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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  indepen‐
       dent  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 functions 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 dictio‐
       naries,  otherwise  look  here  for  base  language   dictionaries
       <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  docu‐
       mentation  so  it  may be out of date or incomplete.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 out‐
              put.   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 stan‐
              dard 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 either 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  con‐
              sists  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  dic‐
              tionary  from  other  dictionaries  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 docu‐
       ments.

       --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 alternative 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 locale.

       --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 direc‐
              tory 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 indepen‐
       dently 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 dictio‐
              nary in pipe mode.

       --keymapping=aspell, --keymapping=ispell
              The keymapping to use, either aspell for the  default  map‐
              ping  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 options 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   default   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  included  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 options and the Aspell Man‐
       ual has more detailed info.

SEE ALSO
       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@debian.org>
       based on the Aspell User's Manual, Copyright © 2002  Kevin  Atkin‐
       son.  Updated Nov 2006 by Jose Da Silva <digital@joescat.com>, and
       Dec 2006 by Kevin Atkinson <kevina@gnu.org>.

GNU                             2006-12-10                      ASPELL(1)