.\" @(#)spell.1 6.1 (Berkeley) %G%
spell, spellin, spellout \- find spelling errors
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.
words are collected from the standard input.
option, all words not literally in the spelling list are printed,
and plausible derivations from spelling list words are indicated.
option, British spelling is checked.
centre, colour, speciality, travelled,
Fowler and the OED to the contrary notwithstanding.
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.
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
The default files are indicated below.
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
Both expect a set of words, one per line,
combines the words from the standard input and the
file and places a new list on the standard output.
file is specified, the new list is created from scratch.
looks up each word from the standard input and prints
those that are missing from (or present on, with
For example, to verify that
is not on the default spelling list, add it to your own
private list, and then use it with
echo hookey | spellout /usr/dict/hlista
echo hookey | spellin /usr/dict/hlista > myhlist
spell \-d myhlist huckfinn
/usr/dict/hlist[ab] hashed spelling lists, American & British, default for
/usr/dict/hstop hashed stop list, default for
/dev/null history file, default for
/tmp/spell.$$\(** temporary files
deroff(1), sort(1), tee(1), sed(1)
The spelling list's coverage is uneven;
new installations will probably wish to
monitor the output for several months to gather
British spelling was done by an American.