RawTextCheck

software tool to proofread text in any file formats.

Overview

RawTextCheck is a Python-based integration of LanguageTool, built with PyQt5. Its purpose is to proofread texts found in non-standard formats such as XML, Excel, CSV, and other structured files. These files often contain code elements, markup, or special characters that are not part of the actual text, but are essential for the logic or styling of scripts, especially in video games.

This tool was originally designed for fan translation of video games, but it can be adapted to many other use cases where structured text needs linguistic analysis.

To analyze a file, a parser first extracts the relevant text lines. Several generic parsers are already included, and custom parsers can be plugged in for specific formats. The parser itself doesn’t need to clean the text, as that can be handled by a dedicated filtering system afterward.

Each file is analyzed within the context of a project, which defines parameters such as:

• The language of the text
• A list of valid characters
• Words to flag as errors (e.g., banned words)
• Custom dictionary entries to ignore false positives
• Filters to exclude code fragments, either by defining specific tokens or start/end delimiters
• Replacement of values with others

⚠️ Requirement

RawTextCheck (LanguageTool) requires Java (version 17 or higher) to run.

Make sure Java is installed and available in your system’s PATH before using the tool.

Documentation

Main Window

• Manage menu:
  • Configure project: Opens the project management window. Use this to create your first project. (Project configuration)
  • Add google credentials: To add google api credentials file. Needed for Google sheet parser. See this guide to get credentials for your project
• Preference menu:
  • Language: Select the application language. The app must be restarted for changes to take effect. Note: This setting does not affect the language used for text analysis.
• Project selection combo box: Select which project to use for file analysis.
• File path input: Enter the path of the file to analyze. You can also drag and drop a file onto the app to fill this field automatically.
• Argument parser: Specify arguments for the parser. By default, the arguments defined in the project are used, but you can modify them for specific files if needed.
• Process button: Start the analysis of the selected file. Processing may take some time, please be patient. If LanguageTool is not yet initialized, analyzing a 500-line file may take 1–2 minutes.
• Table: Displays the analysis results. If a file has been analyzed previously, the most recent results will be loaded

Interact with results

There are 6 columns:

• Line Number: The line in the file where the error was found, or the line's ID.
• Line: The text content of the line.
• Error: The word(s) where the error was detected.
• Type: The LanguageTool error type.
• Explanation: A description of the error.
• Suggestion: Suggested correction(s) for the error.

Each column can be hidden by right-clicking and deselecting it in the Visibility menu. Hidden columns will be remembered.

For each line, several actions are available by right-clicking on it:

• Delete: Delete the line. The delete key can also be used.
• Add character to valid characters: Only for invalid character errors. Adds the character to the project's valid characters and removes all errors related to this character.
• Add this word to dictionary: Only for spelling errors. Adds the word to the dictionary and removes all spelling errors for this word.
• Remove word from the banword list: Only for banword errors. Removes the word from the banword list and deletes all related banword errors.
• Add {rule name} to ignored rules: For all other errors. Adds the LanguageTool rule to the ignored rules and removes all errors associated.

Manage Project Window

Top Part

• Create New Project: You need to specify a unique name, a language for analysis, and a parser. All settings can be changed later.
• Project selection combo box: Select a project to load and edit its parameters in the window.
• Delete button: Delete the currently selected project.
• Import button: Import a project configuration. This will overwrite the current project's settings except for its name.
• Export button: Export the configuration of the current project.

Left Part (Table)

• Dictionary: Words that will not generate spelling errors. You can manually add words, and also delete them either by right-clicking or with the delete key.

• Banwords: Words that will generate errors, even if they are correct in your language. You can manually add words, and also delete them either by right-clicking or with the delete key.

• Ignored codes: Codes in the text to filter out. These will either be removed or replaced by a space.

  If your line looks like this:

  That's [c4]Yoko Fukunaga[c0].[r]Good, at least I can remember that much.
  

  You can add [c4] and [c0] as ignored codes without checking the checkbox, and [r] with the checkbox checked to add a space.

  So your filtered line will look like this:

  That's Yoko Fukunaga. Good, at least I can remember that much.
  

• Ignored substrings: You can filter text using delimiters. This will be applied after Ignored codes.

  For this text:

  That's [c4]Yoko Fukunaga[c0].[r]Good, at least I can remember that much.
  

