Subject: Pine & ispell - alternate spell-checker.

From: Mike Ramey <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 1994 14:15:22 -0800 (PST)

I hope the following is an accurate summary of the ways you can 
use ispell with pine.  Please correct as necessary.
I think we should have a pine FAQ, and this should go in it.
-mr

From: Alan Robert Clark <[email-masked]>
> > Surely a FAQ..... How do I get pine to speak to ispell ??

From: David L Miller <[email-masked]>
> The simple way to do this is to do this is to set your alternate-editor 
> to ispell, then '^_' in the composer magically becomes ispell.

From: Mike Ramey <[email-masked]>
 - Set 'editor=/usr/local/bin/ispell' in your '.pinerc' file.
 - See 'man ispell' for more information on the ispell program.

Now, when you press ^_ (^-) in pine, you will execute the 'ispell'
program in its native mode.  Press "?" for help.  Press "I" to 
insert unknown words into the personal dictionary.  You can still
press ^T to use the standard pine spell-checking program (which 
will -not- use your personal dictionary).

From: David L Miller <[email-masked]>
Pine already checks the SPELL environment variable.  I notice that someone
posted a shell script that allows ispell to be used like spell, ...
 
From: Mike Grupenhoff <[email-masked]>
I'm not sure this is the correct way, but I just created the following 
script and named it "spell."
     #!/bin/sh
     ispell -l | sort | uniq
It pretty much mimics spell's behavior.  Of course, there's probably a 
better way, but this has worked for me.

From: Mike Ramey <[email-masked]>
To make ^T in pine use 'ispell' and your '$HOME/.ispell_words' dictionary:
 - make the above script file 'spell' in your home directory
 - make it executable: 'chmod u+x spell'
 - set the environment variable SPELL: 'setenv SPELL $HOME/spell'
   (you may include this command in your .cshrc or .login file)

Now, when you press ^T in pine, you will execute the 'ispell' program, 
and it will recognize words stored in the private dictionary.  The 
screen display will look like pine is using the standard spell-checking 
program.  Unfortunately, this method does not allow the user to "I"nsert
words into the private dictionary.  However, this might be useful with a
central script file (setenv SPELL ...)  and a central private dictionary
(ispell -p ...)  to provide a common private dictionary for an entire 
workgroup.  The manager could add items to the private dictionary; 
ordinary pine users would use the private dictionary (^T), but they 
could not change it.  
 
=== end ===

---

From: Mike Ramey <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 1994 13:31:27 -0800 (PST)

Pine folks:  Please consider implementing ispell as the standard 
spell-checker in pine, and provide modified ispell commands 
which can be used when a misspelled word is presented, such as:
  <enter>      accept the word for the entire file (no change)
  <arrows...><enter>  accept -modified- word for entire file (no change?)
  ^I           accept the word and insert it in the private dictionary
  <arrows...>^I  accept the -modified- word and insert in dictionary
  ^R           replace entire word; clear edit field, cursor in col 1
  ^Snn<enter>  substitute one of the suggested words from the list
               (clear the edit field, like ^R, and show:
                   "Replace with word number: __"
  ^C           abort spell checking (no change)
Retain '$HOME/.ispell-words' as the private dictionary file for 
compatibility with standard ispell.  
Thanks, -mr

---

From: Charlie Brady <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 11:36:53 +1100 (EST)

On Sat, 22 Jan 1994, Mike Ramey wrote:

> spell-checker in pine, and provide modified ispell commands ...

Sounds good to me.

Charlie Brady * (W) [email-masked] * (H) [email-masked]
"Make it as simple as possible - | Tel: (02) 413 6838 ____Telectronics__| /\__
  but no simpler"   Einstein, A  | Fax: (02) 413 6868 Pacing Systems    \/

---

From: Mike Brudenell <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 08:51:15 +0000 (GMT)

...As long as people who don't use ispell aren't overlooked!

There is something positive to be said for using a "standard utility" 
that is present on virtually every UNIX system under the sun as against 
some optional software that MAY have been installed.

