Copy and paste the following Python script as plain text into a new TextEdit document. Save it as dict.py to your Scripts folder located at /Users/<username>/Library/Scripts/. Adjust the textwrap column width (width=76), and the initial_indent and subsequent_indent spacings to your preference:
#!/usr/bin/env python2.7
import sys
import DictionaryServices
import textwrap
def main():
try:
search_term = sys.argv[1]
except IndexError:
print 'No search term was entered.'
sys.exit()
search_result = DictionaryServices.DCSCopyTextDefinition(
None, search_term, (0, len(search_term)))
if not search_result:
print '"%s" was not found in Dictionary.' % (search_term)
else:
term_definition = search_result.replace(
u'\u25B6', '').replace('ORIGIN', ' ORIGIN')
single_spacing = ' '.join(term_definition.split())
wrapper = textwrap.TextWrapper(width=76,
initial_indent=' ',
subsequent_indent=' ')
print wrapper.fill(single_spacing)
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
Make the script executable with the following command in Terminal, substituting your username for <username>:
chmod u+x /Users/<username>/Library/Scripts/dict.py
If using the default bash shell in Terminal, place the following line in your ~/.bash_profile, substituting your username for <username>. If using a different shell, such a zsh, place it in that shell's profile. For zsh that would be ~/.zprofile:
alias dict='/Users/<username>/Library/Scripts/dict.py'
Then simply use the "dict" command with the search term you wish defined.
If you prefer, use the following Python script to display the definition in a border. Adjust the textwrap column width (width=76) to your preference and the border will resize automatically:
#!/usr/bin/env python2.7
import sys
import DictionaryServices
import textwrap
def main():
try:
search_term = sys.argv[1]
except IndexError:
print 'No search term was entered.'
sys.exit()
search_result = DictionaryServices.DCSCopyTextDefinition(
None, search_term, (0, len(search_term)))
if not search_result:
print '"%s" was not found in Dictionary.' % (search_term)
else:
term_definition = search_result.replace(
u'\u25B6', '').replace('ORIGIN', ' ORIGIN')
single_spacing = ' '.join(term_definition.split())
border_text = textwrap.fill(single_spacing, width=76).splitlines()
max_length = max(len(s) for s in border_text)
column_width = max_length + 2
print '+' + '-' * column_width + '+'
for s in border_text:
print '| %-*.*s |' % (max_length, max_length, s)
print '+' + '-' * column_width + '+'
if __name__ == '__main__':
main()
The elapsed time to return a definition is acceptable, generally less than a third of a second (on my 2008 MacBook Pro).
