NAME
spell
- find spelling errors
SYNOPSIS
spell
[-biltvx]
[-d list]
[-h spellhist]
[-m a | e | l | m | s]
[-s stop]
[+extra_list]
[]
DESCRIPTION
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 lexicographical 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.
- -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.
- -i
-
Instruct
deroff(1)
to ignore
``.so''
and
``.nx''
commands.
- -l
-
Use
delatex
instead of
deroff(1)
if it is present on the system.
- -m
-
Enable support for common
troff(1)
macro packages; this option is passed verbatim to
deroff(1).
Refer to the
--m
description in
deroff(1)
for details.
- -s stop_list
-
Use the specified stop list instead of the default system stop
list.
The stop list must be sorted as specified above.
- -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
`='.
- +extra_list
-
Use
extra_list
in addition to the default word list.
The extra word list must be sorted as specified above.
FILES
/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
.
SEE ALSO
deroff(1),
look(1),
sed(1),
sort(1),
tee(1),
troff(1)
HISTORY
The
spell
command appeared in
Version 6 AT&T UNIX
.
Unlike historic versions, the
NetBSD
spell
command does not use hashed word files.
Instead, it uses lexicographically sorted files and the same technique
as
look(1).
BUGS
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.