Penelope is a multi-tool for creating, editing and converting dictionaries, especially for eReader devices.
- Version: 3.1.3
- Date: 2016-09-23
- Developer: Alberto Pettarin
- License: the MIT License (MIT)
- Contact: click here
With the current version you can:
- convert a dictionary from/to the following formats:
- Bookeen Cybook Odyssey (R/W)
- CSV (R/W)
- EPUB (W only)
- MOBI (Kindle, W only)
- Kobo (R index only, W unencrypted/unobfuscated only)
- StarDict (R/W)
- XML (R/W)
- merge several dictionaries of the same type into a single dictionary
- merge several definitions for the same headword
- sort by headword and/or by definition
- define your own input parser to merge/sort/edit definitions
- define your own collation function (
bookeen
output format only) - output an EPUB file containing the dictionary (e.g., to cope with the lack of a search function of your eReader)
- output a MOBI (Kindle) dictionary
- 2016-04-17 Sadly, I can no longer afford to spend time working on Penelope, as my other FLOSS projects take 100% of my FLOSS time, and I still need to pay rent and bills, spend time with family and friends, etc., as anyone else. Therefore, I will not work on issues or pull requests, please do not expect they will be dealt with at all. I am actively looking for other developers to take this project over. (This notice should be removed when the changeover happens.) If you need to convert a dictionary and the current version of Penelope does not work for you, you might want to have a look at **PyGlossary**. My most sincere apologies for the inconvenience.
Open a console and type:
$ [sudo] pip install penelope
That's it! Just run without arguments (or with
-h
or--help
) to get the manual:$ penelope
This procedure will install lxml
and marisa-trie
. You might need
to install dictzip
(StarDict output) and kindlegen
(MOBI output)
separately, see below.
Get the source code:
clone this repo with
git
:$ git clone https://github.com/pettarin/penelope.git
or download the latest release and uncompress it somewhere,
or download the current master ZIP and uncompress it somewhere.
Open a console and enter the
penelope
(cloned) directory:$ cd /path/to/penelope
That's it! Just run without arguments (or with
-h
or--help
) to get the manual:$ python -m penelope
This procedure will not install any dependencies: you will need to do that manually, see below.
Python, version 2.7.x or 3.4.x (or above)
to write StarDict dictionaries: the
dictzip
executable, available in your$PATH
or specified with--dictzip-path
:$ [sudo] apt-get install dictzip
to read/write Kobo dictionaries: the Python module
marisa-trie
:$ [sudo] pip install marisa-trie
or MARISA executables
available in your $PATH
or specified with --marisa-bin-path
to write MOBI Kindle dictionaries: the kindlegen executable, available in your
$PATH
or specified with--kindlegen-path
to read/write XML dictionaries: the Python module
lxml
:$ [sudo] pip install lxml
usage: $ penelope -h $ penelope -i INPUT_FILE -j INPUT_FORMAT -f LANGUAGE_FROM -t LANGUAGE_TO -p OUTPUT_FORMAT -o OUTPUT_FILE [OPTIONS] $ penelope -i IN1,IN2[,IN3...] -j INPUT_FORMAT -f LANGUAGE_FROM -t LANGUAGE_TO -p OUTPUT_FORMAT -o OUTPUT_FILE [OPTIONS] description: Convert dictionary file(s) with file name prefix INPUT_FILE from format INPUT_FORMAT to format OUTPUT_FORMAT, saving it as OUTPUT_FILE. The dictionary is from LANGUAGE_FROM to LANGUAGE_TO, possibly the same. You can merge several dictionaries (with the same format), by providing a list of comma-separated prefixes, as shown by the third synopsis above. optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -d, --debug enable debug mode (default: False) -f LANGUAGE_FROM, --language-from LANGUAGE_FROM from language (ISO 639-1 code) -i INPUT_FILE, --input-file INPUT_FILE input file name prefix(es). Multiple prefixes must be comma-separated. -j INPUT_FORMAT, --input-format INPUT_FORMAT from format (values: bookeen|csv|kobo|stardict|xml) -k, --keep keep temporary files (default: False) -o OUTPUT_FILE, --output-file OUTPUT_FILE output file name -p OUTPUT_FORMAT, --output-format OUTPUT_FORMAT to format (values: bookeen|csv|epub|kobo|mobi|stardict|xml) -t LANGUAGE_TO, --language-to LANGUAGE_TO to language (ISO 639-1 code) -v, --version print version and exit --author AUTHOR author string --copyright COPYRIGHT copyright string --cover-path COVER_PATH path of the cover image file --description DESCRIPTION description string --email EMAIL email string --identifier IDENTIFIER identifier string --license LICENSE license string --title TITLE title string --website WEBSITE website string --year YEAR year string --apply-css APPLY_CSS apply the given CSS file (epub and mobi output only) --bookeen-collation-function