LanguageTool is an Open Source style and grammar proofreading software. It is a good complement to the spell checking program already in use in a lot of software.
It is written in Java and aimed to be integrated easily in OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice as a plugin. But it can also be used as a stand-alone GUI application, embedded in other Java applications or as a server service.
It exists also a command line interface that can be integrated as a tool inside Vim.
LanguageTool installation
First of all download the last version of LanguageTool form its website. It is under the form of
a OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice plugin, so with an .oxt extension. In fact
it is a zip archive and for installing it you need to unzip it in the folder of
your choice. In our example we will install it in ~/lib/LanguageTool
directory.
$ mkdir -p ~/lib/LanguageTool
$ mv LanguageTool-1.7.oxt ~/lib/LanguageTool/
$ cd ~/lib/LanguageTool
$ unzip LanguageTool-1.7.oxt
To be able to run it you will need the version 6 of Java. Therefore if you do not already have it just install it:
# apt-get install openjdk-6-jre
Installation of the Vim binding
Thanks to Dominique Pellé a Vim plugin exist to be able to run LanguageTool from within Vim.
Download the last version from its description page and install it on your .vim directory:
$ mkdir -p ~/.vim
$ cd ~/.vim
$ unzip /path-to/LanguageTool.zip
$ vim -c 'helptags ~/.vim/doc'
Then you need to define the path to LanguageTool.jar inside your
.vimrc:
let g:languagetool_jar=$HOME . '/lib/LanguageTool/LanguageTool.jar'
Use of LanguageTool inside Vim
You need to specify the language of your text inside Vim with command
spelllang. For example to set the language to French enter :set
spelllang=fr.
To run LanguageTool on the current buffer just run :LanguageToolCheck.
If you use the example text of LanguageTool:
Paste your own text here... or check this text too see a few of the problems
that that LanguageTool can detect. Did you notice that their is no spelcheckin
included?
Which should give you an output like this:
# java -jar /home/tblein/lib/LanguageTool/LanguageTool.jar -c utf-8 -d WHITESPACE_RULE,EN_QUOTES -l en --api /tmp/vtjmKYQ/3
Error: 1/2 (TOO_TO:1) @ 1L 48C
Message: Did you mean 'to see'?
Context: ...ste your own text here... or check this text too see a few of the problems that that LanguageTool...
Correction: to see
Error: 2/2 (THEIR_IS:1) @ 2L 21C
Message: Did you mean 'there'?
Context: ...LanguageTool can detect. Did you notice that their is no spelcheckin included?
Correction: there