quiz
PURPOSE
Tests your knowledge.
SYNOPSIS
/usr/games/quiz [ -i file ] [ -t ] [ category1 category2 ]
DESCRIPTION
The quiz game gives associative knowledge tests on
various selectable subjects. It asks about items chosen
from category1 and expects answers from category2. If
you do not specify the categories, quiz gives
instructions and lists the available categories.
The quiz game gives the correct answer whenever you press
the Enter key by itself. The game ends when questions
run out or when you press INTERRUPT (Alt-Pause); quiz
reports a score and exits.
FLAGS
-ifile Substitutes the named file for the standard index
file.
Note: In the following syntax description,
brackets are normally used to indicate that an
item is optional; a bold-faced bracket or brace,
however, should be entered as a literal part of
the syntax. A vertical list of items indicates
that one and only one must be chosen. The lines
in file must have the following syntax:
line = category [ :category] . . .
category = alternate [ |alternate ] . . .
alternate = [primary]
primary = character
[category]
option
option = {category}
In an index file, the first category of each line
must specify the name of an information file (the
information file contains the names of files with
quiz material). The remaining categories specify
the order and contents of the data in each line
of the information file. The quiz data in an
information files follows the same syntax. A \
(backslash) is an escape character which allows
you to quote syntactically significant characters
or to insert a new-line character (\n) into a
line. When either a question or its answer is
blank, quiz does not ask it. The construct a|ab
does not work in an information file. Use a{b}.
-t Provides a tutorial. Repeats missed questions
and introduce new material gradually.
EXAMPLES
1. To start a Latin-to-English quiz:
/usr/games/quiz latin english
The quiz command displays Latin words and waits for
you to enter what they mean in English.
2. To start an English-to-Latin quiz:
/usr/games/quiz english latin
3. To set up a Latin-English quiz, add the following
line to the index file:
/usr/games/lib/quiz/latin:latin:english
This line specifies that the file
"/usr/games/lib/quiz/latin" contains information
about the categories "latin" and "english".
You can add new categories to the standard index
file, /usr/games/lib/quiz/index, or to an index file
of your own. If you create your own index file, run
the quiz command with the -i file flag to give it
your list of quiz topics.
4. This is a sample information file:
cor:heart
sacerdos:priest{ess}
quando:when|since|because
optat:{{s}he |it }[desires|wishes]\
|desire|wish
alb[us|a|um]:white
This information file contains Latin and English
words. The : (colon) separates each Latin word from
its English equivalent. Items enclosed in "{ }"
(braces) are optional. A | (vertical bar) separates
two items when entering either is correct. The [ ]
(brackets) group items separated by vertical bars.
The first line accepts only the answer "heart" in
response to the Latin word "cor". The second accepts
either "priest" or "priestess" in response to
"sacerdos". The third line accepts "when", "since",
or "because" for "quando".
The \ (backslash) at the end of the fourth line indi-
cates that this entry continues on the next line. In
other words, the fourth and fifth lines together form
one entry. This entry accepts any of the following
in response to "optat":
she desires it desires desire
she wishes it wishes wish
he desires desires
he wishes wishes
If you start a Latin-to-English quiz, then the last
line of this sample information file instructs quiz
to ask you the meaning of "albus". If you start an
English-to-Latin quiz, then quiz displays "white" and
accepts "albus", "alba", or "album" for the answer.
If any of the characters "{", "}", [, ], or | appear
in a question item, then quiz gives the first alter-
native of every | group and displays every optional
group. Thus, the English-to-Latin question for the
fourth definition in this sample is "she desires".
FILES
/usr/games/lib/quiz/index
/usr/games/lib/quiz/*