SPELL(1)

NAME
spell - scan a file for misspelled words

SYNOPSIS
spell [-d dict] [-c|-x] [-v] [-i] [+extra_list] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
spell reads in a file and splits it into words, then compares each unique word with a dictionary file (all comparisons and reporting are done in lower case). The "misspelled" words are printed on standard output.

The options are as follows:

-d file
    Use file as the dictionary instead of the default system dictionary.

-c  Check the dictionary for "close" matches. Each misspelled word will be followed by a list of indented close matches. A close match is one where it matches a word in the dictionary if 1 character is deleted, or 1 letter is added, or any 2 adjacent characters are swapped.

-x  Same as -c above.

-v  Show suffix expansion. Some words are inferred by modifying words in the dictionary, this shows you how that was done on some of your words, so you can double check if it did it right.

-i  Use interactively. Prompts for words, processes words after each line, instead of after whole file(s), and quit at first blank line (do not use on a file, this is for typing in words from standard in). Also prints descriptive titles and has a very basic pager.

+extra_list
    Add the file extra_list to the list of dictionaries to check against.

Flags may be grouped, e.g. "spell -icv", and can be specified in any order.

If no file is specified, words to check will be read from standard input. The -i flag should be used if you are going to type words in by hand.

SEE ALSO
ispell

/usr/dict/words

I did not create a word list, but found one without restriction (compiled for linux) at: "ftp://ftp.cs.unc.edu/pub/users/faith/linux/linux.words.2.tar.gz".

RESTRICTIONS
This program is only as good as your word list (and maybe not that good, use the -v switch at least once). I did not compile the word list and cannot vouch for it. Remember this is a tool and not a replacement for your own thinking. Anyone who depends wholly on a spell checker without doing their own proofreading, deserves what they get (or worse), I accept no liability for any consequences of using this program.

This program only finds the misspelled words, it is up to you to decide if they are really wrong and replace them yourself.

My focus in writing this program was portability, therefore I did not use some things that may have speeded things up, however perl itself is quick enough that it still does pretty good even with the slower method.

BUGS
I know of no bugs at this time. There are a couple of things that may make it run a bit faster and the documentation may be made a little clearer.

AUTHOR
Gregory L. Snow, (Greg), snow@biostat.washington.edu

COPYRIGHT and LICENSE
This program is copyright (c) Gregory L. Snow 1999.

This program is free and open software. You may use, modify, or distribute this program (with or without modifications) to your hearts content. However I take no responsibility for your use or misuse of this program.