The WordNet library contains many utility functions used by the interface code, other library functions,
and various applications and tools. Only those of importance to the WordNet search code, or which are
generally useful are described here.
wninit() opens the files necessary for using WordNet with the WordNet library functions. The database
files are opened, and morphinit() is called to open the exception list files. Returns 0 if successful,
-1 otherwise. The database and exception list files must be open before the WordNet search and
morphology functions are used. If the database is successfully opened, the global variable OpenDB is set
to 1. Note that it is possible for the database files to be opened (OpenDB==1), but not the exception
list files.
re_wninit() is used to close the database files and reopen them, and is used exclusively for WordNet
development. re_morphinit() is called to close and reopen the exception list files. Return codes are as
described above.
cntwords() counts the number of underscore or space separated words in str. A hyphen is passed in
separator if is is to be considered a word delimiter. Otherwise separator can be any other character, or
an underscore if another character is not desired.
strtolower() converts str to lower case and removes a trailing adjective marker, if present. str is
actually modified by this function, and a pointer to the modified string is returned.
ToLowerCase() converts str to lower case as above, without removing an adjective marker.
strsubst() replaces all occurrences of from with to in str and returns resulting string.
getptrtype() returns the integer ptr_type corresponding to the pointer character passed in ptr_symbol.
See wnsearch(3WN) for a table of pointer symbols and types.
getpos() returns the integer constant corresponding to the synset type passed. ss_type may be one of the
following: n,v,a,r,s. If s is passed, ADJ is returned. Exits with -1 if ss_type is invalid.
getsstype() works like getpos(), but returns SATELLITE if ss_type is s.
StrToPos() returns the integer constant corresponding to the syntactic category passed in pos. string
must be one of the following: noun,verb,adj,adv. -1 is returned if pos is invalid.
GetSynsetForSense() returns the synset that contains the word sense sense_key and NULL in case of error.
GetDataOffset() returns the synset offset for synset that contains the word sense sense_key, and 0 if
sense_key is not in sense index file.
GetPolyCount() returns the polysemy count (number of senses in WordNet) for lemma encoded in sense_key
and 0 if word is not found.
WNSnsToStr() returns sense key encoding for sense_num entry in idx.
GetValidIndexPointer() returns the Index structure for word in pos. Calls morphstr(3WN) to find a valid
base form if word is inflected.
GetWNSense() returns the WordNet sense number for the sense key encoding represented by lemma and
lex_sense.
GetSenseIndex() returns parsed sense index entry for sense_key and NULL if sense_key is not in sense
index.
GetTagcnt() returns the number of times the sense passed has been tagged according to the cntlist file.
default_display_message() simply returns -1. This is the default value for the global variable
display_message, that points to a function to call to display an error message. In general, applications
(including the WordNet interfaces) define an application specific function and set display_message to
point to it.