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Bram Moolenaarfd2ac762006-03-01 22:09:21 +00001*spell.txt* For Vim version 7.0aa. Last change: 2006 Mar 01
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +00002
3
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
5
6
7Spell checking *spell*
8
91. Quick start |spell-quickstart|
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000102. Remarks on spell checking |spell-remarks|
113. Generating a spell file |spell-mkspell|
124. Spell file format |spell-file-format|
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +000013
14{Vi does not have any of these commands}
15
16Spell checking is not available when the |+syntax| feature has been disabled
17at compile time.
18
19==============================================================================
201. Quick start *spell-quickstart*
21
22This command switches on spell checking: >
23
24 :setlocal spell spelllang=en_us
25
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +000026This switches on the 'spell' option and specifies to check for US English.
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +000027
28The words that are not recognized are highlighted with one of these:
Bram Moolenaar520470a2005-06-16 21:59:56 +000029 SpellBad word not recognized |hl-SpellBad|
Bram Moolenaar7d1f5db2005-07-03 21:39:27 +000030 SpellCap word not capitalised |hl-SpellCap|
Bram Moolenaar520470a2005-06-16 21:59:56 +000031 SpellRare rare word |hl-SpellRare|
32 SpellLocal wrong spelling for selected region |hl-SpellLocal|
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +000033
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +000034Vim only checks words for spelling, there is no grammar check.
35
Bram Moolenaar45360022005-07-21 21:08:21 +000036If the 'mousemodel' option is set to "popup" and the cursor is on a badly
37spelled word or it is "popup_setpos" and the mouse pointer is on a badly
Bram Moolenaar16d8f872005-11-26 23:46:11 +000038spelled word, then the popup menu will contain a submenu to replace the bad
Bram Moolenaar45360022005-07-21 21:08:21 +000039word. Note: this slows down the appearance of the popup menu.
40
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +000041To search for the next misspelled word:
42
43 *]s* *E756*
44]s Move to next misspelled word after the cursor.
Bram Moolenaar9d0ec2e2005-04-20 19:45:58 +000045 A count before the command can be used to repeat.
Bram Moolenaarac6e65f2005-08-29 22:25:38 +000046 'wrapscan' applies.
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +000047
48 *[s*
Bram Moolenaar9d0ec2e2005-04-20 19:45:58 +000049[s Like "]s" but search backwards, find the misspelled
Bram Moolenaar30abd282005-06-22 22:35:10 +000050 word before the cursor. Doesn't recognize words
51 split over two lines, thus may stop at words that are
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +000052 not highlighted as bad. Does not stop at word with
53 missing capital at the start of a line.
Bram Moolenaar9d0ec2e2005-04-20 19:45:58 +000054
55 *]S*
56]S Like "]s" but only stop at bad words, not at rare
57 words or words for another region.
58
59 *[S*
60[S Like "]S" but search backwards.
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +000061
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +000062
Bram Moolenaarf75a9632005-09-13 21:20:47 +000063To add words to your own word list:
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +000064
65 *zg*
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +000066zg Add word under the cursor as a good word to the first
Bram Moolenaarda2303d2005-08-30 21:55:26 +000067 name in 'spellfile'. A count may precede the command
68 to indicate the entry in 'spellfile' to be used. A
69 count of two uses the second entry.
70
71 In Visual mode the selected characters are added as a
72 word (including white space!).
73 When the cursor is on text that is marked as badly
74 spelled then the marked text is used.
75 Otherwise the word under the cursor, separated by
76 non-word characters, is used.
77
78 If the word is explicitly marked as bad word in
79 another spell file the result is unpredictable.
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +000080
Bram Moolenaar1f8a5f02005-07-01 22:41:52 +000081 *zG*
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +000082zG Like "zg" but add the word to the internal word list
83 |internal-wordlist|.
Bram Moolenaar1f8a5f02005-07-01 22:41:52 +000084
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +000085 *zw*
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +000086zw Like "zg" but mark the word as a wrong (bad) word.
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +000087
Bram Moolenaar1f8a5f02005-07-01 22:41:52 +000088 *zW*
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +000089zW Like "zw" but add the word to the internal word list
90 |internal-wordlist|.
Bram Moolenaar1f8a5f02005-07-01 22:41:52 +000091
Bram Moolenaar520470a2005-06-16 21:59:56 +000092 *:spe* *:spellgood*
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +000093:[count]spe[llgood] {word}
Bram Moolenaar53180ce2005-07-05 21:48:14 +000094 Add {word} as a good word to 'spellfile', like with
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +000095 "zg". Without count the first name is used, with a
96 count of two the second entry, etc.
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +000097
Bram Moolenaar53180ce2005-07-05 21:48:14 +000098:spe[llgood]! {word} Add {word} as a good word to the internal word list,
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +000099 like with "zG".
Bram Moolenaar1f8a5f02005-07-01 22:41:52 +0000100
Bram Moolenaar520470a2005-06-16 21:59:56 +0000101 *:spellw* *:spellwrong*
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +0000102:[count]spellw[rong] {word}
Bram Moolenaar53180ce2005-07-05 21:48:14 +0000103 Add {word} as a wrong (bad) word to 'spellfile', as
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +0000104 with "zw". Without count the first name is used, with
105 a count of two the second entry, etc.
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000106
Bram Moolenaar53180ce2005-07-05 21:48:14 +0000107:spellw[rong]! {word} Add {word} as a wrong (bad) word to the internal word
Bram Moolenaar1f8a5f02005-07-01 22:41:52 +0000108 list.
109
Bram Moolenaarf461c8e2005-06-25 23:04:51 +0000110After adding a word to 'spellfile' with the above commands its associated
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000111".spl" file will automatically be updated and reloaded. If you change
112'spellfile' manually you need to use the |:mkspell| command. This sequence of
113commands mostly works well: >
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +0000114 :edit <file in 'spellfile'>
Bram Moolenaarf461c8e2005-06-25 23:04:51 +0000115< (make changes to the spell file) >
116 :mkspell! %
117
118More details about the 'spellfile' format below |spell-wordlist-format|.
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000119
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +0000120 *internal-wordlist*
Bram Moolenaar1f8a5f02005-07-01 22:41:52 +0000121The internal word list is used for all buffers where 'spell' is set. It is
122not stored, it is lost when you exit Vim. It is also cleared when 'encoding'
123is set.
124
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000125
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +0000126Finding suggestions for bad words:
Bram Moolenaarcc016f52005-12-10 20:23:46 +0000127 *z=*
128z= For the word under/after the cursor suggest correctly
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000129 spelled words. This also works to find alternatives
130 for a word that is not highlighted as a bad word,
131 e.g., when the word after it is bad.
Bram Moolenaar7df351e2006-01-23 22:30:28 +0000132 In Visual mode the highlighted text is taken as the
133 word to be replaced.
134 The results are sorted on similarity to the word being
135 replaced.
Bram Moolenaar90915b52005-08-21 22:17:52 +0000136 This may take a long time. Hit CTRL-C when you get
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +0000137 bored.
Bram Moolenaar90915b52005-08-21 22:17:52 +0000138
139 If the command is used without a count the
140 alternatives are listed and you can enter the number
141 of your choice or press <Enter> if you don't want to
142 replace. You can also use the mouse to click on your
143 choice (only works if the mouse can be used in Normal
144 mode and when there are no line wraps). Click on the
145 first line (the header) to cancel.
146
147 If a count is used that suggestion is used, without
Bram Moolenaarcc016f52005-12-10 20:23:46 +0000148 prompting. For example, "1z=" always takes the first
Bram Moolenaar90915b52005-08-21 22:17:52 +0000149 suggestion.
150
151 If 'verbose' is non-zero a score will be displayed
152 with the suggestions to indicate the likeliness to the
153 badly spelled word (the higher the score the more
154 different).
Bram Moolenaard857f0e2005-06-21 22:37:39 +0000155 When a word was replaced the redo command "." will
156 repeat the word replacement. This works like "ciw",
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +0000157 the good word and <Esc>. This does NOT work for Thai
158 and other languages without spaces between words.
Bram Moolenaard857f0e2005-06-21 22:37:39 +0000159
Bram Moolenaar24bbcfe2005-06-28 23:32:02 +0000160 *:spellr* *:spellrepall* *E752* *E753*
Bram Moolenaarcc016f52005-12-10 20:23:46 +0000161:spellr[epall] Repeat the replacement done by |z=| for all matches
Bram Moolenaar24bbcfe2005-06-28 23:32:02 +0000162 with the replaced word in the current window.
163
Bram Moolenaar488c6512005-08-11 20:09:58 +0000164In Insert mode, when the cursor is after a badly spelled word, you can use
165CTRL-X s to find suggestions. This works like Insert mode completion. Use
166CTRL-N to use the next suggestion, CTRL-P to go back. |i_CTRL-X_s|
167
Bram Moolenaard857f0e2005-06-21 22:37:39 +0000168The 'spellsuggest' option influences how the list of suggestions is generated
169and sorted. See |'spellsuggest'|.
