patgen can only read files containing ONLY \patterns{...} As opposed to what? I wouldn't expect patgen to parse .tex files.
As far as I can tell from a quick glance at patgen.web, it reads a hyph-en-ated word list and (optionally) existing patterns (and an auxiliary "translate" file), and spits out new patterns. karl -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]