Command-line interface

language_tool_python can be invoked directly from the command line, without writing any Python code.

Usage

language_tool_python [OPTIONS] FILE [FILE ...]

Use - as the file argument to read from stdin.

Options

Option	Description
FILE [FILE ...]	One or more plain-text files to check. Use - to read from stdin.
-c, --encoding ENCODING	Input file encoding (default: system locale).
-l, --language CODE	BCP 47 language code to use (e.g. en-US, de-DE). Pass auto for automatic language detection.
-m, --mother-tongue CODE	First-language code. Enables false-friend detection between the target language and the mother tongue.
-d, --disable RULES	Comma-separated list of rule IDs to disable.
-e, --enable RULES	Comma-separated list of rule IDs to enable.
--enabled-only	Run only the rules listed with --enable, ignoring all others.
-p, --picky	Enable stricter (picky) checking mode.
-a, --apply	Automatically apply the first suggestion for each match and print the corrected text.
-s, --spell-check-off	Disable all spell-checking rules.
--ignore-lines REGEX	Skip lines that match the given regular expression.
--remote-host HOST	Hostname of a remote LanguageTool server to connect to instead of starting a local one.
--remote-port PORT	Port of the remote LanguageTool server.
--verbose	Enable debug logging.
--version	Print the language_tool_python version and exit.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	No issues found.
2	At least one issue was found.

Examples

# Check a file
language_tool_python -l en-US README.md

# Check stdin
echo "This are bad." | language_tool_python -l en-US -

# Auto-apply suggestions and print the result
language_tool_python -l en-US --apply input.txt

# Disable spell checking
language_tool_python -l en-US --spell-check-off input.txt

# Disable specific rules
language_tool_python -l en-US -d RULE_ID1,RULE_ID2 input.txt

# Run only one specific rule
language_tool_python -l en-US --enabled-only -e MORFOLOGIK_RULE_EN_US input.txt

# Use a remote LanguageTool server
language_tool_python -l en-US --remote-host 127.0.0.1 --remote-port 8081 input.txt

# Picky mode with mother-tongue detection
language_tool_python -l de-DE -m en --picky input.txt