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     SPELL(1)                                                 SPELL(1)

     NAME
          spell - find spelling errors

     SYNOPSIS
          spell [ options ] [ file ]

          sprog [ options ] [ -f file ]

     DESCRIPTION
          Spell looks up words from the named files (standard input
          default) in a public spelling list.  Possible misspellings-
          words that occur in neither and are not plausibly derivable
          from the former-are placed on the standard output.

          Spell ignores constructs of troff(1) and its standard pre-
          processors.  It understands these options:

          -b   Check British spelling.

          -v   Print all words not literally in the spelling list,
               with derivations.

          -x   Print, marked with `=', every stem as it is looked up
               in the spelling list, along with its affix classes.

          As a matter of policy, spell does not admit multiple spel-
          lings of the same word.  Variants that follow general rules
          are preferred over those that don't, even when the unruly
          spelling is more common.  Thus, in American usage, `mod-
          elled', `sizeable', and `judgment' are rejected in favor of
          `modeled', `sizable', and `judgement'.  Agglutinated vari-
          ants are shunned: `crewmember' and `backyard' cede to `crew
          member' and  `back yard' (noun) or `back-yard' (adjective).

     FILES
          /sys/lib/amspell  American spelling list
          /sys/lib/brspell  British spelling list
          /bin/aux/sprog    The actual spelling checker.  It expects
                            one word per line on standard input, and
                            takes the same arguments as spell.

     SEE ALSO
          deroff(1)

     BUGS
          The heuristics of deroff(1) used to excise formatting infor-
          mation are imperfect.
          The spelling list's coverage is uneven; in particular biol-
          ogy, medicine, and chemistry, and perforce proper names, not
          to mention languages other than English, are covered very

     SPELL(1)                                                 SPELL(1)

          lightly.