.TH WF 6 "Mar  8 1993"
.SH NAME
wf \- simple program to create ``wordfind'' squares.
.SH SYNOPSIS
wf [-hvdbarpc] [-x <n>] [-y <n>] [-t <title>] [-f <file>]
.SH DESCRIPTION
WF creates a word search puzzle that looks something like this:

.ne 15
.nf
.ft C
                            W*O*R*D F*I*N*D


                           +---------------+
                           | L T A T I U D |
                           | T N U O L O Y |
                           | T I T I L A N |
                           | C A T U I T A |
                           | S I C U N T M |
                           | E E S U O H I |
                           | A I A D I U T |
                           | S A L O S O E |
                           +---------------+

cat             house           Illinois        dynamite
.ft P
.fi

Wordfind takes as input a file of words to hide in the word search
square.  By default the file is named "words" and located in the
current directory.  Wordfind then tries to hide these words in a
square (15x15 by default), and prints out the results as above on the
standard output.

.SH OPTIONS

There are a variety of options to Wordfind:

   -h (Permit horizontal placement)
   -v (Permit vertical placement)
   -d (Permit diagonal placement)
   -b (Permit backwards placement)
   -a (Permit all placements)

By default, Wordfind will place words horizontally, vertically and
diagonally.  Explicitly turning on a placement option turns off all of
the default placement options, i.e., ``wf -h'' places words only
horizontally.

   -r (Select randomly from wordlist)

By default, Wordfind tries to place words from the wordlist in the
order in which they appear.  -r makes Wordfind try the wordlist in
random order.

   -x <num> (Specify width of puzzle)
   -y <num> (Specify height of puzzle)

The default size is 15x15; the maximum size is 20x20.

   -t <title> (Specify title of puzzle)

The default title is "W*O*R*D F*I*N*D".

   -p (Don't print words below the puzzle)
   -c (Print clues instead of the words used)

See below for an explanation of "clues".

   -f <file> (Specify word list file)

By default Wordfind looks for a file named "words" in the current
directory.  -f can be used to override this.

.SH THE WORD FILE

The word file has one word per line, optionally followed by a "clue".
A simple word file might look like this:

.nf
cat
dog
house
Illinois
dynamite
.fi

It's important not to have any trailing blank lines in the file.

If you want the words at the bottom of the puzzle to be in
alphabetical order (albeit line by line rather than by columns) you
should sort the input file.

Each word can optionally be followed by a clue (up to 50 characters
long).  This clue can be printed instead of the actual word by using
the -c option.  This permits you to make, for instance, a wordfind
square for a Spanish class:

.nf
gato cat
pero dog
casa a house
tonto fool
.fi

.ne 15
.ft C
.nf
                            W*O*R*D F*I*N*D


                           +---------------+
                           | T C O E G O O |
                           | T R A A C T G |
                           | T P C S N T A |
                           | R T E O A O O |
                           | O E T R O T C |
                           | O A T N O A E |
                           | G G E N A A T |
                           +---------------+

 cat             dog             house           fool
.ft P
.fi

.SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

* Wordfind does not try to make the "best" wordfind square.  It
doesn't do any search or clever tricks to try to fit in the most
words.  Frankly, that's a bit too anal-retentive for a program to make
word search puzzles, if you ask me.

* Wordfind does do one clever thing: it fills in the unused spots in
the word square with letters chosen from the words that are actually
in the word square.  This makes the square a little more challenging.

.SH BUGS

None.

.SH AUTHOR

Scott R. Turner (srt@aerospace.aero.org)