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ewnUserManual
ewn (edit WordNet) tool enables browsing and editing of dictionaries in WordNet format. ewn is a command-line tool written in Java and runs in Java Virtual Machine. It mimicks the syntax of the wnb tool from Princeton WordNet.
Run ewn with no parameters to see built-in help message.
ewn is launched by two shell scripts in the bin
folder: ewn
for Linux and other Unix-like systems and ewn.bat
for Windows.
ewn searches for dictionary using two methods:
- looking for
ewn.xml
configuration file in the current directory. This file is a standard extJWNL configuration file. Takefile_properties.xml
as an example, rename it and edit to suit your situation. - looking for
WNHOME
environment variable and opening the dictionary using Dictionary.getFileBackedInstance(dictionaryPath) - loading default resource instance Dictionary.getDefaultResourceInstance()
There are three operation modes:
- browsing
- editing using commands
- editing using a script
In this mode ewn displays the content of the dictionary, such as words, glosses, relations, and various service information, such as sense keys, lexical ids or usage count. Basic command:
ewn word [-hgla] [-n#] -searchtype [-searchtype...]
Run ewn to see built-in help message for syntax.
For example
ewn glasses
if run against WordNet 3.0, produces the following overview
Information available for noun glasses
-hypen Hypernyms
-hypon, -treen Hyponyms & Hyponym Tree
-synsn Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency)
-smemn Part of Holonyms
-partn Has Part Meronyms
-meron All Meronyms
-domnn Domain
-famln Familiarity & Polysemy Count
-hmern Hierarchical Meronyms
-hholn Hierarchical Holonyms
-grepn List of Compound Words
-over Overview of Senses
Information available for noun glass
-hypen Hypernyms
-hypon, -treen Hyponyms & Hyponym Tree
-synsn Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency)
-ssubn Substance of Holonyms
-smemn Part of Holonyms
-partn Has Part Meronyms
-meron All Meronyms
-holon All Holonyms
-derin Derived Forms
-famln Familiarity & Polysemy Count
-hmern Hierarchical Meronyms
-hholn Hierarchical Holonyms
-grepn List of Compound Words
-over Overview of Senses
No information available for verb glasses
Information available for verb glass
-hypev Hypernyms
-hypov, -treev Hyponyms & Hyponym Tree
-deriv Derived Forms
-famlv Familiarity & Polysemy Count
-framv Verb Frames
-grepv List of Compound Words
-over Overview of Senses
No information available for adjective glasses
No information available for adverb glasses
The next example shows how to retrieve more information. Command
ewn goal -g -k -n1 -hypen
if run against !WordNet 3.0, produces
Hypernyms of noun goal
4 of 4 senses of goal
Sense 1
goal [goal%1:09:00::], end [end%1:09:02::] -- (the state of affairs that a plan is intended to achieve and that (when achieved) terminates behavior intended to achieve it; "the ends justify the means")
content [content%1:09:00::], cognitive content [cognitive_content%1:09:00::], mental object [mental_object%1:09:00::] -- (the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned)
cognition [cognition%1:03:00::], knowledge [knowledge%1:03:00::], noesis [noesis%1:03:00::] -- (the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning)
psychological feature [psychological_feature%1:03:00::] -- (a feature of the mental life of a living organism)
abstraction [abstraction%1:03:00::], abstract entity [abstract_entity%1:03:00::] -- (a general concept formed by extracting common features from specific examples)
entity [entity%1:03:00::] -- (that which is perceived or known or inferred to have its own distinct existence (living or nonliving))
In this mode ewn edits the content of the dictionary, namely: adding and removing synsets, words, relations, editing glosses, usage counts, exceptional forms. Basic command for most operations:
ewn sensekey -command [value] [-command value] ... [sensekey -command ...]
is a sequence of sensekeys followed by commands and their values. Since dictionary loading and saving are expensive operations, one might want to combine many commands in one command line. In fact, the next mode, script editing is a better option for bulk editing. To work with exceptional forms, there is another basic form:
ewn pos#derivation -command value
This mode is convenient for bulk editing. Basic command:
ewn -script filename
This command points the ewn tool to a script file named filename
, which contains the dictionary editing commands in the same syntax as in command editing mode. For example, a script file might contains the following commands:
goal%1:09:00:: -add -addword end -setgloss "the state of affairs that a plan ... achieve it; ""the ends justify the means"""
goal%1:09:00:: -addptr content%1:09:00:: @
n#oxen -addexc ox
The first line adds synset, identified by a sensekey goal%1:09:00::
to a dictionary, using -add
command. WordNet man pages contain information about sense key format. Then it adds the word end
to this synset, using command -addword end
. Then it sets the gloss of the synset, using the command -setgloss ....
. Notice it is possible to "chain" operations on the same synset without repeating the sensekey. Notice also the quotes. This escaping works in Windows shell. The outer pair of quotes is necessary for the shell to pass several words as a single argument. The inner quotes are therefore duplicated to be passed as normal quotes.
The second line adds a hypernym (specified by its key @
) content
(specified by its sensekey content%1:09:00::
) of the word goal, using -addptr content%1:09:00:: @
command. WordNet man pages contain information about pointer keys.
The third line adds an exceptional form oxen
to the word ox
using n#oxen -addexc ox
command.