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Its MYSPELLIN

Did you know that there is an on-line routine that checks for spelling errors in a file? This routine is called spell and it produces a list of misspelled words by typing:

        $ spell filename

Frequently there are words in this list that you know are spelled correctly but are flagged as being misspelled, such as your name. This happens because these words do not appear in the dictionary that spell checks your file against. A facility is available on UNIX to correct this limitation. You need to create your own word list file that will be scanned to expand the spell dictionary database.

The format of this word list file, which we call "file1" in the example below, is one word per line. This file should reside in the user's home directory. In addition, a binary file of your word list needs to be created. We will call this binary file "file2". Follow the steps below to customize the spell dictionary database to check for errors in your files.

1. create or edit your word list (eg: "file1"), insert your word(s) in this file, one word per line.
2. create the binary file (eg. "file2") of the word list by making use of the UNIX utility spellin:

           $ cat file1 | spellin > file2
   or
           $ spellin < file1 > file2
   

3. use spell in conjunction with your word list by typing

           $ spell textfile | spell -d file2
   

REMEMBER everytime you edit your word list file, you must also update the binary file in order for your additions to be reviewed.

The spell utility has been further simplified on ME machines with the installation of shell scripts on ma, mb, and mg. To create a personalized list, each word should be placed on a separate line in a file called "mywords". The file "mywords" should reside in the user's home directory. A binary file, "myhlist", must also be created in order to use myspell. This can be accomplished by executing the command myspellin.

       To summarize,
           create mywords
           execute myspellin
           myspell filename

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