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +0000170
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +0000171The 'spellcapcheck' option is used to check the first word of a sentence
172starts with a capital. This doesn't work for the first word in the file.
173When there is a line break right after a sentence the highlighting of the next
Bram Moolenaar90cfdbe2005-08-12 19:59:19 +0000174line may be postponed. Use |CTRL-L| when needed. Also see |set-spc-auto| for
175how it can be set automatically when 'spelllang' is set.
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +0000176
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000177Vim counts the number of times a good word is encountered. This is used to
178sort the suggestions: words that have been seen before get a small bonus,
179words that have been seen often get a bigger bonus. The COMMON item in the
180affix file can be used to define common words, so that this mechanism also
181works in a new or short file |spell-COMMON|.
182
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000183==============================================================================
1842. Remarks on spell checking *spell-remarks*
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +0000185
Bram Moolenaar6bb68362005-03-22 23:03:44 +0000186PERFORMANCE
187
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000188Vim does on-the-fly spell checking. To make this work fast the word list is
189loaded in memory. Thus this uses a lot of memory (1 Mbyte or more). There
190might also be a noticeable delay when the word list is loaded, which happens
191when 'spell' is set and when 'spelllang' is set while 'spell' was already set.
192To minimize the delay each word list is only loaded once, it is not deleted
193when 'spelllang' is made empty or 'spell' is reset. When 'encoding' is set
194all the word lists are reloaded, thus you may notice a delay then too.
Bram Moolenaar6bb68362005-03-22 23:03:44 +0000195
196
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000197REGIONS
198
199A word may be spelled differently in various regions. For example, English
200comes in (at least) these variants:
201
202 en all regions
Bram Moolenaar5c5474b2005-04-19 21:40:26 +0000203 en_au Australia
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000204 en_ca Canada
Bram Moolenaar5c5474b2005-04-19 21:40:26 +0000205 en_gb Great Britain
206 en_nz New Zealand
207 en_us USA
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000208
209Words that are not used in one region but are used in another region are
Bram Moolenaar520470a2005-06-16 21:59:56 +0000210highlighted with SpellLocal |hl-SpellLocal|.
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000211
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000212Always use lowercase letters for the language and region names.
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000213
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000214When adding a word with |zg| or another command it's always added for all
215regions. You can change that by manually editing the 'spellfile'. See
Bram Moolenaar0dc065e2005-07-04 22:49:24 +0000216|spell-wordlist-format|. Note that the regions as specified in the files in
Bram Moolenaar16d8f872005-11-26 23:46:11 +0000217'spellfile' are only used when all entries in 'spelllang' specify the same
Bram Moolenaar0dc065e2005-07-04 22:49:24 +0000218region (not counting files specified by their .spl name).
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000219
Bram Moolenaar5b8d8fd2005-08-16 23:01:50 +0000220 *spell-german*
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +0000221Specific exception: For German these special regions are used:
222 de all German words accepted
223 de_de old and new spelling
224 de_19 old spelling
225 de_20 new spelling
226 de_at Austria
227 de_ch Switzerland
228
Bram Moolenaar92d640f2005-09-05 22:11:52 +0000229 *spell-russian*
230Specific exception: For Russian these special regions are used:
231 ru all Russian words accepted
232 ru_ru "IE" letter spelling
233 ru_yo "YO" letter spelling
234
Bram Moolenaar5b8d8fd2005-08-16 23:01:50 +0000235 *spell-yiddish*
236Yiddish requires using "utf-8" encoding, because of the special characters
237used. If you are using latin1 Vim will use transliterated (romanized) Yiddish
238instead. If you want to use transliterated Yiddish with utf-8 use "yi-tr".
239In a table:
240 'encoding' 'spelllang'
241 utf-8 yi Yiddish
242 latin1 yi transliterated Yiddish
243 utf-8 yi-tr transliterated Yiddish
244
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000245
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000246SPELL FILES *spell-load*
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000247
248Vim searches for spell files in the "spell" subdirectory of the directories in
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000249'runtimepath'. The name is: LL.EEE.spl, where:
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000250 LL the language name
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000251 EEE the value of 'encoding'
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000252
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000253The value for "LL" comes from 'spelllang', but excludes the region name.
254Examples:
255 'spelllang' LL ~
256 en_us en
257 en-rare en-rare
258 medical_ca medical
259
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000260Only the first file is loaded, the one that is first in 'runtimepath'. If
261this succeeds then additionally files with the name LL.EEE.add.spl are loaded.
262All the ones that are found are used.
263
Bram Moolenaar1ef15e32006-02-01 21:56:25 +0000264If no spell file is found the |SpellFileMissing| autocommand event is
265triggered. This may trigger the |spellfile.vim| plugin to offer you
266downloading the spell file.
267
Bram Moolenaar0d9c26d2005-07-02 23:19:16 +0000268Additionally, the files related to the names in 'spellfile' are loaded. These
269are the files that |zg| and |zw| add good and wrong words to.
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000270
Bram Moolenaar0e21a3f2005-04-17 20:28:32 +0000271Exceptions:
272- Vim uses "latin1" when 'encoding' is "iso-8859-15". The euro sign doesn't
273 matter for spelling.
274- When no spell file for 'encoding' is found "ascii" is tried. This only
275 works for languages where nearly all words are ASCII, such as English. It
276 helps when 'encoding' is not "latin1", such as iso-8859-2, and English text
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000277 is being edited. For the ".add" files the same name as the found main
278 spell file is used.
279
280For example, with these values:
281 'runtimepath' is "~/.vim,/usr/share/vim70,~/.vim/after"
282 'encoding' is "iso-8859-2"
283 'spelllang' is "pl"
284
285Vim will look for:
2861. ~/.vim/spell/pl.iso-8859-2.spl
2872. /usr/share/vim70/spell/pl.iso-8859-2.spl
2883. ~/.vim/spell/pl.iso-8859-2.add.spl
2894. /usr/share/vim70/spell/pl.iso-8859-2.add.spl
2905. ~/.vim/after/spell/pl.iso-8859-2.add.spl
291
292This assumes 1. is not found and 2. is found.
293
294If 'encoding' is "latin1" Vim will look for:
2951. ~/.vim/spell/pl.latin1.spl
2962. /usr/share/vim70/spell/pl.latin1.spl
2973. ~/.vim/after/spell/pl.latin1.spl
2984. ~/.vim/spell/pl.ascii.spl
2995. /usr/share/vim70/spell/pl.ascii.spl
3006. ~/.vim/after/spell/pl.ascii.spl
301
302This assumes none of them are found (Polish doesn't make sense when leaving
303out the non-ASCII characters).
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000304
Bram Moolenaar6bb68362005-03-22 23:03:44 +0000305Spelling for EBCDIC is currently not supported.
306
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000307A spell file might not be available in the current 'encoding'. See
308|spell-mkspell| about how to create a spell file. Converting a spell file
Bram Moolenaar0e21a3f2005-04-17 20:28:32 +0000309with "iconv" will NOT work!
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000310
Bram Moolenaara40ceaf2006-01-13 22:35:40 +0000311 *spell-sug-file* *E781*
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000312If there is a file with exactly the same name as the ".spl" file but ending in
313".sug", that file will be used for giving better suggestions. It isn't loaded
314before suggestions are made to reduce memory use.
315
Bram Moolenaara40ceaf2006-01-13 22:35:40 +0000316 *E758* *E759* *E778* *E779* *E780* *E782*
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000317When loading a spell file Vim checks that it is properly formatted. If you
Bram Moolenaar0e21a3f2005-04-17 20:28:32 +0000318get an error the file may be truncated, modified or intended for another Vim
319version.
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000320
Bram Moolenaar6bb68362005-03-22 23:03:44 +0000321
322WORDS
323
324Vim uses a fixed method to recognize a word. This is independent of
325'iskeyword', so that it also works in help files and for languages that
326include characters like '-' in 'iskeyword'. The word characters do depend on
327'encoding'.
328
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +0000329The table with word characters is stored in the main .spl file. Therefore it
330matters what the current locale is when generating it! A .add.spl file does
Bram Moolenaarf461c8e2005-06-25 23:04:51 +0000331not contain a word table though.
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +0000332
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000333A word that starts with a digit is always ignored. That includes hex numbers
334in the form 0xff and 0XFF.
Bram Moolenaar6bb68362005-03-22 23:03:44 +0000335
336
Bram Moolenaar30abd282005-06-22 22:35:10 +0000337WORD COMBINATIONS
338
339It is possible to spell-check words that include a space. This is used to
340recognize words that are invalid when used by themselves, e.g. for "et al.".
341It can also be used to recognize "the the" and highlight it.
342
343The number of spaces is irrelevant. In most cases a line break may also
344appear. However, this makes it difficult to find out where to start checking
345for spelling mistakes. When you make a change to one line and only that line
346is redrawn Vim won't look in the previous line, thus when "et" is at the end
347of the previous line "al." will be flagged as an error. And when you type
348"the<CR>the" the highlighting doesn't appear until the first line is redrawn.
349Use |CTRL-L| to redraw right away. "[s" will also stop at a word combination
350with a line break.