						Mike Brudenell

---

From: Mike Ramey <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 06:01:17 -0800 (PST)

Well, maybe I'm the computer illiterate; I didn't realize that 'ispell' is
not available on every unix system.  It certainly would be helpful if
users could add words to the spell-check dictionary.  I get tired of being
told that weekday abbreviations are spelled wrong, and my last name, and
'diskette', 
'telnet', 
'email'(!), etc. 
   I can see the advantage of using a standard unix utility (spell).  Is
'ispell' hard to obtain & install?  Is it worth building 'ispell' hooks
into pine? 
   In the meantime ... If ispell is installed on your system, andif you
want to use it (so you can add words to the spelling dictionary), follow
the detailed instructions in my earlier summary message describing how to: 
(1) use ispell in native mode (via the ^_ key), and (2) use ispell in pine
mode (via the ^T key and an executable script file).  If you missed that
message, let me know and I will send or repost it.  If you have any 
corrections to that message, please let me know.  Thanks to all who
explained the details of ispell.  I like it!  

P.S.:  In spell-checking this message (using 'spell' via ^T key), 
I discovered the following anomaly:
 - the following 1 line produces 3 spelling errors:
and 'diskette', 'telnet', 'email'(!), etc. 
 - the following 3 lines produce -no- spelling errors:
'diskette', 
'telnet', 
'email'(!), etc. 
BUT WAIT ... If you spell check this message just as it is before you, 
the three errors (email, diskette, telnet) will be reported in the list
at the top of the message, BUT ... if you remove this P.S. and run the
spell-check again, NO ERRORS will be reported!  SO ... the errors are
being -found- in the sentence:
... and 'diskette', 'telnet', 'email'(!), etc. 
but the errors are being -reported- at the first occurrence of the words
in the message (the list at the top).  Very strange!  What's up?  
   When I checked the spelling using ispell native mode (via the ^_ key),
the three words (email, diskette, telnet) were -always- reported; but once
I add them to my private dictionary, I'll never see them again.  AND ...
ispell even told me that 'occurrance' should be spelled 'occurrence' and
allows me to make the replacement by pressing just one key!  
I like ispell.  -mr
------------------------

From: Norman Friedman <[email-masked]>
Please explain the "ispell" to us computer illiterates who use Pine
because it is so simple.  Thanks, Norm

From: Henry Kuo <[email-masked]>
Where can I get ispell?

From: Mike Brudenell <[email-masked]>
...As long as people who don't use ispell aren't overlooked!
There is something positive to be said for using a "standard utility" 
that is present on virtually every UNIX system under the sun as against 
some optional software that MAY have been installed.  Mike Brudenell
===

---

From: Richard Lee <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 09:15:37 -0600 (CST)

> 'ispell' hard to obtain & install?  Is it worth building 'ispell' hooks

	Ah, but you CAN add words with the standard spell.  I do.  I have 
a file called "mydic" (no jokes please) with the words I want added, then 
in my .profile (or whatever your shell requires) I have the lines:

SPELL="spell +mydic"
export SPELL

This then causes spell whenever it runs to use "mydic" as a supplemental 
dictionary.  (You should be able to do this with an alias too.)

	I don't know ispell, so maybe there are other advantages to that, 
but if having a customizable dictionary is what you are looking for, you 
don't have to look that far.

 --

Dr. Richard Lee                         [email-masked]
Department of Philosophy Old Main 318   [email-masked]
University of Arkansas                  phone: 501-575-5826
Fayetteville, AR 72701

---

From: Mike Ramey <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 07:28:41 -0800 (PST)

> don't have to look that far.

The ispell program allows insertion of unknown words into the dictionary
-during- spell checking (press the "I" key); it also offers suggested
correct spellings when it discovers an unknown word (select a replacement
by pressing a number key).  Try it if it's on your system.  -mr

---

From: Mike Grupenhoff <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 1994 20:24:18 +0000

>  - the following 3 lines produce -no- spelling errors:

I think this is because spell only prints out each misspelling once, no 
matter how many times it occurs.  (The script I posted does this, because 
listing each error multiple times doesn't jive well with pine.)

> spell-check again, NO ERRORS will be reported!  

I have no proof, but I'm guessing that pine remembers which words you
didn't correct in previous spell checks, and won't keep harrassing you
about them on subsequent checks.  Therefore, pine remembered you saying
that email, diskette, and telnet were ok, and passed over them in the
second spell check. 

---
Mike Grupenhoff
[email-masked]
There's no place like ~

---

From: Mike Ramey <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 1994 05:37:37 -0800 (PST)

On Mon, 24 Jan 1994, Mike Grupenhoff wrote:
> I think this is because spell only prints out each misspelling once, ...

NO.  If the message contains only the list, no spelling errors are found;
if the message contains only the one-line phrase, 3 errors are found. -mr

> about them on subsequent checks.  

NO.  Pine spell (^T) will report the same errors every time.  -mr