Ispell is a command-line utility for interactive spell checking. It is a spell checker program that can be used to check the spelling of text files or input from the command line. Ispell reads the text and compares each word with the words in its dictionary. If it finds a word that is not in the dictionary, it suggests possible correct spellings for that word. The user can then choose the correct spelling from the suggestions, or add the word to the personal dictionary.
Ispell can be used to check the spelling of a single file or multiple files at once, and it can also be integrated into text editors and other programs to provide spell checking functionality. Ispell is available for Linux, Unix, and Windows systems and it is known for its simplicity and efficiency as it uses an algorithm called “affix compression” which allows to check the spelling of a word very quickly.
If you encounter the below error while running the command ispell:
ispell: command not found
you may try installing the below package as per your choice of distribution:
| Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| Debian | apt-get install ispell |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install ispell |
| Arch Linux | pacman -S ispell |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install ispell |
| CentOS | yum install ispell |
| Fedora | dnf install ispell |
| OS X | brew install ispell |
| Raspbian | apt-get install ispell |
ispell Command Examples
1. Start an interactive session:
# ispell
2. Check for typos in the specified file and interactively apply suggestions:
# ispell path/to/file
3. Display the version:
# ispell -v