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TLDR: aspell (tldr-pages)

Interactive spell checker.

  • Spell check a single file
    aspell check {{path/to/file}}
  • List misspelled words from `stdin`
    cat {{path/to/file}} | aspell list
  • Show available dictionary languages
    aspell dicts
  • Run `aspell` with a different language (takes two-letter ISO 639 language code)
    aspell --lang {{cs}}
  • List misspelled words from `stdin` and ignore words from personal word list
    cat {{path/to/file}} | aspell --personal {{personal-word-list.pws}} list
aspell(1)
NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION COMMANDS DICTIONARY OPTIONS CHECKER OPTIONS FILTER OPTIONS RUN-TOGETHER WORD OPTIONS MISC OPTIONS ASPELL UTILITY OPTIONS CONFIGURATION SEE ALSO SUPPORT AUTHOR
ASPELL(1)                         Aspell Abbreviated User's Manual                         ASPELL(1)



NAME
       aspell - interactive spell checker

SYNOPSIS
       aspell [options] <command>

DESCRIPTION
       aspell is a utility program that connects to the Aspell library so that it can function as an
       ispell -a replacement, as an independent spell checker, as a test utility to test out  Aspell
       library features, and as a utility for managing dictionaries used by the library.

       The  Aspell  library contains an interface allowing other programs direct access to its func‐
       tions and therefore reducing the complex task of spell checking to simple library calls.  The
       default library does not contain dictionary word lists.  To add language dictionaries, please
       check your distro first for modified dictionaries, otherwise look here for base language dic‐
       tionaries <http://aspell.net>.

       The following information describes the commands and options used by the Aspell Utility.

       This manual page is maintained separately from the official documentation so it may be out of
       date or incomplete.  The official documentation is maintained as a Texinfo manual.   See  the
       `aspell' entry in info for more complete documentation.

COMMANDS
       <command> is one of:

       usage, -?
              Send a brief Aspell Utility usage message to standard output.  This is a short summary
              listing more common spell-check commands and options.

       help   Send a detailed Aspell Utility help message to standard output.  This  is  a  complete
              list showing all commands, options, filters and dictionaries.

       version, -v
              Print version number of Aspell Library and Utility to standard output.

       check <file>, -c <file>
              Spell-check a single file.

       pipe, -a
              Run Aspell in ispell -a compatibility mode.

       list   Produce a list of misspelled words from standard input.

       [dump] config
              Dump all current configuration options to standard output.

       config <key>
              Send the current value of <key> to standard output.

       soundslike
              Output the soundslike equivalent of each word entered.

       munch  Generate possible root words and affixes from an input list of words.

       expand [1-4]
              Expands the affix flags of each affix compressed word entered.

       clean [strict]
              Cleans an input word list so that every line is a valid word.

       munch-list [simple] [single|multi] [keep]
              Reduce the size of a word list via affix compression.

       conv <from> <to> [<norm-form>]
              Converts <from> one encoding <to> another.

       norm (<norm-map>|<from> <norm-map> <to>) [<norm-form>]
              Perform Unicode normalization.

       [dump] dicts|filters|modes
              Lists available dictionaries, filters, or modes.

       dump|create|merge master|personal|repl <wordlist>
              dump, create, or merge a master, personal, or replacement word list.

DICTIONARY OPTIONS
       The following options may be used to control which dictionaries to use and how they behave.

       --master=<name>, -d <name>
              Base  name of the dictionary to use.  If this option is specified then Aspell will ei‐
              ther use this dictionary or die.

       --dict-dir=<directory>
              Location of the main dictionary word list.

       --lang=<string>, -l <string>
              Language to use.  It follows the same format of the  LANG  environmental  variable  on
              most systems.  It consists of the two letter ISO 639 language code and an optional two
              letter ISO 3166 country code after a dash or underscore.  The default value  is  based
              on the value of the LC_MESSAGES locale.

       --size=<string>
              The  preferred  size  of  the dictionary word list.  This consists of a two char digit
              code describing the size of the list,  with  typical  values  of:  10=tiny,  20=really
              small, 30=small, 40=med-small, 50=med, 60=med-large, 70=large, 80=huge, 90=insane.

       --variety=<string>
              Any  extra information to distinguish this variety of dictionary from other dictionar‐
              ies which may have the same lang and size.

       --jargon=<string>
              Please use the variety option since it replaces jargon as  a  better  choice.   jargon
              will be removed in the future.

       --word-list-path=<list of directories>
              Search path for word list information files.

       --personal=<file>, -p <file>
              Personal word list file name.

       --repl=<file>
              Replacements list file name.

       --extra-dicts=<list>
              Extra dictionaries to use.

       --ignore-accents
              This option is not yet implemented.

CHECKER OPTIONS
       These options control the behavior of Aspell when checking documents.

       --ignore=<integer>, -W <integer>
              Ignore words <= <integer> characters in length.

       --ignore-case, --dont-ignore-case
              Ignore case when checking words.

       --ignore-repl, --dont-ignore-repl
              Ignore commands to store replacement pairs.

       --save-repl, --dont-save-repl
              Save the replacement word list on save all.

       --sug-mode=<mode>
              Suggestion <mode> = ultra|fast|normal|bad-spellers

FILTER OPTIONS
       These options modify the behavior of the various filters.

       --add-filter=<list>, --rem-filter=<list>
              Add or remove a filter.

       --add-filter-path=<paths>, --rem-filter-path=<paths>
              Add or remove paths searched for filters.

