spell - find spelling errors
spell [-biltvx] [-d list] [-h spellhist] [-m m | s | e | a |
l] [-s stop]
[+extra_list] [file ...]
spell collects words from the named documents and looks them
up in a
spelling list. Words that neither occur among nor are
derivable (by applying
certain inflections, prefixes or suffixes) from words
in the
spelling list are printed on the standard output.
If no files are named, words are collected from the standard
input.
spell ignores most troff(1), tbl(1), eqn(1) and pic(1) constructions.
Copies of all output may be accumulated in the history file,
if one is
specified.
By default, spell (like deroff(1)) follows chains of included files
(`.so' and `.nx' commands).
The default spelling list is based on Webster's Second International dictionary
and should be fairly complete. Words that appear in
the ``stop
list'' are immediately flagged as misspellings, regardless
of whether or
not they exist in one of the word lists. This helps filter
out misspellings
(e.g. thier=thy-y+ier) that would otherwise pass.
Additionally,
the british file is also used as a stop list unless the
-b option is
specified.
Site administrators may add words to the local word list,
/usr/local/share/dict/words or the local stop list,
/usr/local/share/dict/stop.
All word (and stop) lists must be sorted in lexigraphical
order with case
folded. The simplest way to achieve this is to use ``sort
-df''. If the
word files are incorrectly sorted, spell will not be able to
operate correctly.
The options are as follows:
-b Check British spelling. Besides preferring centre,
colour,
speciality, travelled, etc., this option insists upon -ise in
words like standardise, Fowler and the OED to the
contrary
notwithstanding. In this mode, American variants of
words are
added to the stop list.
-i Instruct deroff(1) to ignore `.so' and `.nx' commands.
-l Use delatex instead of deroff(1) if it is present on
the system.
-t Use detex instead of deroff(1) if it is present on
the system.
-v Print all words not literally in the spelling list
in addition to
plausible derivations from spelling list words.
-x Print every plausible stem, prefixed with `='.
-d word_list
Use the specified word list instead of the default
system word
list. The word list must be sorted as specified
above.
-h spellhist
Store misspelled words in the specified history
file. The output
of who -m is appended to the history file after the
list of misspelled
words.
-m Enable support for common troff(1) macro packages;
this option is
passed verbatim to deroff(1). The -m option takes
the following
arguments:
a recognize man(7) macros.
e recognize me(7) macros.
m recognize me(7) macros.
s recognize me(7) macros.
l recognize mm(7) macros and delete mm(7)
lists.
-s stop_list
Use the specified stop list instead of the default
system stop
list. The stop list must be sorted as specified
above.
+extra_list
Use extra_list in addition to the default word list.
The extra
word list must be sorted as specified above.
/usr/share/dict/words Default spelling list
/usr/share/dict/american American spelling of certain
words
/usr/share/dict/british British spelling of certain
words
/usr/share/dict/stop Default stop list.
/usr/local/share/dict/words Local spelling list (optional)
/usr/local/share/dict/stop Local stop list (optional)
/usr/libexec/spellprog Binary executed by the shell
script
/usr/bin/spell.
deroff(1), look(1), sed(1), sort(1), tee(1), troff(1)
The spell command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
Unlike historic versions, the OpenBSD spell command does not
use hashed
word files. Instead, it uses lexigraphically sorted files
and the same
technique as look(1).
The spelling list lacks many technical terms; new installations will
probably wish to monitor the output for several months to
gather local
additions.
British spelling was done by an American.
In -x mode it would be nicer if the stems were grouped with
the appropriate
word.
OpenBSD 3.6 April 18, 1994
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