Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!xylogics!world!spike
From: spike@world.std.com (Joe Ilacqua)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Spell-Checker Dictionary Decrypting
Message-ID: <1989Dec3.214524.2172@world.std.com>
Date: 3 Dec 89 21:45:24 GMT
References: <1059.257667b7@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Reply-To: spike@world.std.com (Joe Ilacqua)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Software Tool & Die
Lines: 26

In article <1059.257667b7@vax5.cit.cornell.edu> q4kx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes:
<        Is there any ** legal ** way to decrypt dictionaries from various
<spell-checkers?  I am looking for a way to get a file filled with a large
<number of words (50,000 - 80,000 should be quite sufficient).

	Do you have to use the spell-checker's dictionaries?  If you
have a UNIX system is a dictionary used by the spell checker.  The one
this system it is in /usr/dict/words and contains ~25,000.  There have
been dictionaries posted to the net in the past, you might find one if
you poke around some archive sites.

	Or you can make your own.  Collect some large on-line texts:
You could use someone's thesis, the man pages on a UNIX system, the
RFCs off of uunet, the Apple Tech Notes, Moby Dick, Wuthering Heights,
The Bible, (We have all of the later three on-line here).  Run them
through something that sorts and makes the words unique (sort(1) will
work on UNIX).

	Of course if you want all of your words to be correctly
spelled english words you will have to do some editing (for example
you will get a lot of function names from the man pages and tech
notes).  But if you just need words....

->Spike
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