SPELL(1) SPELL(1)
NAME
spell - find spelling errors
SYNOPSIS
spell [ option ] [ file ]
DESCRIPTION
Spell looks up words from the named files (standard input
default) in a public spelling list and in a private 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, or constructs of tex(1). It understands these
options:
-b Check British spelling.
-v Print all words not literally in the spelling list,
with derivations.
-x Print on standard error, marked with `=', every stem as
it is looked up in the spelling list, along with its
affix classes. Typically used for maintenance.
-c
-C Input is one word per line. Output is a single byte
per word, delivered immediately: `-' if the word is
rejected, `+' if the word is accepted under -c, and a
digit if the word is accepted under -C. Digit zero
indicates a word known directly; larger numbers indi-
cate words derived by increasingly elaborate paths.
Typically used by other programs piping queries to
spell.
The private list, by default is arranged one word per line.
Pertinent files may be specified by environment variables,
listed below with their default settings. To help in gath-
ering local vocabularies, copies of all output are accumu-
lated in the history file, if it exists and is writable.
As a matter of policy, spell does not admit multiple spel-
lings of the same word. Variants that follow general rules
are preferred over over those that don't, even when the
unruly spelling is more common. Thus, in American usage,
`modeled', `sizable', and `judgement' are preferred to `mod-
elled', `sizeable', and `judgment'. Agglutinated variants
are shunned: `crew member' and `back yard' (noun) or `back-
SPELL(1) SPELL(1)
yard' (adjective) are preferred to `crewmember' and `back-
yard'.
FILES
spelling list, compressed (D_SPELL)
British spelling list
history file (H_SPELL)
private list (A_SPELL)
the main routine (P_SPELL)
deroff (or delatex) (or for removing punctuation and
troff(1) constructs (DEROFF)
SEE ALSO
dict(7), deroff(1), wwb(1)
BUGS
Words in a private list are recognized only by exact match,
including capitalization and affixing.
The heuristics of deroff(1) and delatex, used to excise for-
matting information, are imperfect.
The spelling list's coverage is uneven; in particular biol-
ogy, medicine, and chemistry, and perforce proper names, are
covered very lightly.
British spelling was done by an American.