351
352When encountering a line break Vim skips characters such as '*', '>' and '"',
353so that comments in C, shell and Vim code can be spell checked.
354
355
Bram Moolenaar9d0ec2e2005-04-20 19:45:58 +0000356SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING *spell-syntax*
Bram Moolenaar6bb68362005-03-22 23:03:44 +0000357
358Files that use syntax highlighting can specify where spell checking should be
359done:
360
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +00003611. everywhere default
3622. in specific items use "contains=@Spell"
3633. everywhere but specific items use "contains=@NoSpell"
Bram Moolenaar6bb68362005-03-22 23:03:44 +0000364
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000365For the second method adding the @NoSpell cluster will disable spell checking
366again. This can be used, for example, to add @Spell to the comments of a
367program, and add @NoSpell for items that shouldn't be checked.
Bram Moolenaar6bb68362005-03-22 23:03:44 +0000368
Bram Moolenaar30abd282005-06-22 22:35:10 +0000369
370VIM SCRIPTS
371
372If you want to write a Vim script that does something with spelling, you may
373find these functions useful:
374
375 spellbadword() find badly spelled word at the cursor
376 spellsuggest() get list of spelling suggestions
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000377 soundfold() get the sound-a-like version of a word
Bram Moolenaar30abd282005-06-22 22:35:10 +0000378
Bram Moolenaar90cfdbe2005-08-12 19:59:19 +0000379
380SETTING 'spellcapcheck' AUTOMATICALLY *set-spc-auto*
381
382After the 'spelllang' option has been set successfully, Vim will source the
383files "spell/LANG.vim" in 'runtimepath'. "LANG" is the value of 'spelllang'
384up to the first comma, dot or underscore. This can be used to set options
385specifically for the language, especially 'spellcapcheck'.
386
387The distribution includes a few of these files. Use this command to see what
388they do: >
389 :next $VIMRUNTIME/spell/*.vim
390
391Note that the default scripts don't set 'spellcapcheck' if it was changed from
392the default value. This assumes the user prefers another value then.
393
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +0000394
395DOUBLE SCORING *spell-double-scoring*
396
397The 'spellsuggest' option can be used to select "double" scoring. This
398mechanism is based on the principle that there are two kinds of spelling
399mistakes:
400
4011. You know how to spell the word, but mistype something. This results in a
402 small editing distance (character swapped/omitted/inserted) and possibly a
403 word that sounds completely different.
404
4052. You don't know how to spell the word and type something that sounds right.
406 The edit distance can be big but the word is similar after sound-folding.
407
408Since scores for these two mistakes will be very different we use a list
409for each and mix them.
410
411The sound-folding is slow and people that know the language won't make the
412second kind of mistakes. Therefore 'spellsuggest' can be set to select the
413preferred method for scoring the suggestions.
414
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000415==============================================================================
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +00004163. Generating a spell file *spell-mkspell*
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000417
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000418Vim uses a binary file format for spelling. This greatly speeds up loading
419the word list and keeps it small.
Bram Moolenaar9a50b1b2005-06-27 22:48:21 +0000420 *.aff* *.dic* *Myspell*
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000421You can create a Vim spell file from the .aff and .dic files that Myspell
422uses. Myspell is used by OpenOffice.org and Mozilla. You should be able to
423find them here:
424 http://lingucomponent.openoffice.org/spell_dic.html
Bram Moolenaar30abd282005-06-22 22:35:10 +0000425You can also use a plain word list. The results are the same, the choice
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000426depends on what word lists you can find.
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000427
Bram Moolenaar7d1f5db2005-07-03 21:39:27 +0000428If you install Aap (from www.a-a-p.org) you can use the recipes in the
429runtime/spell/??/ directories. Aap will take care of downloading the files,
430apply patches needed for Vim and build the .spl file.
431
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +0000432Make sure your current locale is set properly, otherwise Vim doesn't know what
433characters are upper/lower case letters. If the locale isn't available (e.g.,
434when using an MS-Windows codepage on Unix) add tables to the .aff file
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000435|spell-affix-chars|. If the .aff file doesn't define a table then the word
436table of the currently active spelling is used. If spelling is not active
437then Vim will try to guess.
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +0000438
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000439 *:mksp* *:mkspell*
440:mksp[ell][!] [-ascii] {outname} {inname} ...
Bram Moolenaar16d8f872005-11-26 23:46:11 +0000441 Generate a Vim spell file from word lists. Example: >
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000442 :mkspell /tmp/nl nl_NL.words
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000443< *E751*
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000444 When {outname} ends in ".spl" it is used as the output
445 file name. Otherwise it should be a language name,
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000446 such as "en", without the region name. The file
447 written will be "{outname}.{encoding}.spl", where
448 {encoding} is the value of the 'encoding' option.
Bram Moolenaar75c50c42005-06-04 22:06:24 +0000449
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000450 When the output file already exists [!] must be used
Bram Moolenaar520470a2005-06-16 21:59:56 +0000451 to overwrite it.
452
Bram Moolenaar0e21a3f2005-04-17 20:28:32 +0000453 When the [-ascii] argument is present, words with
454 non-ascii characters are skipped. The resulting file
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000455 ends in "ascii.spl".
Bram Moolenaar75c50c42005-06-04 22:06:24 +0000456
457 The input can be the Myspell format files {inname}.aff
458 and {inname}.dic. If {inname}.aff does not exist then
459 {inname} is used as the file name of a plain word
460 list.
461
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000462 Multiple {inname} arguments can be given to combine
463 regions into one Vim spell file. Example: >
464 :mkspell ~/.vim/spell/en /tmp/en_US /tmp/en_CA /tmp/en_AU
465< This combines the English word lists for US, CA and AU
466 into one en.spl file.
467 Up to eight regions can be combined. *E754* *755*
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +0000468 The REP and SAL items of the first .aff file where
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +0000469 they appear are used. |spell-REP| |spell-SAL|
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000470
Bram Moolenaar30abd282005-06-22 22:35:10 +0000471 This command uses a lot of memory, required to find
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +0000472 the optimal word tree (Polish, Italian and Hungarian
473 require several hundred Mbyte). The final result will
474 be much smaller, because compression is used. To
475 avoid running out of memory compression will be done
476 now and then. This can be tuned with the 'mkspellmem'
477 option.
Bram Moolenaar30abd282005-06-22 22:35:10 +0000478
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000479 After the spell file was written and it was being used
480 in a buffer it will be reloaded automatically.
Bram Moolenaar45eeb132005-06-06 21:59:07 +0000481
Bram Moolenaar9a50b1b2005-06-27 22:48:21 +0000482:mksp[ell] [-ascii] {name}.{enc}.add
483 Like ":mkspell" above, using {name}.{enc}.add as the
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000484 input file and producing an output file in the same
485 directory that has ".spl" appended.
Bram Moolenaar9a50b1b2005-06-27 22:48:21 +0000486
487:mksp[ell] [-ascii] {name}
488 Like ":mkspell" above, using {name} as the input file
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000489 and producing an output file in the same directory
490 that has ".{enc}.spl" appended.
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000491
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +0000492Vim will report the number of duplicate words. This might be a mistake in the
493list of words. But sometimes it is used to have different prefixes and
494suffixes for the same basic word to avoid them combining (e.g. Czech uses
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +0000495this). If you want Vim to report all duplicate words set the 'verbose'
496option.
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +0000497
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000498Since you might want to change a Myspell word list for use with Vim the
499following procedure is recommended:
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000500
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +00005011. Obtain the xx_YY.aff and xx_YY.dic files from Myspell.
5022. Make a copy of these files to xx_YY.orig.aff and xx_YY.orig.dic.
5033. Change the xx_YY.aff and xx_YY.dic files to remove bad words, add missing
Bram Moolenaar0cb032e2005-04-23 20:52:00 +0000504 words, define word characters with FOL/LOW/UPP, etc. The distributed
505 "src/spell/*.diff" files can be used.
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +00005064. Start Vim with the right locale and use |:mkspell| to generate the Vim
507 spell file.
5085. Try out the spell file with ":set spell spelllang=xx" if you wrote it in
Bram Moolenaar7d1f5db2005-07-03 21:39:27 +0000509 a spell directory in 'runtimepath', or ":set spelllang=xx.enc.spl" if you
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000510 wrote it somewhere else.
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000511
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000512When the Myspell files are updated you can merge the differences:
Bram Moolenaar0cb032e2005-04-23 20:52:00 +00005131. Obtain the new Myspell files as xx_YY.new.aff and xx_UU.new.dic.
5142. Use Vimdiff to see what changed: >
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000515 vimdiff xx_YY.orig.dic xx_YY.new.dic
Bram Moolenaar0cb032e2005-04-23 20:52:00 +00005163. Take over the changes you like in xx_YY.dic.
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000517 You may also need to change xx_YY.aff.
Bram Moolenaar0cb032e2005-04-23 20:52:00 +00005184. Rename xx_YY.new.dic to xx_YY.orig.dic and xx_YY.new.aff to xx_YY.new.aff.
