Aalice.446 net.unix-wizards utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!chico!harpo!mhtsa!alice!rab Wed Jan 27 15:55:52 1982 checking spelling while editing It can be frustrating to perform spelling correction on a document using a screen terminal. The output of the spell command can be placed on a file or viewed on the screen, but tends to get lost as the spelling errors are corrected on the screen. This note describes a way of using the vi editor to provide facilities to search out spelling errors in a document, and to correct them using the full power of vi. It does not require the user to type in any of the misspelled words. -------------- Include the following EXINIT line in your .profile file. EXINIT='map #1 Gi/^V^["add@a|map #2 1G!Gvispell^V^['; export EXINIT This line sets up function keys 1 and 2 to provide special spelling functions. (The ^V and ^[ characters are ctrl-V and escape. By changing the "map" commands in the EXINIT definition, it is possible to use keys other than function keys 1 and 2 for these functions.) When the user hits function key 2, the vi command 1G!Gvispell is executed. This pipes the entire file to the following "vispell" shell script: tee /tmp/vis$$ echo SpellingList spell /tmp/vis$$ rm /tmp/vis$$ The shell script returns the entire input file, with the word "SpellingList" appended followed by the list of misspelled words produced by the spell command. Now function key 1 is usable. Whenever function key 1 is pressed, the following vi commands are executed (comments in parens) G (go to end of buffer) i/ esc (insert a slash, terminate with escape) "add (delete this line into buffer a) @a (execute buffer a) Thus the last line of the buffer is changed into a search command, deleted from the buffer, and executed. The user will see the first line in the file containing the misspelled word, can make changes with any vi commands, and can continue searching for other occurrences of the word with the vi "n" command. Once "n" gives "Pattern not found", function key 1 can be used to search for another word. When the word "SpellingList" is searched for, the spelling correction process is finished. It is probably a good idea for the user to look over the spelling list at the end of the buffer prior to using function key 1. Any correct words can be deleted before beginning to search for the misspelled ones. Rick Becker ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.