Jmdict-parser NPM

JMdict Parser

It is a CLI application that parses a JMdict XML and spits out a JSON file.

Installation

npm i -g jmdict-parser

About

JMdict

JMdict is a Japanese to X (X being English, and a couple of other languages) dictionary whose files are in XML format.

How it works

It simply reads the JMdict file into a Javascript object and writes that object into a file.

Characteristics of the output

The JSON file can be read easily for future use, and it is even ~25% smaller than the original XML file!

Structure of JSON output

The JSON file is essentially an array of entry objects. Here's what one random entry object looks like:

{
   "ent_seq":[
      "1002340"
   ],
   "k_ele":[
      {
         "keb":[
            "お早うございます"
         ],
         "ke_pri":[
            "spec1"
         ]
      }
   ],
   "r_ele":[
      {
         "reb":[
            "おはようございます"
         ],
         "re_pri":[
            "spec1"
         ]
      }
   ],
   "sense":[
      {
         "pos":[
            "&int;"
         ],
         "xref":[
            "お早おおう"
         ],
         "misc":[
            "&uk;",
            "&pol;"
         ],
         "s_inf":[
            "may be used more generally at any time of day"
         ],
         "gloss":[
            "good morning"
         ]
      }
   ]
}

For more information about the key names read the comments at the start of the original JMdict files.

Usage

Head over to the JMdict website and download the version of the dictionary file suitable for you. Also, you would need to extract it as it would be archived.
Install the CLI. See here.
You may run the it as follows: