3. Basic Usage

For a quick reference on the Aspell utility use the command ``aspell --help''.

3.1 Spellchecking Individual Files

To use Aspell to spellcheck a file use:

aspell check [«options»] «filename»

at the command line where «filename» is the file you want to check and «options» is any number of optional options. Some of the more useful ones include:

--mode=«mode»

the mode to use when checking files. The available modes are none, url, email, sgml, or tex. See section 4.4.1 for more informations on the various modes.

--dont-backup

don't create a backup file.

--sug-mode=«mode»

the suggestion mode to use where mode is one of ultra, fast, normal, or bad-spellers. See section 4.4.4 for more information on these modes.

--master=«name»

the main dictionary to use.

--keymapping=«name»

the keymapping to use. Either aspell for the default mapping or ispell to use the same mapping that the ispell utility uses.

Please see Chapter 4 for more information on the available options.

For example to check the file foo.txt:

aspell check foo.txt

and to check the file foo.txt using the bad-spellers suggestion mode and the large American English dictionary:

aspell check --sug-mode=bad-spellers --master=american-lrg foo.txt

If the mode option is not given then aspell will use the extension of the file to determine the current mode. If the extension is .tex, then TEX mode will be uses, if the extension is .html, .htm, .php, or .sgml it will check the file in sgml mode, otherwise it will use url mode. These extensions can be changed via the tex-extension and sgml-extension options respectfully. See chapter 4.4.1 for more information on the various modes that can be used.

If Aspell was compiled with curses support and the TERM environmental variable is set to a capable terminal type than Aspell will use a nice full screen interface. Otherwise it will use a simpler ``dumb'' terminal interface where the misspelled word is surrounded by two '*'. In either case the interface should be self explanatory.

3.2 Using Aspell with other Applications

3.2.1 With Applications that Expect Ispell

Aspell can be used as a drop in replacement for Ispell for programs that use Ispell through a pipe such as Emacs and LyX. It can also be used with programs that use simple call the ispell command and expect the original file to be overwritten with the corrected version. It support the basic features of Ispell, however it does not currently have a Nroff mode so there may be situations in which you still wish to use Ispell. Nevertheless, I have been using Aspell for Xemacs and LyX since the middle of September of 1998 with out any problems.

If you do not have Ispell installed on your system and have installed the Ispell compatibly script than you should not need to do anything as most applications will that expect Ispell will work as expected with Aspell via the Ispell compatibility script.

Otherwise, the recommended way to use Aspell as a replacement for ispell is to change the Ispell command from within the program being used. If the program uses ispell in pipe mode simple change ispell to aspell. If the program calls the ispell command to check the file change ``ispell'' with ``aspell check''.

If that is impossible and the program uses ispell through a pipe than the run-with-aspell script can be used for programs using ispell in pipe mode. The format of the script is:

run-with-aspell «command»

where «command» is the name of the program with any optional arguments.

The old method of mapping Ispell to Aspell is discouraged because it can create compatibility problems with programs that actually require Ispell such as Ispell's own scripts.

3.2.2 With Emacs and Xemacs

The easiest way to use Aspell with Emacs or Xemacs is to add this line:

(setq-default ispell-program-name "aspell")

to the end of your .emacs file.

For some reason version 3.0 of ispell.el (the lisp program that (x)emacs uses) want to reverse the suggestion list. To fix this add this line:

(setq-default ispell-extra-args '("--reverse"))

after the previous line in your .emacs file and it should solve the problem.

Ispell.el, version 3.1 (December 1, 1998) and better, has the list reversing problem fixed. You can find it at http://www.kdstevens.com/~stevens/ispell-page.html.

3.2.3 With LyX

Version 1.0 of LyX provides support for Aspell learning for users mistake feature.

To use aspell with LyX 1.0 either change the spell_command option in the lyxrc file or use the run-with-aspell utility.

3.2.4 With VIM

(The following section was written by "R. Marc", rmarc at copacetic net.)

To use aspell in vim you simply need to add the following line to your .vimrc file:

map ^T :w!<CR>:!aspell check %<CR>:e! %<CR>

I use <Ctrl-T> since that's the way you spell check in pico. In order to add a control character to your .vimrc you must type <Ctrl-v> first. In this case <Ctrl-v><Ctrl-t>.

A more useful way to use Aspell, IMHO, is in combination with newsbody (http://www.image.dk/~byrial/newsbody/) which is how I use it since vim is my editor for my mailer and my news reader.

map ^T \1\2<CR>:e! %<CR>

map \1 :w!<CR>

map \2 :!newsbody -qs -n % -p aspell check \%f<CR>

3.2.5 With Pine

To use aspell in pine simply change the option speller to

aspell --mode=email check

To change the speller option go to the main menu. Type S for setup, C for config, then W for where is. Type in speller as the word to find. The speller option should be highlighted now. Hit enter, type in the above line, and hit enter again. Then type E for exit setup and Y to save the change.

If you have a strong desire to check other peoples comments change speller to

aspell check

instead which will avoid switching aspell into email mode.