#!/usr/bin/python # dictionary.py by Nadeem Abdul Hamid, August 2006 # based on code by Saketh Bhamidipati, 2005 """ This program will read in a word list from a file and construct as output an HTML file (web page) containing the definitions of all the words, as found at dictionary.reference.com. """ import sys from urllib2 import * def buildDictURL( word ): return 'http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=%s' % word; def lookupWord( word, outFileHandle ): inDef = False # flag to indicate that we are reading in the # definitions portion of the web page and it should # be printed to the output file dict_url = buildDictURL( word ) for line in urlopen( dict_url ): if '' in line: inDef = True elif '' in line: inDef = False if inDef: outFileHandle.write( line ) def lookupWords( inFileHandle, outFileHandle ): outFileHandle.write('\n') for word in inFileHandle.readlines(): lookupWord( word, outFileHandle ) outFileHandle.write('\n'); def main(argv=sys.argv): if len(argv) == 3: try: inFileH = file( argv[1], 'r' ); outFileH = file( argv[2], 'w' ); lookupWords( inFileH, outFileH ); inFileH.close(); outFileH.close(); except IOError, e: print "Sorry, an exception occurred:", e else: # print usage message print \ """ dictionary.py, 2006 Nadeem Abdul Hamid Usage: dictionary.py inFileName outFileName """ if __name__ == '__main__': main();