Spell Check Web Pages Easily With Ispell

 
I use a command-line utility
called ispell to spell
check my text files under linux.

Here's an example of what I mean:

ispell readme.txt

The above command will go through
the readme.txt file looking
for misspelled words. It will
offer suggestions as to how the
word might be spelled correctly.
Should you choose to accept the
suggested corrected spelling, it
will correct the spelling of the
word for you with a single keypress.

How about web pages that you are
working on locally on your hard
drive? How do you spell check
these?

Of course, you could upload the web
page to the web server and then
spell check it on the web. That's
one way of doing things.

However, what if you want to spellcheck
locally? What if you'd like to spellcheck
your text that is marked up with HTML
without having to go to the web?

Here's a sample command that demonstrates
what I do in this case:

ispell -h index.html

In the above example, index.html
is on my hard drive in the current
directory. I add the -h option
to let ispell know that I want
it to ignore HTML markup and only
spellcheck the body of text itself.

This is very very handy if you work in
a simple text editor but wish to
spellcheck without having to go to
the web to find a spellcheck application.

A favorite feature of mine is ispell's
ability to respond on one keypress. One
keypress gets you many things.

One of my favorite keypresses is the
letter i. The letter i allows you
to add a word to your own personal
dictionary. Here's where your personal
dictionary is stored in a hidden
file under your home directory:

~/.ispell_default

Once a word has been stored in the
.ispell_default file under your
home directory, it becomes a regular
word that ispell now considers to
be correctly spelled. It will even
suggest that word from time to time
should you come up with a misspelling
that is an approximation of the correct
spelling.

Words from ispell's built-in dictionary
and words from your personal dictionary
are both first-class citizens. Words
from both sources are likely to be suggested
as possible correct spellings.

How does ispell suggest words? It's
one single keypress all over again.
ispell might suggest 10 different
spellings. The suggestions will appear
as keypresses 0 through 9.

Let's say ispell suggests 36 different
spellings. In that case, the choices
will range from 00 through 35. Thus
two keypresses will be required to make
a choice.

Normally, though, only one keypress is
needed. Ten suggestions or less is typical.
More than ten suggestions is the exception.

Ed Abbott

Linux cp Command

 
One of my favorite commands under
Linux is the cp command. In
it's most primitive form, you use
it to copy a file like this:

cp strawberry raspberry

With the cp command, you
don't make extra work
for yourself. Instead
of recreating a file, you
copy it.

In the above example, I copied
strawberry to raspberry.
After I've done this, I should have
two identical files.

Note that the copy command is not
limited to files. Here's how you
copy a directory and all its
contents:

cp -R banana apple

In the above example, banana
is the original directory. The
new directory is apple.

Copy always goes in this direction:

cp old new

You always copy left to right. Another
way of saying this is that you always
copy an old file to a new file, the
old file being on the left, the new
file being on the right.

Back to cp -R. Here's the example
I gave above:

cp -R banana apple

In this example, I recursively copy
a directory called banana into a new
directory called apple. I started
with banana but I ended up with both
banana and apple.

Note that it is not just the directory that
is copied. It is also all the contents of
the directory, including other files and
directories to any level of depth.

If you are used to using the term folder,
think of a directory as a folder. Folders
and directories are the same thing.

I use the term directory because the
cp command is used on the command line.
On the command line, folders are directories.

Here's one more example of the cp command:

cp -Rp pear peach

In this example, the directory pear is
being copied to the new directory called peach.
However, there is an additional nuance here. The
directory peach may be new but its timestamp
is old. That's because the -p option asks
copy to preserve both permissions and timestamps.

Had we left off the -p option, peach
would have a different timestamp. The timestamp
would be the moment peach came into existence.

Also, peach could potentially have a different
owner as well. With the -p option, ownership
defaults to the person who typed and executed the
cp command.

Again, the -p option preserves both permissions
and timestamps.

Knowing the cp command can save you
much time and energy. This is especially
true if you know the many different ways in
which it can be used.

Ed Abbott