UNIX is all about files and programs that do one thing and to it well, right? vi(1) is one of my favorite text editors. However it lacks some feature: but here's where the composition shines.

It's stupid and dead-simple actually, but I haven't thought about it until some weeks ago. With a simple

map « :w^M:!aspell -c %^M:e!^M^M

in your ~/.nexrc it's simple to do spell checking in vi.

Friendly remainder: the ^M is literally the enter key inserted with C-v ENTER or C-v C-m.

I've also the following binding in my ~/.nexrc to spell check Italian text:

map » :w^M:!aspell --lang=it -c %^M:e!^M^M

What's that gibberish?

OK, it may be non-obvious what that that mapping does, so let's split it into pieces:

• map « starts a mapping on the « key
• :w^M writes the current file (the return is necessary to enter the command)
• :!aspell -c %^M run aspell over the file (% is replaced with the current file name)
• :e!^M force vi to re-read the file
• ^M Tell vi to render the editor. After a command execution vi doesn't render its interface. Rather, it wait (a bit like ex) for a command.

Why the « and » characters?

Those keys aren't bind to anything and are simple to type with my keyboard layout.