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000519
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000520
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +0000521SPELL FILE VERSIONS *E770* *E771* *E772*
522
523Spell checking is a relatively new feature in Vim, thus it's possible that the
524.spl file format will be changed to support more languages. Vim will check
525the validity of the spell file and report anything wrong.
526
527 E771: Old spell file, needs to be updated ~
528This spell file is older than your Vim. You need to update the .spl file.
529
530 E772: Spell file is for newer version of Vim ~
531This means the spell file was made for a later version of Vim. You need to
532update Vim.
533
534 E770: Unsupported section in spell file ~
535This means the spell file was made for a later version of Vim and contains a
536section that is required for the spell file to work. In this case it's
537probably a good idea to upgrade your Vim.
538
539
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000540SPELL FILE DUMP
541
542If for some reason you want to check what words are supported by the currently
543used spelling files, use this command:
544
545 *:spelldump* *:spelld*
546:spelld[ump] Open a new window and fill it with all currently valid
Bram Moolenaarac6e65f2005-08-29 22:25:38 +0000547 words. Compound words are not included.
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000548 Note: For some languages the result may be enormous,
549 causing Vim to run out of memory.
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000550
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000551:spelld[ump]! Like ":spelldump" and include the word count. This is
552 the number of times the word was found while
553 updating the screen. Words that are in COMMON items
554 get a starting count of 10.
555
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000556The format of the word list is used |spell-wordlist-format|. You should be
557able to read it with ":mkspell" to generate one .spl file that includes all
558the words.
559
Bram Moolenaar1f8a5f02005-07-01 22:41:52 +0000560When all entries to 'spelllang' use the same regions or no regions at all then
561the region information is included in the dumped words. Otherwise only words
562for the current region are included and no "/regions" line is generated.
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000563
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000564Comment lines with the name of the .spl file are used as a header above the
565words that were generated from that .spl file.
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000566
Bram Moolenaar1ef15e32006-02-01 21:56:25 +0000567
568SPELL FILE MISSING *spell-SpellFileMissing* *spellfile.vim*
569
570If the spell file for the language you are using is not available, you will
571get an error message. But if the "spellfile.vim" plugin is active it will
572offer you to download the spell file. Just follow the instructions, it will
573ask you where to write the file.
574
575The plugin has a default place where to look for spell files, on the Vim ftp
576server. If you want to use another location or another protocol, set the
577g:spellfile_URL variable to the directory that holds the spell files. The
578|netrw| plugin is used for getting the file, look there for the speficic
579syntax of the URL. Example: >
580 let g:spellfile_URL = 'http://ftp.vim.org/vim/runtime/spell'
581You may need to escape special characters.
582
583The plugin will only ask about downloading a language once. If you want to
584try again anyway restart Vim, or set g:spellfile_URL to another value (e.g.,
585prepend a space).
586
587To avoid using the "spellfile.vim" plugin do this in your vimrc file: >
588
589 let loaded_spellfile_plugin = 1
590
591Instead of using the plugin you can define a |SpellFileMissing| autocommand to
592handle the missing file yourself. You can use it like this: >
593
594 :au SpellFileMissing * call Download_spell_file(expand('<amatch>'))
595
596Thus the <amatch> item contains the name of the language. Another important
597value is 'encoding', since every encoding has its own spell file. With two
598exceptions:
599- For ISO-8859-15 (latin9) the name "latin1" is used (the encodings only
600 differ in characters not used in dictionary words).
601- The name "ascii" may also be used for some languages where the words use
602 only ASCII letters for most of the words.
603
604The default "spellfile.vim" plugin uses this autocommand, if you define your
605autocommand afterwars you may want to use ":au! SpellFileMissing" to overrule
606it. If you define your autocommand before the plugin is loaded it will notice
607this and not do anything.
608
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000609==============================================================================
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +00006104. Spell file format *spell-file-format*
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000611
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000612This is the format of the files that are used by the person who creates and
613maintains a word list.
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000614
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000615Note that we avoid the word "dictionary" here. That is because the goal of
616spell checking differs from writing a dictionary (as in the book). For
Bram Moolenaar16d8f872005-11-26 23:46:11 +0000617spelling we need a list of words that are OK, thus should not be highlighted.
618Person and company names will not appear in a dictionary, but do appear in a
619word list. And some old words are rarely used while they are common
620misspellings. These do appear in a dictionary but not in a word list.
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000621
Bram Moolenaar7d1f5db2005-07-03 21:39:27 +0000622There are two formats: A straight list of words and a list using affix
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000623compression. The files with affix compression are used by Myspell (Mozilla
624and OpenOffice.org). This requires two files, one with .aff and one with .dic
625extension.
Bram Moolenaar75c50c42005-06-04 22:06:24 +0000626
627
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000628FORMAT OF STRAIGHT WORD LIST *spell-wordlist-format*
Bram Moolenaar75c50c42005-06-04 22:06:24 +0000629
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000630The words must appear one per line. That is all that is required.
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000631
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000632Additionally the following items are recognized:
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000633
Bram Moolenaar75c50c42005-06-04 22:06:24 +0000634- Empty and blank lines are ignored.
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000635
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000636 # comment ~
Bram Moolenaar75c50c42005-06-04 22:06:24 +0000637- Lines starting with a # are ignored (comment lines).
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000638
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000639 /encoding=utf-8 ~
Bram Moolenaar45eeb132005-06-06 21:59:07 +0000640- A line starting with "/encoding=", before any word, specifies the encoding
641 of the file. After the second '=' comes an encoding name. This tells Vim
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000642 to setup conversion from the specified encoding to 'encoding'. Thus you can
643 use one word list for several target encodings.
644
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000645 /regions=usca ~
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000646- A line starting with "/regions=" specifies the region names that are
647 supported. Each region name must be two ASCII letters. The first one is
648 region 1. Thus "/regions=usca" has region 1 "us" and region 2 "ca".
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +0000649 In an addition word list the region names should be equal to the main word
650 list!
651
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000652- Other lines starting with '/' are reserved for future use. The ones that
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000653 are not recognized are ignored. You do get a warning message, so that you
654 know something won't work.
Bram Moolenaar75c50c42005-06-04 22:06:24 +0000655
Bram Moolenaar1f8a5f02005-07-01 22:41:52 +0000656- A "/" may follow the word with the following items:
657 = Case must match exactly.
658 ? Rare word.
659 ! Bad (wrong) word.
660 digit A region in which the word is valid. If no regions are
661 specified the word is valid in all regions.
662
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000663Example:
664
665 # This is an example word list comment
666 /encoding=latin1 encoding of the file
667 /regions=uscagb regions "us", "ca" and "gb"
668 example word for all regions
Bram Moolenaar1f8a5f02005-07-01 22:41:52 +0000669 blah/12 word for regions "us" and "ca"
670 vim/! bad word
671 Campbell/?3 rare word in region 3 "gb"
672 's mornings/= keep-case word
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000673
Bram Moolenaar0dc065e2005-07-04 22:49:24 +0000674Note that when "/=" is used the same word with all upper-case letters is not
675accepted. This is different from a word with mixed case that is automatically
676marked as keep-case, those words may appear in all upper-case letters.
677
Bram Moolenaar75c50c42005-06-04 22:06:24 +0000678
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000679FORMAT WITH .AFF and .DIC FILES
Bram Moolenaar75c50c42005-06-04 22:06:24 +0000680
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000681There are two files: the basic word list and an affix file. The affix file
682specifies settings for the language and can contain affixes. The affixes are
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000683used to modify the basic words to get the full word list. This significantly
684reduces the number of words, especially for a language like Polish. This is
685called affix compression.
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +0000686
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000687The basic word list and the affix file are combined with the ":mkspell"
688command and results in a binary spell file. All the preprocessing has been
689done, thus this file loads fast. The binary spell file format is described in
690the source code (src/spell.c). But only developers need to know about it.
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000691
692The preprocessing also allows us to take the Myspell language files and modify
693them before the Vim word list is made. The tools for this can be found in the
694"src/spell" directory.
695
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +0000696The format for the affix and word list files is based on what Myspell uses
697(the spell checker of Mozilla and OpenOffice.org). A description can be found
698here:
699 http://lingucomponent.openoffice.org/affix.readme ~
700Note that affixes are case sensitive, this isn't obvious from the description.
701
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +0000702Vim supports quite a few extras. They are described below |spell-affix-vim|.
703Attempts have been made to keep this compatible with other spell checkers, so
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000704that the same files can often be used. One other project that offers more
705than Myspell is Hunspell ( http://hunspell.sf.net ).
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +0000706
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000707
Bram Moolenaar3638c682005-06-08 22:05:14 +0000708WORD LIST FORMAT *spell-dic-format*
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000709
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000710A short example, with line numbers:
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000711
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000712 1 1234 ~
713 2 aan ~
714 3 Als ~
715 4 Etten-Leur ~
716 5 et al. ~
717 6 's-Gravenhage ~
718 7 's-Gravenhaags ~
719 8 # word that differs between regions ~
720 9 kado/1 ~
721 10 cadeau/2 ~
722 11 TCP,IP ~
723 12 /the S affix may add a 's' ~
724 13 bedel/S ~
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000725
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000726The first line contains the number of words. Vim ignores it, but you do get
727an error message if it's not there. *E760*
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000728
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000729What follows is one word per line. White space at the end of the line is
730ignored, all other white space matters. The encoding is specified in the
731affix file |spell-SET|.
