RE: function for spell checking of strings

[Herring, Davis]

> I want to look up a string in one of the dictionaries accessible from
> emacs.  The string is not contained in a buffer (in which case I would
> use `ispell-word´) but is only referred to by a variable in my elisp
> code.  There used to be a function 'spell-string' but the
> spell-packages is obsoleted and the build in help system refers me to
> 'ispell'.  But I cannot find an equivalent function in the 'ispell'
> package.  Does any one know of a solution?

I "wrote" this for a similar reason:

;; Ripped off from `ispell-word', of course, since it isn't useful for Lisp.
(defun ispell-check-word (&optional word)
  "Check spelling of WORD, or word under or before the cursor if nil.
If it is spelled correctly, return a root string or t if it is exact.
If it is misspelled, return (CORRECTIONS . GUESSES).

If WORD is t, then the following word \(rather than preceding\) is checked.

Word syntax is controlled by the definition of the chosen dictionary,
which is in `ispell-local-dictionary-alist' or `ispell-dictionary-alist'.

This will check or reload the dictionary.  Use \\[ispell-change-dictionary]
or \\[ispell-region] to update the Ispell process."
  (ispell-init)
  (ispell-accept-buffer-local-defs)    ; use the correct dictionary
  (or (stringp word) (setq word (car (ispell-get-word word))))

  (ispell-send-string "%\n")            ; put in verbose mode
  (ispell-send-string (concat "^" word "\n"))
  ;; wait until ispell has processed word
  (while (progn (ispell-accept-output) (not (string= "" (car ispell-filter)))))
  ;;(ispell-send-string "!\n") ;back to terse mode.
  (setq ispell-filter (cdr ispell-filter)) ; remove extra \n
  (let (poss)
    (if (and ispell-filter (listp ispell-filter))
        (if (> (length ispell-filter) 1)
            (error "Ispell and its process have different character maps")
          (setq poss (ispell-parse-output (car ispell-filter)))))
    (unless poss (error "Error in ispell process"))
    (if (or (eq poss t) (stringp poss)) poss
      (setq poss (cddr poss)) (cons (car poss) (cadr poss)))))

Davis