Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook - Third Edition

How to do it...

This script will display a word definition:

#!/bin/bash 
#Filename: define.sh 
#Desc: A script to fetch definitions from dictionaryapi.com 

key=YOUR_API_KEY_HERE 

if  [ $# -ne 2 ]; 
then 
  echo -e "Usage: $0 WORD NUMBER" 
  exit -1; 
fi 

curl --silent \
http://www.dictionaryapi.com/api/v1/references/learners/xml/$1?key=$key | \ 
  grep -o \<dt\>.*\</dt\> | \ 
  sed 's$</*[a-z]*>$$g' | \ 
  head -n $2 | nl 

Run the script like this:

    $ ./define.sh usb 1
    1  :a system for connecting a computer to another device (such as   
    a printer, keyboard, or mouse) by using a special kind of cord a   
    USB cable/port USB is an abbreviation of "Universal Serial Bus."How 
    it works...