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  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 dictionaries, 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  documenta-
       tion  so  it may be out of date or incomplete.  The official documenta-
       tion 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 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  envi-
              ronmental  variable on most systems. It consists of the two let-
              ter 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 dictionaries which may have the same lang and size.

       --jargon=<string>
              Please use the variety option since it replaces jargon as a bet-
              ter 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 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 accidently 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  sug-
              gestions 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 Manual has more detailed info.

SEE ALSO
       aspell-import(1),   prezip-bin(1),  run-with-aspell(1),  word-list-com-
       press(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.  Instruc-
       tions 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 the  Sourceforge  Tracker  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 (C) 2002 Kevin  Atkinson.   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)
