ARCHIVED: In Emacs, can I use a spell checker?

You can spell check in Emacs as long as Ispell is installed on the computer you are using. If it is, to check an open document, enter the following command:

  M-x ispell-[option]

Replace [option] with either buffer, region, string, or word. (To check the entire document in the current buffer, use the buffer option.)

Once the spell checker starts, Emacs will highlight each word it does not recognize, and prompt you for an action. Emacs will try to find correct spellings for the current word in the dictionaries at its disposal. If it finds any, it will list them in a separate buffer at the top of the screen. Each suggested spelling will be preceded by a character in parentheses. To change the word to one of these spellings, simply type that character. Other commands are summarized below:

Another spell checking option is to use the Spell functions. You invoke them similarly to the Ispell functions, in that you must enter:

  M-x spell-[option]

Replace [option] with either buffer, region, string, or word. Unlike the Ispell functions, these functions will not provide you with a list of suggested spellings; for all words not found in Emacs' dictionary, you must type in the correct spelling by hand. These functions are not available in some versions of Emacs.