       --mode=<string>, -e, -H, -t, -n
              Sets  the  filter mode.  Mode is one of none, url, email, html, tex or nroff.  The al‐
              ternative shortcut options are '-e' for email, '-H' for Html/Sgml,  '-t'  for  Tex  or
              '-n' for Nroff.

       --encoding=<string>
              encoding  the  document  is expected to be in.  The default depends on the current lo‐
              cale.

       --add-email-quote=<list>, --rem-email-quote=<list>
              Add or Remove a list of email quote characters.

       --email-margin=<integer>
              Number of chars that can appear before the quote char.

       --add-html-check=<list>, --rem-html-check=<list>
              Add or remove a list of HTML attributes to always check.   For  example,  look  inside
              alt= tags.

       --add-html-skip=<list>, --rem-html-skip=<list>
              Add or remove a list of HTML attributes to always skip while spell checking.

       --add-sgml-check=<list>, --rem-sgml-check=<list>
              Add or remove a list of SGML attributes to always check for spelling.

       --add-sgml-skip=<list>, --rem-sgml-skip=<list>
              Add or remove a list of SGML attributes to always skip while spell checking.

       --sgml-extension=<list>
              SGML file extensions.

       --tex-check-comments, --dont-tex-check-comments
              Check TeX comments.

       --add-tex-command=<list>, --rem-tex-command=<list>
              Add or Remove a list of TeX commands.

RUN-TOGETHER WORD OPTIONS
       These may be used to control the behavior of run-together words.

       --run-together, --dont-run-together, -C, -B
              Consider run-together words valid.

       --run-together-limit=<integer>
              Maximum number of words that can be strung together.

       --run-together-min=<integer>
              Minimal length of interior words.

MISC OPTIONS
       Miscellaneous options that don't fall under any other category.

       --conf=<file name>
              Main configuration file.  This file overrides Aspell's global defaults.

       --conf-dir=<directory>
              Location of main configuration file.

       --data-dir=<directory>
              Location of language data files.

       --keyboard=<keyboard>
              Use  this keyboard layout for suggesting possible words.  These spelling errors happen
              if a user accidentally presses a key next to the intended correct key.

       --local-data-dir=<directory>
              Alternative location of language  data  files.   This  directory  is  searched  before
              data-dir.

       --home-dir=<directory>
              Directory Location for personal wordlist files.

       --per-conf=<file name>
              Personal  configuration  file.  This file overrides options found in the global config
              file.

ASPELL UTILITY OPTIONS
       These options are part of the aspell Utility and work independently of the library.

       --backup, --dont-backup, -b, -x
              The aspell utility creates a backup file by making a copy and appending .bak  to  file
              name.   This only applies when the command is check <file> and the backup file is only
              created if any spelling modifications take place.

       --byte-offsets, --dont-byte-offsets
              Use byte offsets instead of character offsets.

       --guess, --dont-guess, -m, -P
              Create missing root/affix combinations not in the dictionary in pipe mode.

       --keymapping=aspell, --keymapping=ispell
              The keymapping to use, either aspell for the default mapping or ispell to use the same
              mapping that the Ispell utility uses.

       --reverse, --dont-reverse
              Reverse the order of the suggestions list in pipe mode.

       --suggest, --dont-suggest
              Suggest  possible  replacements in pipe mode.  If false, Aspell will simply report the
              misspelling and make no attempt at suggestions or possible corrections.

       --time, --dont-time
              Time the load time and suggest a time in pipe mode.

       In addition Aspell will try to make sense out of Ispell's command line options so that it can
       function  as a drop in replacement for Ispell.  If Aspell is run without any command line op‐
       tions it will display a brief help screen and quit.

CONFIGURATION
       Aspell can accept options via global or personal configuration files so that you do not  need
       to  specify  them  each  time  at the command line.  The default global configuration file is
       /etc/aspell.conf or another file specified by option --conf and is checked  first.   The  de‐
       fault  per  user configuration file ~/.aspell.conf located in the $HOME directory (or another
       file specified by option --per-conf) is checked next and overrides options set in the  global
       config  file.   Options specified at either the command line or via an environmental variable
       override those specified by either configuration file.

       Each line of the configuration file has the format:

              option [value]

       where option is any one of the standard library options above  without  the  leading  dashes.
       For example the following line will set the default language to Swiss German:

              lang de_CH

       There  may  be  any number of spaces between the option and the value, however it can only be
       spaces, i.e. there is no '=' between the option name and the value.  Comments may also be in‐
       cluded  by  preceding  them with a '#' as anything from a '#' to a newline is ignored.  Blank
       lines are also allowed.  The /etc/aspell.conf file is a good example of how to set these  op‐
       tions and the Aspell Manual has more detailed info.

SEE ALSO
       aspell-import(1), prezip-bin(1), run-with-aspell(1), word-list-compress(1)

       Aspell  is  fully  documented in its Texinfo manual.  See the `aspell' entry in info for more
       complete documentation.

SUPPORT
       Support for Aspell can be found on the Aspell mailing lists.  Instructions  for  joining  the
       various  mailing  lists  (and  an  archive  of them) can be found off the Aspell home page at
       <http://aspell.net>.  Bug reports should be submitted via GitHub  Issues  rather  than  being
       posted to the mailing lists.

AUTHOR
       This  manual  page  was  written by Brian Nelson <pyro AT debian.org> based on the Aspell User's
       Manual, Copyright ©  2002  Kevin  Atkinson.   Updated  Nov  2006  by  Jose  Da  Silva  <digi‐
       tal AT joescat.com>, and Dec 2006 by Kevin Atkinson <kevina AT gnu.org>.




GNU                                          2006-12-10                                    ASPELL(1)

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