732
733Comment lines start with '#' or '/'. See the example lines 8 and 12. Note
734that putting a comment after a word is NOT allowed:
735
736 someword # comment that causes an error! ~
737
738After the word there is an optional slash and flags. Most of these flags are
739letters that indicate the affixes that can be used with this word. These are
740specified with SFX and PFX lines in the .aff file, see |spell-SFX| and
741|spell-PFX|. Vim allows using other flag types with the FLAG item in the
742affix file |spell-FLAG|.
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000743
744When the word only has lower-case letters it will also match with the word
745starting with an upper-case letter.
746
747When the word includes an upper-case letter, this means the upper-case letter
748is required at this position. The same word with a lower-case letter at this
749position will not match. When some of the other letters are upper-case it will
750not match either.
751
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000752The word with all upper-case characters will always be OK,
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000753
754 word list matches does not match ~
755 als als Als ALS ALs AlS aLs aLS
756 Als Als ALS als ALs AlS aLs aLS
757 ALS ALS als Als ALs AlS aLs aLS
758 AlS AlS ALS als Als ALs aLs aLS
759
Bram Moolenaar1cbe5f72005-12-29 22:51:09 +0000760The KEEPCASE affix ID can be used to specifically match a word with identical
761case only, see below |spell-KEEPCASE|.
Bram Moolenaar45eeb132005-06-06 21:59:07 +0000762
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000763Note: in line 5 to 7 non-word characters are used. You can include any
764character in a word. When checking the text a word still only matches when it
765appears with a non-word character before and after it. For Myspell a word
766starting with a non-word character probably won't work.
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000767
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +0000768In line 12 the word "TCP/IP" is defined. Since the slash has a special
769meaning the comma is used instead. This is defined with the SLASH item in the
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000770affix file, see |spell-SLASH|. Note that without this SLASH item the word
771will be "TCP,IP".
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +0000772
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000773
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000774AFFIX FILE FORMAT *spell-aff-format* *spell-affix-vim*
Bram Moolenaar0dc065e2005-07-04 22:49:24 +0000775
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000776 *spell-affix-comment*
777Comment lines in the .aff file start with a '#':
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000778
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000779 # comment line ~
780
781With some items it's also possible to put a comment after it, but this isn't
782supported in general.
783
784
785ENCODING *spell-SET*
786
787The affix file can be in any encoding that is supported by "iconv". However,
788in some cases the current locale should also be set properly at the time
789|:mkspell| is invoked. Adding FOL/LOW/UPP lines removes this requirement
790|spell-FOL|.
791
792The encoding should be specified before anything where the encoding matters.
793The encoding applies both to the affix file and the dictionary file. It is
794done with a SET line:
795
796 SET utf-8 ~
797
798The encoding can be different from the value of the 'encoding' option at the
799time ":mkspell" is used. Vim will then convert everything to 'encoding' and
800generate a spell file for 'encoding'. If some of the used characters to not
801fit in 'encoding' you will get an error message.
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000802 *spell-affix-mbyte*
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000803When using a multi-byte encoding it's possible to use more different affix
804flags. But Myspell doesn't support that, thus you may not want to use it
805anyway. For compatibility use an 8-bit encoding.
Bram Moolenaar13fcaaf2005-04-15 21:13:42 +0000806
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +0000807
808CHARACTER TABLES
Bram Moolenaar0cb032e2005-04-23 20:52:00 +0000809 *spell-affix-chars*
Bram Moolenaar82cf9b62005-06-07 21:09:25 +0000810When using an 8-bit encoding the affix file should define what characters are
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000811word characters. This is because the system where ":mkspell" is used may not
812support a locale with this encoding and isalpha() won't work. For example
813when using "cp1250" on Unix.
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +0000814 *E761* *E762* *spell-FOL*
815 *spell-LOW* *spell-UPP*
Bram Moolenaar0cb032e2005-04-23 20:52:00 +0000816Three lines in the affix file are needed. Simplistic example:
817
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +0000818 FOL áëñ ~
819 LOW áëñ ~
820 UPP ÁËÑ ~
Bram Moolenaar0cb032e2005-04-23 20:52:00 +0000821
822All three lines must have exactly the same number of characters.
823
824The "FOL" line specifies the case-folded characters. These are used to
825compare words while ignoring case. For most encodings this is identical to
826the lower case line.
827
828The "LOW" line specifies the characters in lower-case. Mostly it's equal to
829the "FOL" line.
830
831The "UPP" line specifies the characters with upper-case. That is, a character
832is upper-case where it's different from the character at the same position in
833"FOL".
834
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +0000835An exception is made for the German sharp s ß. The upper-case version is
836"SS". In the FOL/LOW/UPP lines it should be included, so that it's recognized
837as a word character, but use the ß character in all three.
838
Bram Moolenaar0cb032e2005-04-23 20:52:00 +0000839ASCII characters should be omitted, Vim always handles these in the same way.
840When the encoding is UTF-8 no word characters need to be specified.
841
842 *E763*
Bram Moolenaar3b506942005-06-23 22:36:45 +0000843Vim allows you to use spell checking for several languages in the same file.
844You can list them in the 'spelllang' option. As a consequence all spell files
845for the same encoding must use the same word characters, otherwise they can't
846be combined without errors. If you get a warning that the word tables differ
847you may need to generate the .spl file again with |:mkspell|. Check the FOL,
848LOW and UPP lines in the used .aff file.
849
850The XX.ascii.spl spell file generated with the "-ascii" argument will not
851contain the table with characters, so that it can be combine with spell files
852for any encoding. The .add.spl files also do not contain the table.
Bram Moolenaar0cb032e2005-04-23 20:52:00 +0000853
Bram Moolenaare7566042005-06-17 22:00:15 +0000854
Bram Moolenaar9a50b1b2005-06-27 22:48:21 +0000855MID-WORD CHARACTERS
856 *spell-midword*
857Some characters are only to be considered word characters if they are used in
858between two ordinary word characters. An example is the single quote: It is
859often used to put text in quotes, thus it can't be recognized as a word
860character, but when it appears in between word characters it must be part of
861the word. This is needed to detect a spelling error such as they'are. That
862should be they're, but since "they" and "are" are words themselves that would
863go unnoticed.
864
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000865These characters are defined with MIDWORD in the .aff file. Example:
Bram Moolenaar9a50b1b2005-06-27 22:48:21 +0000866
867 MIDWORD '- ~
868
869
Bram Moolenaar6e7c7f32005-08-24 22:16:11 +0000870FLAG TYPES *spell-FLAG*
871
872Flags are used to specify the affixes that can be used with a word and for
873other properties of the word. Normally single-character flags are used. This
874limits the number of possible flags, especially for 8-bit encodings. The FLAG
875item can be used if more affixes are to be used. Possible values:
876
877 FLAG long use two-character flags
878 FLAG num use numbers, from 1 up to 65000
Bram Moolenaar81f1ecb2005-08-25 21:27:31 +0000879 FLAG caplong use one-character flags without A-Z and two-character
Bram Moolenaar6e7c7f32005-08-24 22:16:11 +0000880 flags that start with A-Z
881
882With "FLAG num" the numbers in a list of affixes need to be separated with a
883comma: "234,2143,1435". This method is inefficient, but useful if the file is
884generated with a program.
885
Bram Moolenaar81f1ecb2005-08-25 21:27:31 +0000886When using "caplong" the two-character flags all start with a capital: "Aa",
887"B1", "BB", etc. This is useful to use one-character flags for the most
888common items and two-character flags for uncommon items.
Bram Moolenaar6e7c7f32005-08-24 22:16:11 +0000889
890Note: When using utf-8 only characters up to 65000 may be used for flags.
891
892
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +0000893AFFIXES
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +0000894 *spell-PFX* *spell-SFX*
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +0000895The usual PFX (prefix) and SFX (suffix) lines are supported (see the Myspell
Bram Moolenaar9a50b1b2005-06-27 22:48:21 +0000896documentation or the Aspell manual:
897http://aspell.net/man-html/Affix-Compression.html).
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +0000898
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000899Summary:
900 SFX L Y 2 ~
901 SFX L 0 re [^x] ~
902 SFX L 0 ro x ~
903
904The first line is a header and has four fields:
905 SFX {flag} {combine} {count}
906
907{flag} The name used for the suffix. Mostly it's a single letter,
908 but other characters can be used, see |spell-FLAG|.
909
910{combine} Can be 'Y' or 'N'. When 'Y' then the word plus suffix can
911 also have a prefix. When 'N' then a prefix is not allowed.
912
913{count} The number of lines following. If this is wrong you will get
914 an error message.
915
916For PFX the fields are exactly the same.
