looking for a program to display random words from list

newbiesforever · 04-22-2011, 02:59 PM

Is there a Linux program I can use to display random words from a list? By entering words in a spreadsheet and then sorting the list in alphabetical order, I made a list of new vocabulary words for myself to memorize, and wondered whether I could make random words from the list display on the screen daily. I know I could write a program to do that if I knew programming, but I don't.

ButterflyMelissa · 04-22-2011, 03:36 PM

Hi,

I'd go with perl, here. This is the listing, tested and works here:

Quote:

#!/usr/bin/perl

# make the array
@words = ("");
$counter = 0;
# read the file
open FILE, "<words.dta" or die $!;
while ($line = readline(FILE))
{
chomp $line;
push(@words, $line);
$counter++;
}
close(FILE);

# choose one
$random_number = int(rand($counter));
print @words[$random_number] . "\n";

Steps to follow:
- open gedit (or any other editor for plain text)
- copy & paste the listing shown
- save somewhere as "words.pl"
- compile a plain text file of your words (learning a new language? cool) enter one word and hit enter after each word
- place this file in the same folder and make sure it is called words.dta
- enter the console, navigate to the folder where "words.pl" is located
- enter

Quote:

chmod +x words.pl

- test, just enter this

Quote:

./words.pl

one of the words in the list should apear on the console

Hope this helps!

I'll watch this thread to see how you get along!

Thor
By the way - Perl is not my native language, so if anyone can improve on this, please do so! Tnx

jschiwal · 04-22-2011, 04:20 PM

How about something fun. Create a directory of pictures to use for your wallpaper, and use ImageMagick to print each of the words on a different picture. (or use the same source picture and create a picture for each word if you like a particular wallpaper background)

Code:

words=(cat wordlist)
pictures=(ls wallpapers/*.jpg)

for ((n=1; n<${#words[*]}; n++)); do 
    convert -font Bookman-DemiItalic -pointsize 70 -draw "text 25,60 $work" \
            -channel RGBA -blur 0x6 -fill darkred -stroke magenta           \
            -draw "text 20,55 ${words[$n]}" \
            "${pictures[$n]}" "$n-${pictures[$n]}"
done

Let kde or gnome display the backgrounds in random order. The let you select a directory of pictures to use as the wallpaper. KDE also has a Widget to display pictures which could use a directory as well.

The convert command is taken from the documentation for ImageMagick.

TobiSGD · 04-22-2011, 04:25 PM

Why not just use one of the many available vocabulary trainers?

ButterflyMelissa · 04-22-2011, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Why not just use one of the many available vocabulary trainers?

Assuming OP is leaning a language, it could as well be a set of terms for his job...

But, the entry on the wallpaper, now that one I did'nt see comming

Cool going there, jschiwal!

Thor

newbiesforever · 04-22-2011, 10:09 PM

Nope, this is not for my job. It's for nothing but my self-improvement. I feel that my vocabulary isn't what it used to be. Ehh, about these solutions, I guess I'll have to decide which is the simplest...

PTrenholme · 04-22-2011, 10:14 PM

Use the perm -n 1 <file_name> command.

newbiesforever · 04-22-2011, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PTrenholme

Use the perm -n 1 <file_name> command.

Hmm...I'd sure like to apply that solution, as it's the simplest by far; but I don't seem to have a program "perm"--my terminal said command not found. Looking for it...

If I didn't think there must be some other explanation, I'd wonder if you were playing a joke on me. I looked up "perm," and it seems to be a parameter meaning "permissions," often used in the "find" command...

Ahiri · 04-23-2011, 12:21 AM

Here's a python version of Thor's perl solution:

Code:

import random, os
f = open('word.list','r')
s = f.read()
f.close()
l = s.split(',')
m = len(l)-1
n = random.randint(0,m)
os.system('xmessage '+l[n])

Though this could be simplified to just:

Code:

import random, os
f = open('word.list','r')
os.system('xmessage '+f.read().split(',')[random.randint(0,len(l)-1)])
f.close()

Or even:

Code:

import random, os
os.system('xmessage '+open('word.list','r').read().split(',')[random.randint(0,len(l)-1)])

Though that's bad practice because you don't close the file but python should do it for you. Just put all the words in a comma-deliminated file named word.list (excel or open office or whatever spreadsheet you're using should be able to export to this). Then all you have to do is use cron to run "python vocab.py" however often you need and you're done.

ButterflyMelissa · 04-23-2011, 12:09 PM

@ Ahiri - WOW! THAT IS PYTHON??? I'm off for a tutorial!

Tnx!

PTrenholme · 04-23-2011, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newbiesforever

Hmm...I'd sure like to apply that solution, as it's the simplest by far; but I don't seem to have a program "perm"--my terminal said command not found. Looking for it...

If I didn't think there must be some other explanation, I'd wonder if you were playing a joke on me. I looked up "perm," and it seems to be a parameter meaning "permissions," often used in the "find" command...

Oops! My bad.

I was on an old XP system when I posted that, so I was working from my faulty memory. The correct command is shuf, not "comb." (I was thinking "combinatorial," since I was a statistician for many years before retiring. The program author obviously thought of "shuffling" cards when the program was created.)

If your system installs the manual pages (which Ubuntu, by default, does not), man shuf at the command line should give you a good description of the shuf command and its options. (And, for example, man -k random will list all commands - and library functions - related to randomness.)