132 lines
5.6 KiB
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132 lines
5.6 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
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<HEAD>
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<title>LG #37</title>
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<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#A000A0"
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<font color="navy">A <I>Linux Journal</I> Review</font>:
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This article appeared first in the February 1998 issue of <I>Linux
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Journal</I>. I decided to reprint it here because most of you who write
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letters to <I>LG</I> don't seem to know this handy command exists.
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While it's not mentioned
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in the article, ispell can be used from elm and other e-mail packages.
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center>
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<H1><font color="maroon">ispell: Spelling Checker</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">Marjorie Richardson</a></H4>
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</center>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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As a former Technical Editor, I know how easy it is to miss incorrect
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spelling when proof-reading, especially if the word ``looks''
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right, e.g., compatability (sic). For this reason, a good spelling checker is
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a must. The command <tt>ispell</tt> does a good job and has special
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features to help it do even better. The Man page for
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<tt>ispell</tt> is very comprehensive, so I won't go into all its
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options--only my favorites.
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<p>
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When <tt>ispell</tt> has been invoked and it finds a misspelled
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word, options are displayed across the bottom of the screen:
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<p>
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<pre>
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[SP] <number> R)epel A)ccept I)nsert L)ookup U)ncap Q)uit e(X)it or ? for help
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</pre>
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All you have to do is press the space bar (accept this time only)
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or <i>A</i> (accept for rest of document) to accept the spelling as
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is, press <i>I</i> to insert the word in the dictionary, or press the appropriate
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number or <i>R</i> to replace it. The main thing to watch out for is the right
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time to use <i>R</i>. When a misspelled word is found and the spelling choices are
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offered, the tendency is to press <i>R</i> for <i>replace</i> and enter the
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number of the correct choice--doing this results in the number
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replacing your word. Instead, enter the number of your choice immediately,
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and since <i>replace</i> is the default, the correct spelling will replace
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the incorrect in the text. Use <i>R</i> only when a correct spelling is not
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offered by <tt>ispell</tt>.
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<p>
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Most of SSC's reference cards and command summaries use troff text
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formatting; other manuals use TeX. Use the option <tt>-n</tt> with
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troff text or <tt>-t</tt> with TeX or LaTeX, and
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<tt>ispell</tt>
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will ignore formatting commands, thereby returning fewer
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``misspelled'' words for you to <i>accept</i>. While an option is
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not available to designate a Quark file, you can always insert the
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QuarkXPress formatting commands
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into your personal dictionary the first time they come up and not be
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hassled again.
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<p>
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In fact, the personal dictionary is probably the neatest feature of all.
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The very first time you select <i>I</i> to <i>insert</i> a word it doesn't
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recognize, <tt>ispell</tt> sets up a personal dictionary named
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ispell_english in your home directory. After that, any word you
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select will be added to this dictionary, and you will never be told it
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is misspelled again. This feature is particularly handy for proper names, buzz
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words and abbreviations unique to your business. Hashed
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dictionaries for other languages (that have been installed) can be
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specified using <tt>-d</tt>.
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In addition, you can set up special dictionaries for particular projects.
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For example, when I was editing the Java Reference Cards, I set up a
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special dictionary named ispell_java just for Java terms in my work
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directory. Afterwards, whenever I ran <tt>ispell</tt>, I specified
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the command line as:
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<p>
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<pre>
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ispell -n -p ./ispell_java java.troff
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</pre>
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As a result, <tt>ispell</tt> knew class names like
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<tt>getFontList</tt> were spelled correctly, and that
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<tt>getFontlist</tt> was not. By the way, don't forget
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that the command line specification must include the directory of the
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dictionary (<tt>./</tt> in the above example); otherwise
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<tt>ispell</tt> will look for it in your home directory.
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<p>
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Another handy feature to remember is how to check a single word instead
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of a complete file by using the <tt>-a</tt> option. For
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example, if you specify:
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<p>
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<pre>
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echo compatability | ispell -a
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</pre>
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<tt>ispell</tt> will return the message:
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<p>
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<pre>
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&compatability 3 0: comparability, compatibility, computability
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</pre>
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This message tells you ``compatability'' is misspelled, and gives you
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a list of 3 <i>best guesses</i> in alphabetical order. If you prefer not to
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have the list sorted alphabetically, use the <tt>-S</tt> option,
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and it will be sorted by <i>best guess</i>.
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<p>
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All in all, <tt>ispell</tt> is an effective and easy-to-use
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all-purpose spell checker.
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1999, Marjorie Richardson <BR>
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Published in Issue 37 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, February 1999</H5></center>
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