917
918The basic format for the following lines is:
919 SFX {flag} {strip} {add} {condition}
920
921{flag} Must be the same as the {flag} used in the first line.
922
923{strip} Characters removed from the basic word. There is no check if
924 the characters are actually there, only the length is used (in
925 bytes). This better match the {condition}, otherwise strange
926 things may happen. If the {strip} length is equal to or
927 longer than the basic word the suffix won't be used.
928 When {strip} is 0 (zero) then nothing is stripped.
929
930{add} Characters added to the basic word, after removing {strip}.
931
932{condition} A simplistic pattern. Only when this matches with a basic
933 word will the suffix be used for that word. This is normally
934 for using one suffix letter with different {add} and {strip}
935 fields for words with different endings.
936 When {condition} is a . (dot) there is no condition.
937 The pattern may contain:
938 - Literal characters.
939 - A set of characters in []. [abc] matches a, b and c.
940 A dash is allowed for a range [a-c], but this is
941 Vim-specific.
942 - A set of characters that starts with a ^, meaning the
943 complement of the specified characters. [^abc] matches any
944 character but a, b and c.
945
946For PFX the fields are the same, but the {strip}, {add} and {condition} apply
947to the start of the word.
948
949Note: Myspell ignores any extra text after the relevant info. Vim requires
950this text to start with a "#" so that mistakes don't go unnoticed. Example:
Bram Moolenaar9a50b1b2005-06-27 22:48:21 +0000951
952 SFX F 0 in [^i]n # Spion > Spionin ~
953 SFX F 0 nen in # Bauerin > Bauerinnen ~
954
Bram Moolenaar81f1ecb2005-08-25 21:27:31 +0000955Apparently Myspell allows an affix name to appear more than once. Since this
956might also be a mistake, Vim checks for an extra "S". The affix files for
957Myspell that use this feature apparently have this flag. Example:
958
959 SFX a Y 1 S ~
960 SFX a 0 an . ~
961
962 SFX a Y 2 S ~
963 SFX a 0 en . ~
964 SFX a 0 on . ~
965
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +0000966
967AFFIX FLAGS *spell-affix-flags*
968
969This is a feature that comes from Hunspell: The affix may specify flags. This
970works similar to flags specified on a basic word. The flags apply to the
971basic word plus the affix. Example:
972
973 SFX S Y 1 ~
974 SFX S 0 s . ~
975
976 SFX A Y 1 ~
977 SFX A 0 able/S . ~
978
979When the dictionary file contains "drink/AS" then these words are possible:
980
981 drink
982 drinks uses S suffix
983 drinkable uses A suffix
984 drinkables uses A suffix and then S suffix
985
986Generally the flags of the suffix are added to the flags of the basic word,
987both are used for the word plus suffix. But the flags of the basic word are
988only used once for affixes, except that both one prefix and one suffix can be
989used when both support combining.
990
991Specifically, the affix flags can be used for:
992- Affixes on affixes, as in the example above.
993- Making the word with the affix rare, by using the |spell-RARE| flag.
994- Exclude the word with the affix from compounding, by using the
995 |spell-COMPOUNDFORBIDFLAG| flag.
996
997-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
998OLD STUFF
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +0000999 *spell-affix-rare*
Bram Moolenaar9a50b1b2005-06-27 22:48:21 +00001000An extra item for Vim is the "rare" flag. It must come after the other
1001fields, before a comment. When used then all words that use the affix will be
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001002marked as rare words. Examples:
Bram Moolenaar9a50b1b2005-06-27 22:48:21 +00001003
1004 PFX F 0 nene . rare ~
1005 SFX F 0 oin n rare # hardly ever used ~
1006
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001007However, if the word also appears as a good word in another way (e.g., in
1008another region) it won't be marked as rare.
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +00001009
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001010 *spell-affix-nocomp*
1011Another extra item for Vim is the "nocomp" flag. It must come after the other
Bram Moolenaar90915b52005-08-21 22:17:52 +00001012fields, before a comment. It can be either before or after "rare". When
1013present then all words that use the affix will not be part of a compound word.
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001014Example:
1015 affix file:
1016 COMPOUNDFLAG c ~
1017 SFX a Y 2 ~
1018 SFX a 0 s . ~
1019 SFX a 0 ize . nocomp ~
1020 dictionary:
1021 word/c ~
1022 util/ac ~
1023
1024This allows for "wordutil" and "wordutils" but not "wordutilize".
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001025-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001026
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +00001027 *spell-PFXPOSTPONE*
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +00001028When an affix file has very many prefixes that apply to many words it's not
1029possible to build the whole word list in memory. This applies to Hebrew (a
1030list with all words is over a Gbyte). In that case applying prefixes must be
1031postponed. This makes spell checking slower. It is indicated by this keyword
1032in the .aff file:
1033
1034 PFXPOSTPONE ~
1035
1036Only prefixes without a chop string can be postponed, prefixes with a chop
Bram Moolenaar78984f52005-08-01 07:19:10 +00001037string will still be included in the word list. An exception if the chop
1038string is one character and equal to the last character of the added string,
1039but in lower case. Thus when the chop string is used to allow the following
1040word to start with an upper case letter.
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +00001041
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001042
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +00001043WORDS WITH A SLASH *spell-SLASH*
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001044
1045The slash is used in the .dic file to separate the basic word from the affix
Bram Moolenaar33aec762006-01-22 23:30:12 +00001046letters and other flags. Unfortunately, this means you cannot use a slash in
1047a word. Thus "TCP/IP" is not a word but "TCP with the flags "IP". To include
1048a slash in the word put a backslash before it: "TCP\/IP". In the rare case
1049you want to use a backslash inside a word you need to use two backslashes.
1050Any other use of the backslash is reserved for future expansion.
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001051
1052
Bram Moolenaar1cbe5f72005-12-29 22:51:09 +00001053KEEP-CASE WORDS *spell-KEEPCASE*
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001054
Bram Moolenaar1cbe5f72005-12-29 22:51:09 +00001055In the affix file a KEEPCASE line can be used to define the affix name used
1056for keep-case words. Example:
Bram Moolenaar45eeb132005-06-06 21:59:07 +00001057
Bram Moolenaar1cbe5f72005-12-29 22:51:09 +00001058 KEEPCASE = ~
Bram Moolenaar45eeb132005-06-06 21:59:07 +00001059
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001060This flag is not supported by Myspell. It has the meaning that case matters.
1061This can be used if the word does not have the first letter in upper case at
1062the start of a sentence. Example:
1063
1064 word list matches does not match ~
1065 's morgens/= 's morgens 'S morgens 's Morgens 'S MORGENS
1066 's Morgens 's Morgens 'S MORGENS 'S morgens 's morgens
1067
1068The flag can also be used to avoid that the word matches when it is in all
1069upper-case letters.
Bram Moolenaar45eeb132005-06-06 21:59:07 +00001070
Bram Moolenaare13305e2005-06-19 22:54:15 +00001071
Bram Moolenaar1cbe5f72005-12-29 22:51:09 +00001072RARE WORDS *spell-RARE*
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001073
Bram Moolenaar1cbe5f72005-12-29 22:51:09 +00001074In the affix file a RARE line can be used to define the affix name used for
Bram Moolenaar45eeb132005-06-06 21:59:07 +00001075rare words. Example:
1076
Bram Moolenaar1cbe5f72005-12-29 22:51:09 +00001077 RARE ? ~
Bram Moolenaar45eeb132005-06-06 21:59:07 +00001078
1079Rare words are highlighted differently from bad words. This is to be used for
1080words that are correct for the language, but are hardly ever used and could be
Bram Moolenaar30abd282005-06-22 22:35:10 +00001081a typing mistake anyway. When the same word is found as good it won't be
1082highlighted as rare.
1083
1084
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +00001085BAD WORDS *spell-BAD*
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001086
Bram Moolenaar30abd282005-06-22 22:35:10 +00001087In the affix file a BAD line can be used to define the affix name used for
1088bad words. Example:
1089
1090 BAD ! ~
1091
1092This can be used to exclude words that would otherwise be good. For example
Bram Moolenaar9a50b1b2005-06-27 22:48:21 +00001093"the the" in the .dic file:
1094
1095 the the/! ~
1096
1097Once a word has been marked as bad it won't be undone by encountering the same
1098word as good.
Bram Moolenaar45eeb132005-06-06 21:59:07 +00001099
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001100The flag also applies to the word with affixes, thus this can be used to mark
1101a whole bunch of related words as bad.
1102
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +00001103 *spell-NEEDAFFIX*
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001104The NEEDAFFIX flag is used to require that a word is used with an affix. The
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001105word itself is not a good word (unless there is an empty affix). Example:
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001106
1107 NEEDAFFIX + ~
1108
Bram Moolenaar45eeb132005-06-06 21:59:07 +00001109
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +00001110COMPOUND WORDS *spell-compound*
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001111
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001112A compound word is a longer word made by concatenating words that appear in
1113the .dic file. To specify which words may be concatenated a character is
1114used. This character is put in the list of affixes after the word. We will
1115call this character a flag here. Obviously these flags must be different from
1116any affix IDs used.
