SPELL(1) BSD Reference Manual SPELL(1)
s
\bsp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\bl, s
\bsp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\bli
\bin
\bn, s
\bsp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\blo
\bou
\but
\bt - find spelling errors
S
\bSY
\bYN
\bNO
\bOP
\bPS
\bSI
\bIS
\bS
s
\bsp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\bl [-
\b-v
\bv] [-
\b-b
\bb] [-
\b-x
\bx] [-
\b-d
\bd _
\bh_
\bl_
\bi_
\bs_
\bt] [-
\b-s
\bs _
\bh_
\bs_
\bt_
\bo_
\bp] [-
\b-h
\bh _
\bs_
\bp_
\be_
\bl_
\bl_
\bh_
\bi_
\bs_
\bt] [_
\bf_
\bi_
\bl_
\be] _
\b._
\b._
\b.
s
\bsp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\bli
\bin
\bn [_
\bl_
\bi_
\bs_
\bt]
s
\bsp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\blo
\bou
\but
\bt [-
\b-d
\bd] Ar list
D
\bDE
\bES
\bSC
\bCR
\bRI
\bIP
\bPT
\bTI
\bIO
\bON
\bN
S
\bSp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\bl collects words from the named documents, and looks them up in a
spelling list. Words that neither occur among nor are derivable (by ap-
plying 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.
S
\bSp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\bl ignores most troff(1), tbl(1) and eqn(1) constructions.
Under the -
\b-v
\bv option, all words not literally in the spelling list are
printed, and plausible derivations from spelling list words are indicat-
Under the -
\b-b
\bb option, British spelling is checked. Besides preferring
_
\bc_
\be_
\bn_
\bt_
\br_
\be, _
\bc_
\bo_
\bl_
\bo_
\bu_
\br, _
\bs_
\bp_
\be_
\bc_
\bi_
\ba_
\bl_
\bi_
\bt_
\by, _
\bt_
\br_
\ba_
\bv_
\be_
\bl_
\bl_
\be_
\bd, etc., this option insists upon
-
\b-i
\bis
\bse
\be in words like _
\bs_
\bt_
\ba_
\bn_
\bd_
\ba_
\br_
\bd_
\bi_
\bs_
\be_
\b, Fowler and the OED to the contrary
Under the -
\b-x
\bx option, every plausible stem is printed with `=' for each
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 -
\b-d
\bd, -
\b-s
\bs, and -
\b-h
\bh options.
The default files are indicated below. Copies of all output may be accu-
mulated 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 s
\bsp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\bl.
\b. Both expect a
set of words, one per line, from the standard input. S
\bSp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\bli
\bin
\bn combines
the words from the standard input and the preexisting _
\bl_
\bi_
\bs_
\bt file and
places a new list on the standard output. If no _
\bl_
\bi_
\bs_
\bt file is specified,
the new list is created from scratch. S
\bSp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\blo
\bou
\but
\bt looks up each word from
the standard input and prints on the standard output those that are miss-
ing from (or present on, with option -
\b-d
\bd) the hashed _
\bl_
\bi_
\bs_
\bt file. For exam-
ple, to verify that _
\bh_
\bo_
\bo_
\bk_
\be_
\by is not on the default spelling list, add it to
your own private list, and then use it with s
\bsp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\bl,
echo hookey | spellout /usr/share/dict/hlista
echo hookey | spellin /usr/share/dict/hlista > myhlist
spell -d myhlist huckfinn
/usr/dict/hlist[ab] Hashed spelling lists, American & British, default
/usr/dict/hstop Hashed stop list, default for -
\b-s
\bs.
/dev/null History file, default for -
\b-h
\bh.
/tmp/spell.$$* Temporary files.
/usr/libexec/spell Binary exectuted by the shell script
_
\b/_
\bu_
\bs_
\br_
\b/_
\bb_
\bi_
\bn_
\b/_
\bs_
\bp_
\be_
\bl_
\bl.
S
\bSE
\bEE
\bE A
\bAL
\bLS
\bSO
\bO
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 local additions.
British spelling was done by an American.
H
\bHI
\bIS
\bST
\bTO
\bOR
\bRY
\bY
The s
\bsp
\bpe
\bel
\bll
\bl command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
AT&T 7th Edition June 6, 1993 2
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