  Suppose that for this project, [r] is the only code where a space is needed, and other codes with [ ] do not need a space. So instead of adding [c4], [c0], and many others to Ignored codes, you can add [ as the start and ] as the end delimiter, without checking the checkbox, to filter everything starting with [ and ending with ]. The result will look the same:

  That's Yoko Fukunaga. Good, at least I can remember that much.
  

• Replace code: Define substitutions where specific codes or tokens in the text are automatically replaced with another value.

  For example, if you have this text:

  That$s Y#oko Fukunaga.
  

  You can set ' for replacement of $ and ō for replacement of #o to have a line like this:

  That's Yōko Fukunaga.
  

• Ignored grammar rules: LanguageTool rules to ignore. You can manually add rules, and also delete them either by right-clicking or with the delete key.

Right Part

• Project name: Change the name of the project.
• Language: Change the language used for LanguageTool analysis.
• Parser: Select which parser to use for files. Some parsers are included by default; additional parsers can be added. See Parser for more information.
• Argument for parser: Arguments for the parser. When changing parser, possible arguments are loaded by default. You can add values to have them by default. See Parser for more information.
• Valid characters: Authorized characters for the project. Checkboxes are available for the three common space characters.
• Restore button: Revert unsaved changes.
• Save button: Save the current configuration.
• Save and Quit button: Save the current configuration and close the window.

Parsers

There are 6 built-in parsers:

• textfile
• csv
• excel
• google sheet
• pofile
• xml

For every parsers, arguments should be written like this:

arg1="value", arg2="value", arg3='value'

both quote and double quote can be used.

textfile

The textfile parser is the default parser for all text-based files. It returns every non-empty line in the file. This is useful if Ignored codes, Ignored substrings and Replace codes are sufficient to extract the sentences you need. (See Project configuration for more details.)

Arguments are:

• beginText (optional): text to start parsing from. Not used if "beginLineNumber" is provided
• endText (optional): text to stop parsing at. Not used if "endLineNumber" is provided
• beginLineNumber (optional): line number to start parsing from
• endLineNumber (optional): line number to stop parsing at
• contains (optional): text that each line must contain. For several texts, use | to separate each text. (contains="valueOne|valueTwo")
• notContains (optional): text that each line must not contain. For several texts, use | to separate each text. (contains="valueOne|valueTwo")

csv

The csv parser returns every non-empty value from a specified column in a CSV file.

Arguments are:

• col: the number of the column (the first column is 1)
• colID (optional): another column (e.g., an ID column) to identify lines instead of the line number.

excel

The excel parser returns every non-empty cell from a specified column in an Excel file.

Arguments are:

• col: letter of the column containing the text (e.g., D to get cells from column D)
• colID (optional): another column (e.g., an ID column) to identify lines instead of the row number

google sheet

The google sheet parser returns every non-empty cell from a specified column in a google sheet. Path is the url of the google sheet. Credentials are needed to access a google sheet. See this guide to get credentials for your project

Arguments are:

• col: letter of the column containing the text (e.g., D to get cells from column D)
• colID (optional): another column (e.g., an ID column) to identify lines instead of the row number

pofile

The pofile parser returns every non-empty translation string (msgstr) from a PO file.

Arguments are:

• id (optional): identifier for each row. Possible values are:
  • line → uses the line number in the file (default)
  • msgid → uses the corresponding msgid string

xml

The xml parser returns non-empty text or attribute values from an XML file.

Arguments are:

• tag: the XML element tag to extract
• attr (optional): attribute name to extract instead of the element text
• idAttr (optional): attribute name to use as a row identifier. Defaults to the line number in the file

Additional parsers

If the built-in parsers are not sufficient, you can create your own.

A parser is a Python file that implements a specific function. A template can be found here. For examples of parser implementations, see the default parsers included in RawTextCheck. You can also start from one of the default parsers if you only need to make small adjustments for your needs.

To add a parser to the list available in the app, place the Python file in the parsers folder.

Imports of the parser need to already be present in RawTextCheck.

Remember that Ignored codes, Ignored substrings and Replace codes can be used to filter parts of each line, so your parser does not necessarily need to clean the text itself.

The name of the parser will be the name of the file. Be careful not to use the same name as any built-in parser.

If your parser could be useful to others, or if you just want to share it, you can add it to the community parsers repository.