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001117
1118 *spell-COMPOUNDFLAG*
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001119The Myspell compatible method uses one flag, specified with COMPOUNDFLAG. All
1120words with this flag combine in any order. This means there is no control
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001121over which word comes first. Example:
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001122 COMPOUNDFLAG c ~
1123
1124 *spell-COMPOUNDFLAGS*
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001125A more advanced method to specify how compound words can be formed uses
1126multiple items with multiple flags. This is not compatible with Myspell 3.0.
1127Let's start with an example:
1128 COMPOUNDFLAGS c+ ~
1129 COMPOUNDFLAGS se ~
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001130
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001131The first line defines that words with the "c" flag can be concatenated in any
1132order. The second line defines compound words that are made of one word with
1133the "s" flag and one word with the "e" flag. With this dictionary:
1134 bork/c ~
1135 onion/s ~
1136 soup/e ~
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001137
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001138You can make these words:
1139 bork
1140 borkbork
1141 borkborkbork
1142 (etc.)
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001143 onion
1144 soup
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001145 onionsoup
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001146
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001147The COMPOUNDFLAGS item may appear multiple times. The argument is made out of
1148one or more groups, where each group can be:
1149 one flag e.g., c
1150 alternate flags inside [] e.g., [abc]
1151Optionally this may be followed by:
1152 * the group appears zero or more times, e.g., sm*e
1153 + the group appears one or more times, e.g., c+
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001154
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001155This is similar to the regexp pattern syntax (but not the same!). A few
1156examples with the sequence of word flags they require:
1157 COMPOUNDFLAGS x+ x xx xxx etc.
1158 COMPOUNDFLAGS yz yz
1159 COMPOUNDFLAGS x+z xz xxz xxxz etc.
1160 COMPOUNDFLAGS yx+ yx yxx yxxx etc.
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001161
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001162 COMPOUNDFLAGS [abc]z az bz cz
1163 COMPOUNDFLAGS [abc]+z az aaz abaz bz baz bcbz cz caz cbaz etc.
1164 COMPOUNDFLAGS a[xyz]+ ax axx axyz ay ayx ayzz az azy azxy etc.
1165 COMPOUNDFLAGS sm*e se sme smme smmme etc.
1166 COMPOUNDFLAGS s[xyz]*e se sxe sxye sxyxe sye syze sze szye szyxe etc.
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001167
Bram Moolenaara6c840d2005-08-22 22:59:46 +00001168A specific example: Allow a compound to be made of two words and a dash:
1169 In the .aff file:
1170 COMPOUNDFLAGS sde ~
1171 NEEDAFFIX x ~
1172 COMPOUNDMAX 3 ~
1173 COMPOUNDMIN 1 ~
1174 In the .dic file:
1175 start/s ~
1176 end/e ~
1177 -/xd ~
1178
1179This allows for the word "start-end", but not "startend".
1180
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001181 *spell-NEEDCOMPOUND*
1182The NEEDCOMPOUND flag is used to require that a word is used as part of a
1183compound word. The word itself is not a good word. Example:
1184
1185 NEEDCOMPOUND & ~
1186
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001187 *spell-COMPOUNDMIN*
Bram Moolenaarac6e65f2005-08-29 22:25:38 +00001188The minimal character length of a word used for compounding is specified with
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001189COMPOUNDMIN. Example:
1190 COMPOUNDMIN 5 ~
1191
Bram Moolenaarac6e65f2005-08-29 22:25:38 +00001192When omitted there is no minimal length. Obviously you could just leave out
1193the compound flag from short words instead, this feature is present for
1194compatibility with Myspell.
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001195
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001196 *spell-COMPOUNDMAX*
1197The maximum number of words that can be concatenated into a compound word is
1198specified with COMPOUNDMAX. Example:
1199 COMPOUNDMAX 3 ~
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001200
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001201When omitted there is no maximum. It applies to all compound words.
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001202
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001203To set a limit for words with specific flags make sure the items in
1204COMPOUNDFLAGS where they appear don't allow too many words.
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001205
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001206 *spell-COMPOUNDSYLMAX*
1207The maximum number of syllables that a compound word may contain is specified
1208with COMPOUNDSYLMAX. Example:
1209 COMPOUNDSYLMAX 6 ~
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001210
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001211This has no effect if there is no SYLLABLE item. Without COMPOUNDSYLMAX there
1212is no limit on the number of syllables.
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001213
Bram Moolenaara6c840d2005-08-22 22:59:46 +00001214If both COMPOUNDMAX and COMPOUNDSYLMAX are defined, a compound word is
1215accepted if it fits one of the criteria, thus is either made from up to
1216COMPOUNDMAX words or contains up to COMPOUNDSYLMAX syllables.
1217
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001218 *spell-COMPOUNDFORBIDFLAG*
1219The COMPOUNDFORBIDFLAG specifies a flag that can be used on an affix. It
1220means that the word plus affix cannot be used in a compound word.
1221NOT IMPLEMENTED YET.
1222
1223 *spell-COMPOUNDPERMITFLAG*
1224The COMPOUNDPERMITFLAG specifies a flag that can be used on an affix. It
1225means that the word plus affix can also be used in a compound word in a way
1226where the affix ends up halfway the word.
1227NOT IMPLEMENTED YET.
1228
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001229 *spell-SYLLABLE*
1230The SYLLABLE item defines characters or character sequences that are used to
1231count the number of syllables in a word. Example:
1232 SYLLABLE aáeéiíoóöõuúüûy/aa/au/ea/ee/ei/ie/oa/oe/oo/ou/uu/ui ~
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001233
Bram Moolenaar8aff23a2005-08-19 20:40:30 +00001234Before the first slash is the set of characters that are counted for one
1235syllable, also when repeated and mixed, until the next character that is not
1236in this set. After the slash come sequences of characters that are counted
1237for one syllable. These are preferred over using characters from the set.
1238With the example "ideeen" has three syllables, counted by "i", "ee" and "e".
1239
1240Only case-folded letters need to be included.
1241
1242Above another way to restrict compounding was mentioned above: adding "nocomp"
1243after an affix causes all words that are made with that affix not be be used
1244for compounding. |spell-affix-nocomp|
1245
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +00001246
1247UNLIMITED COMPOUNDING *spell-NOBREAK*
1248
1249For some languages, such as Thai, there is no space in between words. This
1250looks like all words are compounded. To specify this use the NOBREAK item in
1251the affix file, without arguments:
1252 NOBREAK ~
1253
1254Vim will try to figure out where one word ends and a next starts. When there
1255are spelling mistakes this may not be quite right.
1256
Bram Moolenaarae5bce12005-08-15 21:41:48 +00001257
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001258 *spell-COMMON*
1259Common words can be specified with the COMMON item. This will give better
1260suggestions when editing a short file. Example:
1261
1262 COMMON the of to and a in is it you that he was for on are ~
1263
1264The words must be separated by white space, up to 25 per line.
1265When multiple regions are specified in a ":mkspell" command the common words
1266for all regions are combined and used for all regions.
1267
1268 *spell-NOSPLITSUGS*
Bram Moolenaarfd2ac762006-03-01 22:09:21 +00001269This item indicates that splitting a word to make suggestions is not a good
1270idea. Split-word suggestions will appear only when there are few similar
1271words.
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001272
1273 NOSPLITSUGS ~
1274
1275 *spell-NOSUGGEST*
1276The flag specified with NOSUGGEST can be used for words that will not be
1277suggested. Can be used for obscene words.
1278
1279 NOSUGGEST % ~
1280
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001281
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +00001282REPLACEMENTS *spell-REP*
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +00001283
1284In the affix file REP items can be used to define common mistakes. This is
1285used to make spelling suggestions. The items define the "from" text and the
1286"to" replacement. Example:
1287
1288 REP 4 ~
1289 REP f ph ~
1290 REP ph f ~
1291 REP k ch ~
1292 REP ch k ~
1293
Bram Moolenaar6e7c7f32005-08-24 22:16:11 +00001294The first line specifies the number of REP lines following. Vim ignores the
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001295number, but it must be there (for compatibility with Myspell).
Bram Moolenaar6e7c7f32005-08-24 22:16:11 +00001296
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +00001297Don't include simple one-character replacements or swaps. Vim will try these
1298anyway. You can include whole words if you want to, but you might want to use
1299the "file:" item in 'spellsuggest' instead.
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +00001300
Bram Moolenaar1e015462005-09-25 22:16:38 +00001301You can include a space by using an underscore:
1302
1303 REP the_the the ~
1304
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +00001305
Bram Moolenaara40ceaf2006-01-13 22:35:40 +00001306SIMILAR CHARACTERS *spell-MAP* *E783*
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +00001307
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +00001308In the affix file MAP items can be used to define letters that are very much
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +00001309alike. This is mostly used for a letter with different accents. This is used
1310to prefer suggestions with these letters substituted. Example:
1311
1312 MAP 2 ~
1313 MAP eéëêè ~
1314 MAP uüùúû ~
1315
Bram Moolenaar6e7c7f32005-08-24 22:16:11 +00001316The first line specifies the number of MAP lines following. Vim ignores the
1317number, but the line must be there.