BOOKEEN_COLLATION_FUNCTION use the specified collation function --bookeen-install-file create *.install file (default: False) --csv-fs CSV_FS CSV field separator (default: ',') --csv-ignore-first-line ignore the first line of the input CSV file(s) (default: False) --csv-ls CSV_LS CSV line separator (default: '\n') --dictzip-path DICTZIP_PATH path to dictzip executable --epub-no-compress do not create the compressed container (epub output only, default: False) --escape-strings escape HTML strings (default: False) --flatten-synonyms flatten synonyms, creating a new entry with headword=synonym and using the definition of the original headword (default: False) --group-by-prefix-function GROUP_BY_PREFIX_FUNCTION compute the prefix of headwords using the given prefix function file --group-by-prefix-length GROUP_BY_PREFIX_LENGTH group headwords by prefix of given length (default: 2) --group-by-prefix-merge-across-first merge headword groups even when the first character changes (default: False) --group-by-prefix-merge-min-size GROUP_BY_PREFIX_MERGE_MIN_SIZE merge headword groups until the given minimum number of headwords is reached (default: 0, meaning no merge will take place) --ignore-case ignore headword case, all headwords will be lowercased (default: False) --ignore-synonyms ignore synonyms, not reading/writing them if present (default: False) --include-index-page include an index page (epub and mobi output only, default: False) --input-file-encoding INPUT_FILE_ENCODING use the specified encoding for reading the raw contents of input file(s) (default: 'utf-8') --input-parser INPUT_PARSER use the specified parser function after reading the raw contents of input file(s) --kindlegen-path KINDLEGEN_PATH path to kindlegen executable --marisa-bin-path MARISA_BIN_PATH path to MARISA bin directory --marisa-index-size MARISA_INDEX_SIZE maximum size of the MARISA index (default: 1000000) --merge-definitions merge definitions for the same headword (default: False) --merge-separator MERGE_SEPARATOR add this string between merged definitions (default: ' | ') --mobi-no-kindlegen do not run kindlegen, keep .opf and .html files (default: False) --no-definitions do not output definitions for EPUB and MOBI formats (default: False) --sd-ignore-sametypesequence ignore the value of sametypesequence in StarDict .ifo files (default: False) --sd-no-dictzip do not compress the .dict file in StarDict files (default: False) --sort-after sort after merging/flattening (default: False) --sort-before sort before merging/flattening (default: False) --sort-by-definition sort by definition (default: False) --sort-by-headword sort by headword (default: False) --sort-ignore-case ignore case when sorting (default: False) --sort-reverse reverse the sort order (default: False) examples: $ penelope -i dict.csv -j csv -f en -t it -p stardict -o output.zip Convert en->it dictionary dict.csv (in CSV format) into output.zip (in StarDict format) $ penelope -i dict.csv -j csv -f en -t it -p stardict -o output.zip --merge-definitions As above, but also merge definitions $ penelope -i d1,d2,d3 -j csv -f en -t it -p csv -o output.csv --sort-after --sort-by-headword Merge CSV dictionaries d1, d2, and d3 into output.csv, sorting by headword $ penelope -i d1,d2,d3 -j csv -f en -t it -p csv -o output.csv --sort-after --sort-by-headword --sort-ignore-case As above, but ignore case for sorting $ penelope -i d1,d2,d3 -j csv -f en -t it -p csv -o output.csv --sort-after --sort-by-headword --sort-reverse As above, but reverse the order $ penelope -i dict.zip -j stardict -f en -t it -p csv -o output.csv Convert en->it dictionary dict.zip (in StarDict format) into output.csv (in CSV format) $ penelope -i dict.zip -j stardict -f en -t it -p csv -o output.csv --ignore-synonyms As above, but do not read the .syn synonym file if present $ penelope -i dict.zip -j stardict -f en -t it -p csv -o output.csv --flatten-synonyms As above, but flatten synonyms $ penelope -i dict.zip -j stardict -f en -t it -p bookeen -o output Convert dict.zip into output.dict.idx and output.dict for Bookeen devices $ penelope -i dict.zip -j stardict -f en -t it -p kobo -o dicthtml-en-it Convert dict.zip into dicthtml-en-it.zip for Kobo devices $ penelope -i dict.csv -j csv -f en -t it -p mobi -o output.mobi --cover-path mycover.png --title "My English->Italian Dictionary" Convert dict.csv into a MOBI (Kindle) dictionary, using the specified cover image and title $ penelope -i dict.xml -j xml -f en -t it -p mobi -o output.epub Convert dict.xml into an EPUB dictionary $ penelope -i dict.xml -j xml -f en -t it -p mobi -o output.epub --epub-output-definitions As above, but also output definitions
You can find ISO 639-1 language codes here.
