GNU Aspell
Encyclopedia
GNU Aspell, usually called just Aspell, is a free software
spell checker
designed to replace Ispell
. It is the standard spell checker for the GNU
software system. It also compiles
for other Unix-like
operating system
s and Windows
. The main program is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License
(GNU LGPL), the documentation
under the GNU Free Documentation License
(GNU FDL). Dictionaries for it are available for about 70 language
s. The primary maintainer is Kevin Atkinson.
without having to use a special dictionary. Aspell will also do its best to respect the current locale
setting. Other advantages over Ispell include support for using multiple dictionaries at once and intelligently handling personal dictionaries when more than one Aspell process is open at once. However, Ispell follows the Unix convention of being a command applied to a file (e.g. ispell text-file-with-spelling-errors), Aspell requires other command line options and the '--help' option is more comprehensive. Sample uses include:
However, the LyX
project maintains a separate fork of Aspell for Windows and dictionaries, and say "the LyX project has long solved the Windows packaging problem by forking Aspell", although the latest versions were dated 2009.
, Gajim
, Digsby
, LyX
, Notepad++
and previously Opera
, gedit
and abiword
.
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
spell checker
Spell checker
In computing, a spell checker is an application program that flags words in a document that may not be spelled correctly. Spell checkers may be stand-alone capable of operating on a block of text, or as part of a larger application, such as a word processor, email client, electronic dictionary,...
designed to replace Ispell
Ispell
Ispell is a spelling checker for Unix that supports most Western languages. It offers several interfaces, including a programmatic interface for use by editors such as emacs...
. It is the standard spell checker for the GNU
GNU
GNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...
software system. It also compiles
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
for other Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s and Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. The main program is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License
GNU Lesser General Public License
The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
(GNU LGPL), the documentation
Documentation
Documentation is a term used in several different ways. Generally, documentation refers to the process of providing evidence.Modules of Documentation are Helpful...
under the GNU Free Documentation License
GNU Free Documentation License
The GNU Free Documentation License is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute, and modify a work and requires all copies and...
(GNU FDL). Dictionaries for it are available for about 70 language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s. The primary maintainer is Kevin Atkinson.
Comparison to Ispell
Unlike Ispell, Aspell can also easily check documents in UTF-8UTF-8
UTF-8 is a multibyte character encoding for Unicode. Like UTF-16 and UTF-32, UTF-8 can represent every character in the Unicode character set. Unlike them, it is backward-compatible with ASCII and avoids the complications of endianness and byte order marks...
without having to use a special dictionary. Aspell will also do its best to respect the current locale
Locale
In computing, locale is a set of parameters that defines the user's language, country and any special variant preferences that the user wants to see in their user interface...
setting. Other advantages over Ispell include support for using multiple dictionaries at once and intelligently handling personal dictionaries when more than one Aspell process is open at once. However, Ispell follows the Unix convention of being a command applied to a file (e.g. ispell text-file-with-spelling-errors), Aspell requires other command line options and the '--help' option is more comprehensive. Sample uses include:
- Interactively run through the text_file checking the spelling (aspell check text_file)
- Allows typing a word (followed by newline and Ctrl-D) to find words that sound the same (aspell soundslike)
Windows port
the latest official Windows port of GNU Aspell was still 32-bit version 0.50.3 (Dec 2002), with dictionaries of similar age. The developer says he has "no time and very little interest in maintaining a Windows port," and has been looking for somebody to maintain it.However, the LyX
LyX
LyX is a document processor following the self-coined "what you see is what you mean" paradigm , as opposed to the WYSIWYG ideas used by word processors...
project maintains a separate fork of Aspell for Windows and dictionaries, and say "the LyX project has long solved the Windows packaging problem by forking Aspell", although the latest versions were dated 2009.
Integration
Aspell has been integrated in software such as PidginPidgin (software)
Pidgin is an open-source multi-platform instant messaging client, based on a library named libpurple. Libpurple has support for many commonly used instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to log into various services from one application.The number of Pidgin users was estimated to be over 3...
, Gajim
Gajim
Gajim is an instant messaging client for the XMPP protocol which uses the GTK+ toolkit. The name Gajim is a recursive acronym for Gajim's a jabber instant messenger. Gajim runs on GNU/Linux, BSD and Microsoft Windows. Released under the GNU General Public License, Gajim is free software...
, Digsby
Digsby
Digsby is a freeware proprietary multiprotocol instant messaging application developed by dotSyntax, LLC. Digsby is written in Python and uses wxPython as its widget toolkit and WebKit for rendering...
, LyX
LyX
LyX is a document processor following the self-coined "what you see is what you mean" paradigm , as opposed to the WYSIWYG ideas used by word processors...
, Notepad++
Notepad++
Notepad++ is a text editor and source code editor for Windows. One advantage of Notepad++ over the built-in Windows text editor, Notepad, is tabbed editing, which allows working with multiple open files.Notepad++ is distributed as free software...
and previously Opera
Opera (web browser)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...
, gedit
Gedit
gedit is a text editor for the GNOME desktop environment, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Designed as a general purpose text editor, gedit emphasizes simplicity and ease of use...
and abiword
AbiWord
AbiWord is a free and open source software word processor. It was originally started by SourceGear Corporation as the first part of a proposed AbiSuite. Development stopped when SourceGear changed their focus to Internet appliances. AbiWord was adopted by some open source developers and AbiWord...
.
See also
- EnchantEnchant (software)Enchant is a free software project developed as part of the AbiWord word processor with the aim of unifying access to the various existing spell-checker software. Enchant wraps a common set of functionality present in a variety of existing products/libraries, and exposes a stable API/ABI for doing so...
- HunspellHunspellHunspell is a spell checker and morphological analyzer designed for languages with rich morphology and complex word compounding and character encoding, originally designed for the Hungarian language....
- IspellIspellIspell is a spelling checker for Unix that supports most Western languages. It offers several interfaces, including a programmatic interface for use by editors such as emacs...
- MySpellMySpellMySpell was the former spell checker included with OOo Writer of the free OpenOffice.org office suite.Since version 2.0.2 OpenOffice.org has replaced MySpell with Hunspell.-Background:...
- PspellPspellThe purpose of Pspell was to provide a generic interface to the system spelling checking libraries. It was, and sometimes still is, used in computer programming such as C, and is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License.Pspell has not been updated since 2001, but is still available on...
- VirastyarVirastyarVirastyar is a Persian spell checker, written as an add-in for Microsoft Word. Besides Persian spell checking, Virastyar features persian character standardization, Pinglish transliteration, punctuation correction and calendar conversion. It also can conjugate more than 46,000 simple verb tense...
External links
- Aspell Homepage
- Aspell Spell Helper
- Test Results of Aspell Compared to Other Spell Checkers
- The GNU Aspell documentation under the GNU Free Documentation Licence
- [ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/aspell/ GNU Aspell download page] (FTPFile Transfer ProtocolFile Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
link) - LyXWinInstaller (includes Aspell for Windows)
- Aspell and UTF-8/Unicode
- GNU Aspell summary page at SavannahGNU SavannahGNU Savannah is a project of the Free Software Foundation initiated by Loïc Dachary, which serves as a collaborative software development management system for Free Software projects. Savannah currently offers CVS, GNU arch, Subversion, Git, Mercurial, Bazaar, mailing list, web hosting, file...
- Mac OS X interface for Aspell
- Original unix spell (1978-81), on which Aspell is based