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +00001318
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +00001319Each letter must appear in only one of the MAP items. It's a bit more
1320efficient if the first letter is ASCII or at least one without accents.
Bram Moolenaare7566042005-06-17 22:00:15 +00001321
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +00001322
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001323.SUG FILE *spell-NOSUGFILE*
1324
1325When soundfolding is specified in the affix file then ":mkspell" will normally
Bram Moolenaard12f5c12006-01-25 22:10:52 +00001326produce a .sug file next to the .spl file. This file is used to find
1327suggestions by their sound-a-like form quickly. At the cost of a lot of
1328memory (the amount depends on the number of words, |:mkspell| will display an
1329estimate when it's done).
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001330
1331To avoid producing a .sug file use this item in the affix file:
1332
1333 NOSUGFILE ~
1334
Bram Moolenaard12f5c12006-01-25 22:10:52 +00001335Users can simply omit the .sug file if they don't want to use it.
1336
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001337
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +00001338SOUND-A-LIKE *spell-SAL*
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +00001339
1340In the affix file SAL items can be used to define the sounds-a-like mechanism
1341to be used. The main items define the "from" text and the "to" replacement.
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +00001342Simplistic example:
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +00001343
1344 SAL CIA X ~
1345 SAL CH X ~
1346 SAL C K ~
1347 SAL K K ~
1348
Bram Moolenaar7d1f5db2005-07-03 21:39:27 +00001349There are a few rules and this can become quite complicated. An explanation
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +00001350how it works can be found in the Aspell manual:
Bram Moolenaar42eeac32005-06-29 22:40:58 +00001351http://aspell.net/man-html/Phonetic-Code.html.
Bram Moolenaar9ba0eb82005-06-13 22:28:56 +00001352
1353There are a few special items:
1354
1355 SAL followup true ~
1356 SAL collapse_result true ~
1357 SAL remove_accents true ~
1358
1359"1" has the same meaning as "true". Any other value means "false".
1360
Bram Moolenaar42eeac32005-06-29 22:40:58 +00001361
Bram Moolenaar6f16eb82005-08-23 21:02:42 +00001362SIMPLE SOUNDFOLDING *spell-SOFOFROM* *spell-SOFOTO*
Bram Moolenaar42eeac32005-06-29 22:40:58 +00001363
1364The SAL mechanism is complex and slow. A simpler mechanism is mapping all
1365characters to another character, mapping similar sounding characters to the
1366same character. At the same time this does case folding. You can not have
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +00001367both SAL items and simple soundfolding.
Bram Moolenaar42eeac32005-06-29 22:40:58 +00001368
Bram Moolenaar7d1f5db2005-07-03 21:39:27 +00001369There are two items required: one to specify the characters that are mapped
Bram Moolenaar42eeac32005-06-29 22:40:58 +00001370and one that specifies the characters they are mapped to. They must have
1371exactly the same number of characters. Example:
1372
1373 SOFOFROM abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ ~
1374 SOFOTO ebctefghejklnnepkrstevvkesebctefghejklnnepkrstevvkes ~
1375
1376In the example all vowels are mapped to the same character 'e'. Another
Bram Moolenaard042c562005-06-30 22:04:15 +00001377method would be to leave out all vowels. Some characters that sound nearly
1378the same and are often mixed up, such as 'm' and 'n', are mapped to the same
1379character. Don't do this too much, all words will start looking alike.
Bram Moolenaar42eeac32005-06-29 22:40:58 +00001380
1381Characters that do not appear in SOFOFROM will be left out, except that all
1382white space is replaced by one space. Sequences of the same character in
1383SOFOFROM are replaced by one.
1384
1385You can use the |soundfold()| function to try out the results. Or set the
Bram Moolenaarcc016f52005-12-10 20:23:46 +00001386'verbose' option to see the score in the output of the |z=| command.
Bram Moolenaar42eeac32005-06-29 22:40:58 +00001387
1388
Bram Moolenaar4770d092006-01-12 23:22:24 +00001389UNSUPPORTED ITEMS *spell-affix-not-supported*
1390
1391These items appear in the affix file of other spell checkers. In Vim they are
1392ignored, not supported or defined in another way.
1393
1394ACCENT (Hunspell) *spell-ACCENT*
1395 Use MAP instead. |spell-MAP|
1396
1397CHECKCOMPOUNDCASE (Hunspell) *spell-CHECKCOMPOUNDCASE*
1398 Disallow uppercase letters at compound word boundaries.
1399 Not supported.
1400
1401CHECKCOMPOUNDDUP (Hunspell) *spell-CHECKCOMPOUNDDUP*
1402 Disallow using the same word twice in a compound. Not
1403 supported.
1404
1405CHECKCOMPOUNDREP (Hunspell) *spell-CHECKCOMPOUNDREP*
1406 Something about using REP items and compound words. Not
1407 supported.
1408
1409CHECKCOMPOUNDTRIPLE (Hunspell) *spell-CHECKCOMPOUNDTRIPLE*
1410 Forbid three identical characters when compounding. Not
1411 supported.
1412
1413CHECKCOMPOUNDPATTERN (Hunspell) *spell-CHECKCOMPOUNDPATTERN*
1414 Forbid compounding when patterns match. Not supported.
1415
1416CIRCUMFIX (Hunspell) *spell-CIRCUMFIX*
1417 This means a prefix and suffix must be added at the same time.
1418 Instead only specify the suffix, and give the that suffix two
1419 flags: The required prefix and the NEEDAFFIX flag.
1420 |spell-NEEDAFFIX|
1421
1422COMPLEXPREFIXES (Hunspell) *spell-COMPLEXPREFIXES*
1423 Enables using two prefixes. Not supported.
1424
1425COMPOUNDBEGIN (Hunspell) *spell-COMPOUNDBEGIN*
1426 Use COMPOUNDFLAGS instead. |spell-COMPOUNDFLAGS|
1427
1428COMPOUNDEND (Hunspell) *spell-COMPOUNDEND*
1429 Use COMPOUNDFLAGS instead. |spell-COMPOUNDFLAGS|
1430
1431COMPOUNDMIDDLE (Hunspell) *spell-COMPOUNDMIDDLE*
1432 Use COMPOUNDFLAGS instead. |spell-COMPOUNDFLAGS|
1433
1434COMPOUNDROOT (Hunspell) *spell-COMPOUNDROOT*
1435 Flag for words in the dictionary that are already a compound.
1436 Vim doesn't use it.
1437
1438COMPOUNDSYLLABLE (Hunspell) *spell-COMPOUNDSYLLABLE*
1439 Use SYLLABLE and COMPOUNDSYLMAX instead. |spell-SYLLABLE|
1440 |spell-COMPOUNDSYLMAX|
1441
1442COMPOUNDWORDMAX (Hunspell) *spell-COMPOUNDWORDMAX*
1443 Use COMPOUNDMAX instead. |spell-COMPOUNDMAX|
1444
1445FORBIDDENWORD (Hunspell) *spell-FORBIDDENWORD*
1446 Use BAD instead. |spell-BAD|
1447
1448HOME (Hunspell) *spell-HOME*
1449 Specifies the website for the language. Not supported.
1450
1451LANG (Hunspell) *spell-LANG*
1452 This specifies language-specific behavior. This actually
1453 moves part of the language knowledge into the program,
1454 therefore Vim does not support it. Each language property
1455 must be specified separately.
1456
1457LEMMA_PRESENT (Hunspell) *spell-LEMMA_PRESENT*
1458 Only needed for mprphological analysis.
1459
1460MAXNGRAMSUGS (Hunspell) *spell-MAXNGRAMSUGS*
1461 Not supported.
1462
1463NAME (Hunspell) *spell-NAME*
1464 Specifies the name of the language. Not supported.
1465
1466ONLYINCOMPOUND (Hunspell) *spell-ONLYINCOMPOUND*
1467 Use NEEDCOMPOUND instead. |spell-NEEDCOMPOUND|
1468
1469PSEUDOROOT (Hunspell) *spell-PSEUDOROOT*
1470 Use NEEDAFFIX instead. |spell-NEEDAFFIX|
1471
1472SUGSWITHDOTS (Hunspell) *spell-SUGSWITHDOTS*
1473 Adds dots to suggestions. Vim doesn't need this.
1474
1475SYLLABLENUM (Hunspell) *spell-SYLLABLENUM*
1476 Not supported.
1477
1478TRY (Myspell, Hunspell, others) *spell-TRY*
1479 Vim does not use the TRY item, it is ignored. For making
1480 suggestions the actual characters in the words are used.
1481
1482VERSION (Hunspell) *spell-VERSION*
1483 Specifies the version for the language. Not supported.
1484
1485WORDCHARS (Hunspell) *spell-WORDCHARS*
1486 Used to recognize words. Vim doesn't need it, because there
1487 is no need to separate words before checking them (using a
1488 trie instead of a hashtable).
1489
Bram Moolenaar217ad922005-03-20 22:37:15 +00001490 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: