[Aspell-user] aspell replacement word list

[Sean Byrne]

I have a question about the distinction between “replacement wordlists” and “dictionaries”.

I am using aspell 0.50.3 (windows port). I also use the one that came with cygwin (also 0.50.3)

 

I created a dictionary file to test auto-replacing acronyms and abbreviations with expanded words. The “no spaces in words” restriction is limiting, but I have a more fundamental problem.

 

If I create a text file like this, called “spb_replacements.list”:

 

pt patient

ER EmergencyRoom

 

Then generate a dictionary file for use with aspell:

aspell create master --lang=en ./spb_replacements.dict < spb_replacements.list

 

I try out a “test.txt” file with the following sentence:

The pt was seen in the ER

 

This command:

aspell -d ./spb_replacements.dict -c test.txt

 

runs aspell, which only complains about words other that “pt” and “ER”, which I ignore, but the corrected file doesn’t contain replaced terms for “pt” or “ER” (I was expecting to see this output: “The patient was seen in the EmergencyRoom”)

 

if I try another approach using the original replacement list file

aspell -c test.txt  --repl=spb_replacements.list

I get:

Error: The file “spb_replacements.list" is not in the proper format.

(also fails with “spb_replacements.dict")

 

Can ASPELL  actually replace words listed in a “replacement wordlist” file?

How? Is there an aspell version-dependency I am missing? What is the proper format for this file?

 

I am also interested to know your advice for using aspell in a java environment. Do you recommend SWIG or some other process or utility?