All options specified at the command line have the following basic format:
--option[=value]
where the =
can be replaced by whitespace.
However some options also have single letter abbreviations of the form:
letter [optional_whitespace value]
Any non-ASCII characters are expected to be in the encoding specified by the current locale.
To reset an option to the default value prefix the option with a
reset-
and don't specify a value.
To specify a value option simply specify the option with its
corresponding value. For example to set the filter mode to TeX use
--mode=tex
.
If a value option has a single letter shortcut simply specify the single
letter shortcut with its corresponding value. For example to use a the
accented version of the American English dictionary use -d
en_US-w_accents
.
To enable a boolean option simply specify the option without any
corresponding value, or prefix it with an enable-
. For example
to create a backup file use --backup
. To disable a boolean
option prefix the option name with a dont-
or disable-
.
For avoid creating a backup file use --dont-backup
. Boolean options
can also be set directly like a value option where the value is either
"true" or "false", for example --backup=true
.
If a boolean option has a single letter abbreviation simply give the
letter corresponding to either enabling or disabling the option
without any corresponding value. For example to consider run-together
words legal use -C
or to consider them illegal use
-B
To add a value to the list, prefix the option name with a
add-
and then specify the value to add. For example to add
the URL filter use --add-filter url
. To remove a value from
a list option prefix the option name with a rem-
and then
specify the value to remove. For example to remove the URL filter use
--rem-filter url
. To remove all items from a list prefix the
option name with a clear-
without specify any value. For
example to remove all filters use --clear-filter
.
A list option can also be set directly, in which case it will be set to
a single value. To directly set a list option to multiple values prefix
the option name with a lset-
and separate each value with a
:
. For example to use the URL and TeX filter use
--lset-filter url:tex
.
Aspell can also accept options via a personal or global configuration
file. The exact files to used are specified by the options
per-conf
and conf
respectively but the personal
configuration file is normally .aspell.conf
located in the
HOME
directory and the global one is normally aspell.conf
which is located in the etc
directory which is normally
/usr/etc
or /usr/local/etc
. To find out the particular
values for your particular system use aspell dump config
.
Each line of the configuration file has the format:
option [value]
There may be any number of spaces between the option and the value
however it can only be spaces, i.e. there is no =
between the
option name and the value.
Comments may also be included by preceding them with a #
as
anything from a #
to a newline is ignored. Blank lines are also
allowed.
To include a literal #
use \#
. To include a literal
\
use \\
. Any other non-alpha character can also be
protected by a \
if necessary.
Any non-ASCII characters are expected to be in UTF-8.
To reset an option to the default value prefix the option with a
reset-
and don't specify a value.
Values set in the personal configuration file override those in the global file. Options specified at either the command line or via an environment variable override those specified by either configuration file.
Filters and corresponding options also may be assembled inside a special meta filter file namedmetafilter
.flt
. A filter has to be loaded via adding aadd-filter
filternameline to the meta filter file before its options may be specified.
To specify a value option simply include the option followed by the
corresponding option. For example to set the default language to
German use lang german
.
To specify a boolean option simply include the option followed by a
true
to enable it or a false
to disable it. For example
to allow run-together words use run-together true
.
To add a value to the list, prefix the option name with a
add-
and then specify the value to add. For example to add
the URL filter use add-filter url
. To remove a value from
a list option prefix the option name with a rem-
and then
specify the value to remove. For example to remove the URL filter use
rem-filter url
. To remove all items from a list prefix the
option name with a clear-
without specifying any value. For
example to remove all filters use clear-filter
.
A list option can also be set directly, in which case it will be set to
a single value. To directly set a list option to multiple values prefix
the option name with a lset-
and separate each value with a
:
. For example to use the URL and TeX filter use
lset-filter url:tex
. To include a literal :
use
\:
.
The environment variable ASPELL_CONF
may also be used and it
overrides any options set in the configuration file. The format of
the string is exactly the same as the configuration file except that
semicolons (;
) are used instead of newlines.