jplookup

jplookup

Standalone CLI Japanese to English based on JMdict. This is a re-write of https://github.com/amyeo/jisho-cli mainly because of dependency frustrations with python.

How to run

$ ./download_jmdict.sh
$ make index
$ make build

The first command downloads the JMdict dictionary from the source and unpacks it. The second command makes the index for the dictionary

After running those two commands, you can use the dictionary

Running

After running the commands above, the built executable will be at bin/jplookup.

$ bin/jplookup かいさつ

Results:
===================

ID: 1200840
Kanji (漢字):
改札

Kana (かな):
かいさつ

Meaning (ENG / 英語):
examination of tickets
ticket gate
ticket barrier

---------------------

ID: 1728410
Kanji (漢字):
開札

Kana (かな):
かいさつ

Meaning (ENG / 英語):
opening or unsealing of bids

(...)

You can then transfer the built executable into any directory that you desire. ** Take note that besides the executable, jisho.db (the built index) must exist in the same directory as the executable **

After this, you can delete "JMdict" and "JMdict.gz" if desired.

Wildcard and placeholder queries

There are only 2 special queries in this program. Wildcards via '*' and '＊' and placeholders via '?' and '？'.

観?車 will match with 観覧車 and 平*度 matches with 平均速度

So you use '?' for a fixed/known length of unknown characters and '*' for an unknown length of unknown characters.

Interactive and non-interactive queries

$ bin/jplookup かいさつ

will lookup a word, but if you do not specify a word:

$ bin/jplookup
Lookup > 気動車

It will prompt you for the word.

Performance

Placeholder query via:

$ time bin/jplookup 高速?路

Results:
===================

ID: 1283720
Kanji (漢字):
高速道路

Kana (かな):
こうそくどうろ

Meaning (ENG / 英語):
highway
freeway
expressway
motorway

---------------------

ID: 2399170
Kanji (漢字):
州間高速道路

Kana (かな):
しゅうかんこうそくどうろ

Meaning (ENG / 英語):
interstate highway

---------------------

ID: 1854650
Kanji (漢字):
東名高速道路

Kana (かな):
とうめいこうそくどうろ

Meaning (ENG / 英語):
Tokyo-Nagoya Expressway

---------------------


real	0m0.015s
user	0m0.009s
sys	0m0.007s

424M	jisho.db

Unfortunately, due to optimizations for speed, the local db file size is larger than ideal. I might look into this in a later version. For my case, CPU is more expensive than storage so the design ended up this way.

JMdict attribution

This publication has included material from the JMdict (EDICT, etc.) dictionary files in accordance with the licence provisions of the Electronic Dictionaries Research Group. See http://www.edrdg.org/