<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>The Language Data File - GNU Aspell 0.60.6.1</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name="description" content="Aspell 0.60.6.1 spell checker user's manual.">
<meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.8">
<link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top">
<link rel="up" href="Adding-Support-For-Other-Languages.html#Adding-Support-For-Other-Languages" title="Adding Support For Other Languages">
<link rel="next" href="Compiling-the-Word-List.html#Compiling-the-Word-List" title="Compiling the Word List">
<link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage">
<!--
This is the user's manual for Aspell
GNU Aspell is a spell checker designed to eventually replace Ispell.
It can either be used as a library or as an independent spell checker.
Copyright (C) 2000--2011 Kevin Atkinson.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software
Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts and
no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the
section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
-->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
<style type="text/css"><!--
pre.display { font-family:inherit }
pre.format { font-family:inherit }
pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller }
pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller }
span.sc { font-variant:small-caps }
span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; }
span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; }
--></style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="node">
<p>
<a name="The-Language-Data-File"></a>
Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Compiling-the-Word-List.html#Compiling-the-Word-List">Compiling the Word List</a>,
Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Adding-Support-For-Other-Languages.html#Adding-Support-For-Other-Languages">Adding Support For Other Languages</a>
<hr>
</div>
<h3 class="section">7.1 The Language Data File</h3>
<p>The basic format of the language data file is the same as it is for the
Aspell configuration file. It is named <samp><var>lang</var><span class="file">.dat</span></samp> and is
located in the architecture independent data dir for Aspell (option
<samp><span class="option">data-dir</span></samp>) which is usually <samp><var>prefix</var><span class="file">/share/aspell</span></samp>.
Use <samp><span class="command">aspell config</span></samp> to find out where it is in your
installation. By convention the language name should be the two letter
ISO 639 language code if it exists, if not use the three letter code.
<p>The language data file has several mandatory fields, and several
optional ones. All fields are case sensitive and should be in all
lower case.
<p>The two mandatory fields are <samp><span class="option">name</span></samp> and <samp><span class="option">charset</span></samp>.
<p><samp><span class="option">name</span></samp> is the name of the language and should be the same as the
file name (without the <samp><span class="file">.dat</span></samp>).
<p><samp><span class="option">charset</span></samp> is the 8-bit character set Aspell will expect the
word lists to be formatted in. If possible choose from one of the
standard ones provided with Aspell. These are `<samp><span class="samp">iso-8859-*</span></samp>',
`<samp><span class="samp">koi8-*</span></samp>', or `<samp><span class="samp">viscii</span></samp>'. If your language does not require
any non-ascii characters choose `<samp><span class="samp">iso-8859-1</span></samp>'. If one of these
standard character sets is not suitable for your language then you can
create a new one. See <a href="Creating-A-New-Character-Set.html#Creating-A-New-Character-Set">Creating A New Character Set</a>.
<p>The optional fields are as follows:
<dl>
<a name="data_002dencoding"></a>
<dt><samp><span class="option">data-encoding</span></samp><dd>
The encoding the language data files are expected to be in as well as
the default encoding to use when saving the personal dictionaries. It
can be either `<samp><span class="samp">utf-8</span></samp>' or any of the 8-bit encoding that Aspell
supports. If not set, then it defaults to <samp><span class="option">charset</span></samp>.
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">special</span></samp><dd>
Non-letter characters that can appear in your language such as the
`<samp><span class="samp">'</span></samp>' and `<samp><span class="samp">-</span></samp>'. The format for the value is a list separated by
spaces. Each item of the list has the following format.
<pre class="example"> <char> <begin><middle><end>
</pre>
<p><var>char</var> is the non-letter character in question.
