10.0;fserr (find_spelling_errors), revision 1.0, 88/01/21
fserr (Find_spelling_errors) -- Find spelling errors.
usage: fserr [pathname...] [-f] [-n] [-u] [-s]
[-c pathname ]
[-d pathname]
DESCRIPTION
fserr copies the named files line-by-line to standard output, while
looking up each word in a dictionary. If it finds any spelling errors on
a line, or if it finds words that are not in the spelling dictionary,
fserr prints the line containing the questionable word and asks if the
word is spelled correctly. If you indicate that the word is misspelled,
fserr prompts for the correct spelling. fserr corrects the spelling on
standard output and continues.
fserr uses three ASCII files. The large standard dictionary file is
/sys/dict, which contains the bulk of the words known to fserr. Add
words to this file if you want them to become permanent additions to your
dictionary, making sure entries remain in alphabetical order. (Use the
srf (sort_file) command to alphabetize the file if necessary.) If you do
not wish to alter the standard dictionary, you may direct fserr to use a
file containing your own special words by specifying the -d option each
time you invoke the command.
/sys/dictdx serves as an index into the large dictionary file to speed
searches. Do not edit this file manually. If you change /sys/dict,
delete the index file; fserr generates a new one if /sys/dictdx does not
exist. Note that it takes some time to generate this index, so be
prepared for a delay the first time you use fserr after changing the
dictionary.
Finally, a relatively few common words that occur with great frequency
are stored in /sys/cdict. These are read and put into an internal hash
table each time fserr starts up, making access to them faster than
looking in the large dictionary file. This list of words is not
alphabetized; rather, words appear in order of relative frequency, with
the most common words at the top of the file. You may change this file
if necessary. Just be careful not to make the file too big, since that
would defeat the purpose of a quick lookup for common words.
ARGUMENTS
pathname (optional)
Specify the file containing text to be checked. Multiple
pathnames are permitted, separated by blanks.
Default if omitted: read standard input
OPTIONS
-f Process words just after a period ('.') in column 1 (that
is, fmt directives). The default is to ignore such words.
-n Process digits. The default is to ignore digits.
-u Underline misspelled words instead of prompting for
correction or verification.
-s Collect and print statistics on dictionary use.
-c pathname Write words that are not in the dictionary, but are
correctly spelled, into pathname.
-d pathname Add the words in the file pathname to the dictionary used
for this run. Words in the file must appear one per line.
NOTES
All words in the dictionary must be lowercase; fserr ignores uppercase
words.