict
odict lookup eng hello

Remote dictionary names use the form dictionary/language, such as wiktionary/eng.

Reference

For every flag and argument, see the Command Reference. For guided workflows, see Downloading Dictionaries, Aliases and Loading, and Serving Dictionaries.