spell(1) General Commands Manual spell(1)NAME
spell, spellin, spellout - Finds spelling errors
SYNOPSIS
spell [-b] [-i | -l] [-v | -x] [-d hash_list] [-s hash_stop] [-h history_list] [+word_list] [file...]
spellin [list] [number]
spellout [-d] list
The spell command reads words in file and compares them to those in a spelling list. Default files contain English words only, but you can
supply your own list of words in other languages.
STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:
spell: XCU5.0
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.
OPTIONS
[Tru64 UNIX] The following options are for the spell command only. Checks for correct British spelling. Besides preferring centre,
colour, programme, speciality, travelled, and so on, this option causes spell to insist upon the use of the infix -ise in words like stan-
dardise. [Tru64 UNIX] Specifies hash_list as the alternate spelling list. The default is /usr/lbin/spell/hlist[ab]. [Tru64 UNIX] Speci-
fies history_list as the alternate history list that is used to accumulate all output. The default is /usr/lbin/spell/spellhist. [Tru64
UNIX] Suppresses processing of included files through the and troff macros. If the -i and -l options are both specified, the last one of
the two options entered on the command line takes effect. [Tru64 UNIX] Follows the chain of all included files (.so and
spell(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
SPELL(1) General Commands Manual SPELL(1)NAME
spell, spellin, spellout - find spelling errors
SYNOPSIS
spell [ -v ] [ -b ] [ -x ] [ -d hlist ] [ -s hstop ] [ -h spellhist ] [ file ] ...
spellin [ list ]
spellout [ -d ] 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, tbl and eqn(1) constructions.
Under the -v option, all words not literally in the spelling list are printed, and plausible derivations from spelling list words are indi-
cated.
Under the -b option, British spelling is checked. Besides preferring centre, colour, speciality, travelled, etc., this option insists upon
-ise in words like standardise, Fowler and the OED to the contrary notwithstanding.
Under the -x option, every plausible stem is printed with `=' for each word.
The spelling list is based on many sources. While it is more haphazard than an ordinary dictionary, it is also more effective with proper
names and popular technical words. Coverage of the specialized vocabularies of biology, medicine and chemistry is light.
The auxiliary files used for the spelling list, stop list, and history file may be specified by arguments following the -d, -s, and -h
options. The default files are indicated below. Copies of all output may be accumulated in the history file. The stop list filters out
misspellings (e.g. thier=thy-y+ier) that would otherwise pass.
Two routines help maintain the hash lists used by spell. Both expect a set of words, one per line, from the standard input. Spellin com-
bines the words from the standard input and the preexisting list file and places a new list on the standard output. If no list file is
specified, the new list is created from scratch. Spellout looks up each word from the standard input and prints on the standard output
those that are missing from (or present on, with option -d) the hashed list file. For example, to verify that hookey is not on the default
spelling list, add it to your own private list, and then use it with spell,
echo hookey | spellout /usr/dict/hlista
echo hookey | spellin /usr/dict/hlista > myhlist
spell -d myhlist huckfinn
FILES
/usr/dict/hlist[ab] hashed spelling lists, American & British, default for -d
/usr/dict/hstop hashed stop list, default for -s
/dev/null history file, default for -h
/tmp/spell.$$* temporary files
/usr/libexec/spell
SEE ALSO deroff(1), sort(1), tee(1), sed(1)BUGS
The spelling list's coverage is uneven; new installations will probably wish to monitor the output for several months to gather local addi-
tions.
British spelling was done by an American.
7th Edition October 22, 1996 SPELL(1)