For example, suppose you want to use an IT -> EN dictionary.
- On your PC, produce/download the IT -> EN dictionary files
it-en.dict
andit-en.dict.idx
. - Connect your Odyssey device to your PC via the USB cable.
- Using your file manager, copy the two files
it-en.dict
andit-en.dict.idx
from your PC into theDictionaries/
directory on your Odyssey device. - Reboot your Odyssey, open a book in Italian and select a word: the definition in English should appear. (For this test, select a common word so you are sure it is present in the dictionary!)
Note that the Bookeen dictionary software will select the dictionary to
use by reading the dc:language
metadata of your eBook. Make sure
your eBooks have the proper dc:language
metadata, otherwise the
correct dictionary might not be loaded.
At the time of this writing (2016-02-16), Kobo devices will load dictionaries only if the files have a file name of an official Kobo dictionaries, which are:
dicthtml.zip
(EN)dicthtml-de.zip
(DE),dicthtml-de-en.zip
(DE -> EN),dicthtml-en-de.zip
(EN -> DE),dicthtml-es.zip
(ES),dicthtml-es-en.zip
(ES -> EN),dicthtml-en-es.zip
(EN -> ES),dicthtml-fr.zip
(FR),dicthtml-fr-en.zip
(FR -> EN),dicthtml-en-fr.zip
(EN -> FR),dicthtml-it.zip
(IT),dicthtml-it-en.zip
(IT -> EN),dicthtml-en-it.zip
(EN -> IT),dicthtml-nl.zip
(NL)dicthtml-ja.zip
(JA),dicthtml-en-ja.zip
(EN -> JA),dicthtml-pt.zip
(PT),dicthtml-pt-en.zip
(PT -> EN),dicthtml-en-pt.zip
(EN -> PT)
(see this MobileRead thread)
Hence, if you want to install a custom dictionary produced with Penelope, you must choose to overwrite one of the official Kobo dictionaries, effectively loosing the possibility of using the latter.
For example, suppose you want to use a Polish dictionary
(dicthtml-pl.zip
), while you are not interested in using the
official Portuguese one (dicthtml-pt.zip
).
- On your PC, produce/download the Polish dictionary
dicthtml-pl.zip
. - In your Kobo device, go to the settings and activate the Portuguese dictionary.
- Connect your Kobo device to your PC via the USB cable.
- Using your file manager, copy
dicthtml-pl.zip
from your PC into the.kobo/dict/
directory on your Kobo device. (Note that.kobo
is a hidden directory: you might need to enable the "show hidden files/directories" setting of your file manager.) - Rename
dicthtml-pl.zip
intodicthtml-pt.zip
. - Reboot your Kobo, open a book in Polish and select a word: the definition should appear. (For this test, select a common word so you are sure it is present in the dictionary!)
Note that if you update the firmware of your Kobo, the custom dictionaries might be overwritten with the official ones. Hence, keep a backup copy of your custom dictionaries in a safe place, e.g. your PC or a SD card.
You can find a list of custom dictionaries, mostly done with Penelope, in this MobileRead thread.
Penelope is released under the MIT License since version 2.0.0 (2014-06-30).
Previous versions, hosted by Google Code, were released under the GNU GPL 3 License.
- Bookeen has no official documentation for its dictionary format (it has been reverse-engineered), YMMV
- Kobo has no official documentation for its dictionary format (it has been reverse-engineered), YMMV
- Reading Kobo dictionaries is partially supported (the index is read, the definitions are not, as they are encrypted/obfuscated)
- Reading EPUB (3) dictionaries is not supported; the writing part needs polishing/refactoring
- Reading PRC/MOBI (Kindle) dictionaries is not supported
- There are some limitations on StarDict files that can be read (see
comments in
format_stardict.py
) - Documentation is not complete
- Unit tests are missing
- December 2015: IngleseXpress.it, "Grazie per averci aiutato a pubblicare per Kindle il Dizionario Inglese-Italiano della Pronuncia Scritta Semplificata!"
Many thanks to:
- uwelovesdonna for contributing ideas for improving the code and for setting up many pages of the project wiki;
- Jens Sadowski for pointing out a bug with Unicode file names and
for suggesting using multiset
dict()
instead of setdict()
; - oldnat for pointing out a bug under Windows and Python 3;
- Wolfgang Miller-Reichling for providing the code for reading CSV dictionaries;
- branok for providing the idea and initial code for German collation function;
- pal for suggesting passing
-l
switch toMARISA_BUILD
; - Lukas Brückner for suggesting escaping
& < >
when outputting in XML format; - Stephan Lichtenhagen for suggesting forcing UTF-8 encoding on Python 3;
- niconavarrete for pointing out the dependency from $CWD (issue #1), solved in v2.0.1;
- elchamaco for providing a StarDict dictionary with a
.syn
file for testing.