Yet Another Word List [YAWL] i The List Why indeed is there even a need for Yet Another Word List? The notorious "linux.words" list, the public domain "Websters 2", the ispell and cracklib dictionaries, not to mention various and sundry purported Scrabble lists are already available in electronic form. None of these, though, are optimized for word game use and as comprehensive as the YAWL. At 263,533 words, this list subsumes the SOWPODS list beloved of international Scrabble players. There is no arbitrary word length cutoff, and even words longer than 20 letters find a place in the list. Care has been taken to ensure that the YAWL word list (word.list) will for all time remain copyright free. It is based on the updated Public Domain ENABLE (Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon), researched and compiled by the author and his colleague, Alan Beale. The ENABLE list has become a sort of de facto on-line standard for word gaming, having been adopted by Scrabble servers and used as the basis for at least one commercial word game. Additional content in the list came from Alan Beale's painstakingly researched "2DICTS" and "OSPDADD" lists, an "OSW" clone list generously contributed by the amateur lexicographer, C.M.L. Wristlock, David Duffy's list of Australian bird names, and a short list of computer jargon oriented "signature words" added by the author of this package. While there might be suspicions of arbitrariness in the choice of words these signature words, they add a pungent, slightly smoky idiosyncratic flavor to the brew. Those who, in spite of themselves, develop an asthetic appreciation of the YAWL package are urged to download the lists it is based on, in the ENABLE2K and SUPP2K archives, from http://personal.riverusers.com/~thegrendel/software.html. These archives contain Alan Beale's erudite, but eminently readable research notes, a treat for the amateur lexicographer. The YAWL word list itself (word.list) is, of course, in standard UNIX ASCII format, one word per line, terminated by an LF. Those unfortunate Windows persons desiring a DOS ASCII word file, lines terminated by an LF-CR, can download the "tofrodos" package from http://chrisheng.hypermart.net/ or http://thor.prohosting.com/~cslheng/, which contains both 16 and 32-bit Windows executables for converting text files from UNIX to DOS format. The YAWL list, word.list, is herewith and forever placed in the Public Domain, which means there are no restrictions on its use and redistribution for "lawful" purposes. This means you may not use the list to rob banks or swindle investors, but short of that, pretty much anything goes. If you decide to incorporate the list into a game, application, or product, the author requests, as a courtesy, notification of same, so that he can gain a moment's satisfaction in return for all the effort he has put into this project. ii The Utilities This new version of the YAWL package now includes two simple anagramming utilities. They are interesting and useful in their own right, but their true purpose is to inspire all the Linux word gamers and coders out there to invent and create... word games, using the YAWL list, of course. It would truly be nice to see a successor to Scrabble - a new generation word game with strategic depth, a word game with some of the sheer crystalline beauty of chess and the sheer profundity of Go, a word game rewarding artistic play rather than dry list memorization, a word game for those who truly love the richness of the English language and revel in its peculiar permutations, a word game that will take the gaming community by storm, a word game that will invade living rooms all across the civilized world, in short, a word game fated to run on millions of Linux machines. Using 'anagram' involves nothing more than typing, from the command line (console or xterm), 'anagram letter-set [dictionary]'. Omitting the [dictionary] defaults to the YAWL list, installed by this package as "word.list" in /usr/dict. Omitting the letter set causes the program to prompt the user for input. The letter set may include "wild cards" (blank tiles), which are represented as underscores (_). The output goes to stdout, and may, of course be redirected to a file. Examples: anagram lkwa ------------ al aw awl ka la law walk anagram whea_l -------------- aa aah aal ab able ace ache ... and 459 other words. anagram abcd /usr/dict/linux.words ---------------------------------- anagrams the letterset "abcd" using /usr/dict/linux.words. The multiple word anagram utility, "multi" works similarly. The syntax, from the command line, is: multi [letter set] [number of words] [word file] Example: multi abcdefghij 3 ------------------ bach fed jig bach jig fed bad chef jig ... bid chef jag ... jab chef dig ...and 49 other combinations. Using "multi" can provide some cheap thrills when a party gets dull. Both "anagram" and "multi" have their own man pages, installed by a "make install". It would take only a few small tweaks to transform the anagram code into an unscramble tool for "scramblegrams" or even a "find the missing letters" utility for crossword puzzle fans. This is left as an "exercise for the reader". Mendel Cooper thegrendel@theriver.com -- Scrabble is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. ENABLE, YAWL, and 2DICTS are not trademarks.