MDICT CPP

A C++ implementation for interpreting MDX/MDD dictionary files. This library provides functionality to read and parse MDX/MDD dictionary files commonly used in electronic dictionaries.

Features

• Parse MDX/MDD dictionary files
• Extract dictionary entries and definitions
• Support for both MDX (dictionary content) and MDD (resource files)
• Simple and efficient C++ implementation
• ARM support
• in-memory base64 encoding/decoding
• UTF8 global output for any dictionary
• low-level optimizations using advanced data structures

Notable Projects using MDict-cpp:

• Wazajisho: a in-memory, functional MDict viewer
• MDict-hs: the haskell bindings for MDict-cpp
• Monastery: the Common Lisp bindings for MDict-cpp

Installation

Prerequisites

• CMake (version 3.10 or higher)
• C++ compiler with C++17 support
• Git

Building from Source

1. Clone the repository:

git clone git@github.com:dictlab/mdict-cpp.git
cd mdict-cpp

2. Initialize and update submodules:

git submodule init
git submodule update --recursive

3. Build the project:

$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake ..
$ cmake --build .
# additionally if you want a single static file:
$ cmake --build . --target mdict-fat

System Installation

To install the library system-wide (requires root privileges):

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DINSTALL_TO_SYSTEM=ON ..
make
sudo make install

it will install those files:

-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/libmdict.a
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/libmdictminiz.a
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/libmdictbase64.a
-- Up-to-date: /usr/local/include/mdict/mdict.h
-- Up-to-date: /usr/local/include/mdict/mdict_extern.h
-- Installing: /usr/local/bin/mydict

This will install:

• The library to /usr/lib (Linux) or /usr/local/lib (macOS/BSD)
• Headers to /usr/include (Linux) or /usr/local/include (macOS/BSD)

Usage

Building the Executable

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make mydict

The executable will be generated at build/bin/mydict

Running the Dictionary Tool

Query a word

Warning: Make sure to include backslashs at the end of each query, otherwise lookup can fail.

./build/bin/mydict your_mdx_file.mdx yourword
# output the resource binary as base64 format
./build/bin/mydict your_mdx_file.mdd \\xxx\\xx.png

# output the resource binary as hex string format
./build/bin/mydict -x your_mdx_file.mdd \\xxx\\xx.png

list all keys

./build/bin/mydict -l your_mdx_file.mdx

./build/bin/mydict -l your_mdx_file.mdd

Building the Library

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make mdict

The library will be generated at target/lib/libmdict.a

Using the Library in Your Project with CMake

1. Include the header files:

#include "mdict_extern.h"

2. Link against the library:

target_link_libraries(your_project mdict)

Or use g++ directly

# after make install
cd src
g++ -std=c++17 -I/usr/local/ -I. -L/usr/local/lib -lmdict -lmdictminiz -lmdictbase64 mydict.cc -o mmdict

MDX File Format

The MDX/MDD file format is a dictionary format commonly used in electronic dictionaries. MDX files contain the dictionary content (text, HTML, etc.), while MDD files contain associated resources (images, audio, etc.).

Format References

• MDX Format Documentation
• MDX/MDD File Format Specification
• MDict Format

Format Structure

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the BSD-3-Clause License - see the LICENSE file for details.