<var>begin</var>, <var>middle</var>, <var>end</var> are either a
`<samp><span class="samp">-</span></samp>' or a `<samp><span class="samp">*</span></samp>'. A star for <var>begin</var> means that the
character can begin a word, a `<samp><span class="samp">-</span></samp>' means it can't. The same is
true for <var>middle</var> and <var>end</var>. For example, the entry
for the `<samp><span class="samp">'</span></samp>' in English is:
<pre class="example"> ' -*-
</pre>
<p>To include more than one middle character just list them one after
another on the same line. For example, to make both the `<samp><span class="samp">'</span></samp>'
and the `<samp><span class="samp">-</span></samp>' a middle character, use the following line in the
language data file:
<pre class="example"> special ' -*- - -*-
</pre>
<p>However, please be aware that adding special characters can have
unintended consequences due to limitations of Aspell. For example if
the `<samp><span class="samp">-</span></samp>' was accepted as a middle character, then <em>every</em>
word with a `<samp><span class="samp">-</span></samp>' in it would be flagged as a spelling error unless
that exact word is in the dictionary, even if both parts are in the
dictionary. Also, having a `<samp><span class="samp">.</span></samp>' as an end character will cause
the `<samp><span class="samp">.</span></samp>' to be part of any misspelled words. Which can get very
annoying if you misspell a word at the end of a sentence.
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">soundslike</span></samp><dd>
The name of the soundslike data for the language. The data is
expected to be in the file <samp><var>name</var><span class="file">_phonet.dat</span></samp>.
<p>If <var>name</var> is `<samp><span class="samp">simpile</span></samp>' then a very simple soundslike is
used. This is not as powerful as full phonetic soundslike but it
can be computed a lot faster. (see <a href="The-Simple-Soundslike.html#The-Simple-Soundslike">The Simple Soundslike</a>)
<p>If the soundslike name is `<samp><span class="samp">none</span></samp>', or this option is not specified,
then no soundslike will be used. The effective soundslike is the word
converted to all lowercase and possibly with accents stripped
depending on the <samp><span class="option">store-as</span></samp> option. For languages with
phonetic spelling the difference will not be very noticeable.
However, for languages with non-phonetic spelling there will be a
noticeable difference. The difference you notice will depend on the
quality of the soundslike data file. If you do not notice much of a
difference for a language with non-phonetic spelling that is a good
indication that the soundslike data is not rough enough—or the words
you are trying are not that badly misspelled.
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">invisible-soundslike</span></samp><dd>
Avoid storing the soundslike information with the word. Instead it is
computed as needed. This option defaults to true if the soundslike is
`<samp><span class="samp">none</span></samp>' or `<samp><span class="samp">simpile</span></samp>', and false when a phonetic soundslike is
used.
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">repl-table</span></samp><dd>
See <a href="Replacement-Tables.html#Replacement-Tables">Replacement Tables</a>.
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">keyboard</span></samp><dd>
The base name of the keyboard definition file to use. For more
information see <a href="Notes-on-Typo_002dAnalysis.html#Notes-on-Typo_002dAnalysis">Notes on Typo-Analysis</a>.
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">sug-split-char</span></samp><dd>
A list of characters which specifies which characters to insert between
two words when a word is split. This is a list option.
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">affix</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="option">affix-compress</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="option">partially-expand</span></samp><dd>
See <a href="Affix-Compression.html#Affix-Compression">Affix Compression</a>.
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">store-as</span></samp><dd>
How the words are indexed in the dictionary. If "stripped" then the
word is indexed in a lower case and de-accented form. If "lower", then
the word is indexed in a lower case form but with accent info still
intact. This just controls how the word is indexed, not how it is
stored. The default is "stripped" unless affix compression is used.
<!-- @item ignore-accents -->
<!-- @item affix-char -->
<!-- Unimplemented -->
<!-- @item flag-char -->
<!-- Unimplemented -->
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">norm-required</span></samp><dd>
Should be set to true if your language makes use of private use
characters or when Normalization Form C is not the same as
full composition.
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">normalize</span></samp>
<br><dt><samp><span class="option">norm-form</span></samp><dd>
</dl>
<p>Additional options includes options to control how run-together words
are handled the same way as they are in the normal configuration
files. for more information, please <a href="Controlling-the-Behavior-of-Run_002dtogether-Words.html#Controlling-the-Behavior-of-Run_002dtogether-Words">Controlling the Behavior of Run-together Words</a>.
</body></html>
