SPELL is a proofreader which makes use of a dictionary maintained by
 the system, an optional a personal dictionary, and an optional
 `project' list of words whose spelling is unconventional.

 SPELL asks for the name of a file that you wish to have checked.  When a
 word is found that is not in any of the dictionaries, you will be asked:

 o  if you believe the word is correct and should be inserted into the
    main dictionary.
 o  if the word is incorrect and you want to correct it in your file.
 o  if you wish SPELL to try guessing a correct spelling for the word.
 o  if you wish to have the word inserted into a personal dictionary
    which will reside in your default directory.
 o  if you wish the program to ignore your spelling throughout the
    document (and optionally to save it in a guidance file to be
    ignored in the future).
 
 Format:

  SPELL filename

Parameters

 If no qualifiers are present on the SPELL command, then the parameter
 is the name of a file to check.  If the /CHECK qualifier is used,
 then the parameter should be the word you are trying to check.  If
 the /PERSONAL qualifier is used, SPELL ignores all parameters.

 The file specified will be rewritten with any changes that you have
 requested during the SPELL session.  No extension needs to be
 specified if the file has one of the default extensions .RNO, .TEX,
 .LATEX, .MSS, .SDML or .ISSUE. The appropriate syntax will be used
 for checking files with these extensions so that embedded commands do
 not register as incorrect spellings.  For this reason, it is useful
 to use the correct extension on any files which you are going to
 check.  However, SPELL does allow you to change the syntax structure
 that it expects within the file `on the fly', so all is not lost if
 the extension is wrong (see also the /TYPE qualifier).

Personal_Dictionary

 PERSDICT.DAT is the personal dictionary file that SPELL creates for
 you. It resides in your scratch directory SYS$SCRATCH: (assigned to
 your home directory when you log in). PERSDICT is organised as an
 indexed sequential file. As a result, it may not be edited or altered
 through normal means.  List it and delete erroneous words by using
 command SPELL/PERSONAL. Editing PERSDICT will destroy its structure
 and you will have to delete it!

Guidance_file

 The guidance file is a record of all words that have been ignored in
 the past; it serves the same purpose as a personal dictionary, but on
 a per-project basis.  Spell can maintain one guidance file per file
 checked (.GUIDANCE_FILE) or one per dictionary
 (SPELL.GUIDANCE_FILE).  In either case, the guidance file is held in
 the same directory as the file being checked.

 Guidance files are plain text files with one word per line; they
 should contain nothing but alphabetic characters in their `words',
 but otherwise anything goes (you can edit them, merge them with other
 guidance files, and so on).  Efficiency dictates that each word
 should appear only once in the file, however...

New_good_file

 Users of SPELL may declare that a word is spelt right, despite what
 SPELL itself thinks.  All words thus declared are entered in the
 `new good words file'.  This file is periodically scanned by the
 SPELL system manager, who will mail details of incorrect words in the
 file back to the user who entered them.

Qualifiers

/CHECK
 The CHECK option allows you to check if a word is in one of the main
 dictionaries used by the spell program.  You specify a command of the
 form:
 
 $ spell/check word

 to check if "word" is in the dictionary.
/PERSONAL
 The PERSONAL option is used to maintain your personal dictionary.
 Since this is an indexed file, you should never try editing it using
 EDT or any other text editor.  Instead, this SPELL option allows you
 to list and optionally delete any words from your personal directory.

 Within this mode, the List option operates circularly.  After you have
 seen all the words in your personal dictionary, you will be taken back
 to the beginning and successive List commands will display the whole
 dictionary again.
/LOGGING
 You can select this qualifier in addition to a file name if you want
 to produce a list of the changes made during a run, in a file with an
 .ERR extension.
/TYPE
     /TYPE=file_type

 Specifies the type of the file to be checked, regardless of the
 file's name's extension.  Permitted values are:

           runoff        Runoff commands are ignored
           tex, latex    TeX and LaTeX-type commands are ignored
           mss, scribe   Scribe commands are ignored
           nroff, troff  (A subset of) nroff/troff commands are ignored
           issue         `Issue definition' commands are ignored
           vaxdoc,document VAX Document commands are ignored

 (Note that `issue definition' is a format invented by Laser-Scan for
 generating a particular class of working document for use within ISO)
/SINGLE_LETTER
 Instructs the program to check single-letter words. Normally it
 ignores them, since there are so many of the beastly things in
 computing documentation!
/NOPERSONAL
    /PERSONAL       (D)
    /NOPERSONAL

 Controls the use of your personal dictionary.  `Impersonal' users
 (such as a generic documentation log-in) may use /NOPERSONAL to avoid
 confusion between real users of the account.
/OUTPUT
    /OUTPUT[=file]  (D)
    /NOOUTPUT

 Specifies whether output is to be created.  If a value is given to
 the qualifier, the output is sent to a file of that name; otherwise,
 a new version of the input file is created.  In no case is any output
 generated if SPELL makes no corrections to the file.

 /NOOUTPUT suppresses the generation of SPELL's corrected output file.
 This switch remains generally available (even though developed for
 system use): an arcane facility!
/GUIDANCE
    /GUIDANCE[=file]   (D)
    /NOGUIDANCE

 SPELL will use a guidance file (q.v.).  If no value is given to the
 qualifier, SPELL searches for a guidance file in the same directory
 as the file to be checked.  If the guidance file is found, its
 contents are `pre-ignored' before spell-checking starts.  In
 addition, any words "Ignored" during checking are appended to the
 file for future reference.  (.GUIDANCE_FILE is created if
 no guidance file is found; if no value is given for the qualifier,
 SPELL searches for this file and then for the file
 SPELL.GUIDANCE_FILE)

Information Services, Central Computing
University of Missouri Kansas City