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https://github.com/jamescherti/quick-sdcv.el

Emacs interface for 'sdcv' (command-line offline dictionary)
https://github.com/jamescherti/quick-sdcv.el

command-line dictionary emacs sdcv stardict translate translation

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Emacs interface for 'sdcv' (command-line offline dictionary)

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# quick-sdcv.el - Emacs offline dictionary using 'sdcv'

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The `quick-sdcv` package serves as a lightweight Emacs interface for the `sdcv` command-line interface, which is the console version of the StarDict dictionary application.



**This package enables Emacs to function as an offline dictionary.**



This integration allows users to access and utilize sdcv dictionary functionalities directly within the Emacs environment, leveraging the capabilities of `sdcv` to look up words and translations from various dictionary files.



Here are the main interactive functions:

- `quick-sdcv-search-at-point`: Searches the word around the cursor and displays the result in a buffer.

- `quick-sdcv-search-input`: Searches the input word and displays the result in a buffer.



**Table of Contents**



- [quick-sdcv.el - Emacs offline dictionary using 'sdcv'](#quick-sdcvel---emacs-offline-dictionary-using-sdcv)

  - [Installation](#installation)

    - [Install with straight](#install-with-straight)

  - [Customizations](#customizations)

  - [Usage](#usage)

  - [Frequently asked question](#frequently-asked-question)

    - [How to make the sdcv buffer replace the current buffer?](#how-to-make-the-sdcv-buffer-replace-the-current-buffer)

    - [How to make links appear as links in an sdcv buffer?](#how-to-make-links-appear-as-links-in-an-sdcv-buffer)

    - [Evil mode: How to configure the default K key to search for words using quick-sdcv?](#evil-mode-how-to-configure-the-default-k-key-to-search-for-words-using-quick-sdcv)

    - [What is the difference between sdcv (MELPA) and quick-sdcv Emacs packages?](#what-is-the-difference-between-sdcv-melpa-and-quick-sdcv-emacs-packages)

  - [Links](#links)



## Installation



Prerequisite: The [sdcv](https://github.com/Dushistov/sdcv) command. It can usually be installed by installing the `sdcv` package.



### Install with straight



To install `quick-sdcv` with `straight.el`:



1. It if hasn't already been done, [add the straight.el bootstrap code](https://github.com/radian-software/straight.el?tab=readme-ov-file#getting-started) to your init file.

2. Add the following code to the Emacs init file:

```emacs-lisp

(use-package quick-sdcv

  :ensure t

  :straight (quick-sdcv

             :type git

             :host github

             :repo "jamescherti/quick-sdcv.el")

  :custom

  (quick-sdcv-dictionary-prefix-symbol "►")

  (quick-sdcv-ellipsis " ▼ "))

```



## Customizations



To create a unique buffer for each word lookup, set the following:

```emacs-lisp

(setq quick-sdcv-unique-buffers t)

```



To perform exact word searches (as opposed to fuzzy searches), use:

```emacs-lisp

(setq quick-sdcv-exact-search t)

```



To change the prefix character used before dictionary names, replacing the default `-->`, set:

```emacs-lisp

(setq quick-sdcv-dictionary-prefix-symbol "►")

```



To customize the sdcv history size:

``` elisp

(setq quick-sdcv-hist-size 100)

```



To specify the path to the sdcv executable:

``` elisp

(setq quick-sdcv-program "/path/to/sdcv")

```



To customize the naming convention of the SDCV buffer:

``` elisp

(setq quick-sdcv-buffer-name-prefix "*sdcv"

      quick-sdcv-buffer-name-separator ":"

      quick-sdcv-buffer-name-suffix "*")

```



To specify a list of dictionaries:

``` elisp

(setq quick-sdcv-dictionary-complete-list '("stardict-WordNet"

                                            "stardict-Webster"

                                            "stardict-eng_eng_main"))

```



## Usage



Below are the commands you can use:



| Command                   | Description

| :---                      | :---

| `quick-sdcv-search-at-point` | Searches the word around the cursor and displays the result in a buffer.

| `quick-sdcv-search-input`   | Searches the input word and displays the result in a buffer.



If the current mark is active, the `quick-sdcv` will translate the region string; otherwise, they will translate the word around the cursor.



## Frequently asked question



### How to make the sdcv buffer replace the current buffer?



To make K search for the word using quick-sdcv when editing Markdown, you can customize the behavior as follows:

```elisp

(add-to-list 'display-buffer-alist '("\\*sdcv"

                                       (display-buffer-same-window)))

```



### How to make links appear as links in an sdcv buffer?



To ensure that links appear as clickable links in the SDCV buffer while using quick-sdcv, add the following hook:

```

(add-hook 'quick-sdcv-mode-hook #'goto-address-mode)

```



### Evil mode: How to configure the default K key to search for words using quick-sdcv?



In Evil mode, the K key in normal mode is typically bound to lookup the word under the cursor. By default, this usually triggers a help function.



To make K search for the word using *quick-sdcv* when editing, for instance, a markdown file (e.g. README.md), you can customize the behaviour as follows:

```elisp

(add-hook 'markdown-mode-hook

          #'(lambda()

              (setq-local evil-lookup-func #'quick-sdcv-search-at-point)))

```



The code snippet above:

- Uses `add-hook` to ensure that the customization is applied only when editing Markdown files.

- Sets `evil-lookup-func` to `quick-sdcv-search-at-point`, which configures K to search for the word at point using quick-sdcv.



