language_tool_python: a grammar checker for Python 📝

This is a Python wrapper for LanguageTool. LanguageTool is open-source grammar tool, also known as the spellchecker for OpenOffice. This library allows you to make to detect grammar errors and spelling mistakes through a Python script or through a command-line interface.

Local and Remote Servers

By default, language_tool_python will download a LanguageTool server .jar and run that in the background to detect grammar errors locally. However, LanguageTool also offers a Public HTTP Proofreading API that is supported as well. Follow the link for rate limiting details. (Running locally won't have the same restrictions.)

Using language_tool_python locally

Local server is the default setting. To use this, just initialize a LanguageTool object:

import language_tool_python
tool = language_tool_python.LanguageTool('en-US')  # use a local server (automatically set up), language English

Using language_tool_python with the public LanguageTool remote server

There is also a built-in class for querying LanguageTool's public servers. Initialize it like this:

import language_tool_python
tool = language_tool_python.LanguageToolPublicAPI('es') # use the public API, language Spanish

Using language_tool_python with the another remote server

Finally, you're able to pass in your own remote server as an argument to the LanguageTool class:

import language_tool_python
tool = language_tool_python.LanguageTool('ca-ES', remote_server='https://language-tool-api.mywebsite.net')  # use a remote server API, language Catalan

Example usage

From the interpreter:

import language_tool_python
tool = language_tool_python.LanguageTool('en-US')
text = 'A sentence with a error in the Hitchhiker’s Guide tot he Galaxy'
matches = tool.check(text)
len(matches)
2

Check out some Match object attributes:

matches[0].ruleId, matches[0].replacements
('EN_A_VS_AN', ['an'])
matches[1].ruleId, matches[1].replacements
('TOT_HE', ['to the'])

Print a Match object:

print(matches[1])
Line 1, column 51, Rule ID: TOT_HE[1]
Message: Did you mean 'to the'?
Suggestion: to the
...

Automatically apply suggestions to the text:

tool.correct(text)
'A sentence with an error in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy'

From the command line:

$ echo 'This are bad.' > example.txt

$ language_tool_python example.txt
example.txt:1:1: THIS_NNS[3]: Did you mean 'these'?

Installation

To install via pip:

$ pip install --upgrade language_tool_python

Customizing Download URL or Path

To overwrite the host part of URL that is used to download LanguageTool-{version}.zip:

$ export LTP_DOWNLOAD_HOST = [alternate URL]

This can be used to downgrade to an older version, for example, or to download from a mirror.

And to choose the specific folder to download the server to:

$ export LTP_PATH = /path/to/save/language/tool

The default download path is ~/.cache/language_tool_python/. The LanguageTool server is about 200 MB, so take that into account when choosing your download folder. (Or, if you you can't spare the disk space, use a remote URL!)

Prerequisites

• Python 3.3+ <https://www.python.org>
• LanguageTool <https://www.languagetool.org> (Java 8.0 or higher)

The installation process should take care of downloading LanguageTool (it may take a few minutes). Otherwise, you can manually download LanguageTool-stable.zip <https://www.languagetool.org/download/LanguageTool-stable.zip>_ and unzip it into where the language_tool_python package resides.

LanguageTool Version

As of April 2020, language_tool_python was forked from language-check and no longer supports LanguageTool versions lower than 4.0.

Acknowledgements

This is a fork of https://github.com/myint/language-check/ (which is a fork of https://bitbucket.org/spirit/language_tool) that produces more easily parsable results from the command-line.