### What is the difference between sdcv (MELPA) and quick-sdcv Emacs packages?



The `quick-sdcv` Emacs package is a fork of `sdcv.el` version 3.4, which is available on MELPA. The primary differences between the two packages are as follows:



- **Less dependencies:** Quick-sdcv does not require any external dependencies; sdcv, on the other hand, installs popup, pos-tip, and showtip.

- **Customize the buffer name:**: New variables to customize whether the word is included in the buffer name, as well as the prefix, separator, and suffix of the buffer name (quick-sdcv-unique-buffers, quick-sdcv-buffer-name-prefix, quick-sdcv-buffer-name-separator, and quick-sdcv-buffer-name-suffix). When the buffer is dedicated to a specific word, refresh it only when the buffer is created.

- **Improved Outline Minor Mode**: The `quick-sdcv` package fixes the outline minor mode for dictionary folding, enabling users to collapse all definitions for quicker navigation through dictionaries.

- **Default Language Settings**: Various issues have been addressed, including changing the default language setting from Chinese (zh) to nil, providing a more neutral starting point.

- **Buffer Customization**: The `quick-sdcv` package employs `display-buffer`, allowing users to customize the display of the *sdcv* buffer and control its placement through `display-buffer-alist`.

- **Removal of bugs and Warnings**: All Emacs warnings have been eliminated and bugs fixed. (e.g., when `sdcv-search-at-point` cannot locate the word under the cursor)

- **Code Simplification**: The code has been simplified by removing unused variables and omitting features like posframe, text-to-speech using the 'say' command, the quick-sdcv-env-lang variable, and functions such as (quick-sdcv-scroll-up-one-line, quick-sdcv-scroll-down-one-line, quick-sdcv-next-line and quick-sdcv-prev-line) which are similar Emacs features. This simplification makes `quick-sdcv` easier to understand, maintain, and use by focusing solely on dictionary lookup functionality. Features like `posframe` and text-to-speech, which are not essential to core usage, are better suited as separate packages.

- **Keybindings removal**: The default keybindings have been removed from `quick-sdcv-mode` to prevent conflicts with other modes and keeps the mode lightweight and adaptable for users’ preferences.

- **New options**: quick-sdcv-ellipsis, quick-sdcv-hist-size, quick-sdcv-exact-search, quick-sdcv-buffer-name-prefix, quick-sdcv-buffer-name-separator, quick-sdcv-buffer-name-suffix, quick-sdcv-verbose

- **Various improvements**: Unset the SDCV_PAGER environment variable, Ensure the buffer and the SDCV output are in UTF-8, Enhance dictionary representation with UTF-8 characters, Implement error handling for cases when the sdcv program is not found.



## Links



- You can download sdcv dictionaries from http://download.huzheng.org/dict.org/

- [quick-sdcv.el @GitHub](https://github.com/jamescherti/quick-sdcv.el)

- [quick-sdcv.el @MELPA](https://melpa.org/#/sdcv)

- The [sdcv](https://github.com/Dushistov/sdcv) command-line interface (prerequisite).



Other Emacs packages by the same author:

- [minimal-emacs.d](https://github.com/jamescherti/minimal-emacs.d): This repository hosts a minimal Emacs configuration designed to serve as a foundation for your vanilla Emacs setup and provide a solid base for an enhanced Emacs experience.

- [outline-indent.el](https://github.com/jamescherti/outline-indent.el): An Emacs package that provides a minor mode that enables code folding and outlining based on indentation levels for various indentation-based text files, such as YAML, Python, and other indented text files.

- [vim-tab-bar.el](https://github.com/jamescherti/vim-tab-bar.el): Make the Emacs tab-bar Look Like Vim’s Tab Bar.

- [easysession.el](https://github.com/jamescherti/easysession.el): Easysession is lightweight Emacs session manager that can persist and restore file editing buffers, indirect buffers/clones, Dired buffers, the tab-bar, and the Emacs frames (with or without the Emacs frames size, width, and height).

- [elispcomp](https://github.com/jamescherti/elispcomp): A command line tool that allows compiling Elisp code directly from the terminal or from a shell script. It facilitates the generation of optimized .elc (byte-compiled) and .eln (native-compiled) files.

- [tomorrow-night-deepblue-theme.el](https://github.com/jamescherti/tomorrow-night-deepblue-theme.el): The Tomorrow Night Deepblue Emacs theme is a beautiful deep blue variant of the Tomorrow Night theme, which is renowned for its elegant color palette that is pleasing to the eyes. It features a deep blue background color that creates a calming atmosphere. The theme is also a great choice for those who miss the blue themes that were trendy a few years ago.

- [Ultyas](https://github.com/jamescherti/ultyas/): A command-line tool designed to simplify the process of converting code snippets from UltiSnips to YASnippet format.

- [dir-config.el](https://github.com/jamescherti/dir-config.el): Automatically find and evaluate .dir-config.el Elisp files to configure directory-specific settings.

- [flymake-bashate.el](https://github.com/jamescherti/flymake-bashate.el): A package that provides a Flymake backend for the bashate Bash script style checker.

- [flymake-ansible-lint.el](https://github.com/jamescherti/flymake-ansible-lint.el): An Emacs package that offers a Flymake backend for ansible-lint.

- [inhibit-mouse.el](https://github.com/jamescherti/inhibit-mouse.el): A package that disables mouse input in Emacs, offering a simpler and faster alternative to the disable-mouse package.