Check API

The check command combines all available check types (spelling, grammar and style) of text in a single command.

Command name: check

API endpoint

See Overview.

Parameters

These parameters work with any cmd.

Name	Type	Required	Description
serviceid	string	Cloud only	Cloud API key. Required for Cloud requests. Not used on-premises.
format	string	No	Response format. Values: json (default), xml.
callback	string	No	JSONP wrapper function name. Use only with format=json.
short_answer	boolean	No	JSON only. When true, shortens JSON keys to reduce payload size. See boolean parameters.

See Overview for details.

Here is a list of all possible parameters and values that can be used with the check command.

Parameter	Possible values	Default value	Description
cmd	check		Command name for checking text for all types of writing errors.
lang	Supported languages (e.g. en_US)	auto	A short code of a language which will be used for check.
tokens	Array of strings, e.g. ["This is a sentence number 1.", "This is a sentence number 2."]		A piece of text separated in tokens that will be sent for check. The text should be presented as an array of strings. Right now each string is a token which equals one sentence. You can use either tokens or text at a time in a request.
text	plain text		A piece of text which will be sent for check. The text has to be in the UTF-8 encoding. Any found tags in the text will be interpreted as plain text as well. Avoid using # and & symbols in the text.
user_dictionary	user dictionary name (e.g. testdict)		A user dictionary name which will be used during spell checking.
user_wordlist	additional wordlist		The list of additional comma-separated words which will be used for spell checking.
custom_dictionary	custom dictionary IDs (e.g. 100694)	For Cloud: list of all dictionaries For self-hosted: empty list	Global custom dictionary ID(s) which can be used during spell checking. Each new Dictionary on the creation obtains its unique Dictionary ID. Depending on the type of the version of product you are using, refer to Cloud or Server guides respectively.
ignore_all_caps	0 – Do not ignore all words written in capital letters (e.g. UPPERCASE). 1 – Ignore all words written in capital letters.	0	Ignore capitalized words.
ignore_words_with_numbers	0 – Do not ignore words that contain numbers (e.g. Number1). 1 – Ignore words that contain numbers.	0	Ignore words containing numbers.
ignore_mixed_case	0 – Do not ignore words with mixed case letters (e.g. MixedCase). 1 – Ignore words with mixed case letters.	0	Ignore words written with mixed case letters.
ignore_domain_names	0 – Do not ignore web addresses that start with either “www”, “http:” or “https:” and end with a domain name. 1 – Ignore web addresses and domain names.	0	Ignore domain names, web addresses.
min_word_length	minimal number of letters in a word to be checked	3	The minimal number of letters in the word which will be checked for spelling. E.g. if 3 is specified, the words with 2 letters and less will be ignored.
disable_spelling	true false	false	Disable the check text for spelling errors. See boolean parameters.
disable_grammar	true false	false	Disable the check text for grammar and style problems. See boolean parameters.
disable_style_guide	true false	false	Disabling style guide functionality. See boolean parameters.
auto_lang_priorities	{"en":"en_US", "es":"es_ES"}		Priority of language dialect for auto-detected language code. For example, auto-detect returns "en", then American English will be used as a language for check.
disabled_rules	JSON array	[]	Disabling specific grammar rules IDs.
disabled_categories	JSON array	[]	Disabling specific grammar rules categories.
check_kit	ai ai_lt lt_hs ai_lt_hs0 ai_lt_hs1	Depends on service default configuration	Enable special engine combinations: ai AI engine lt LanguageTool hs Hunspell 0 and 1 — applicable to Hunspell only; 0 means without suggestions, 1 means with suggestions Example: ai_lt_hs1 means use AI, LanguageTool, and Hunspell with suggestions for the request.
enforce_ai	true false	false	To replace the classic algorithmic engines with an AI-powered engine. It only works along with languages which supported AI.

Response Structure

The result is an array of objects which contains matches, where matches is also an array of objects consisting of attribute-value pairs.

The table below represents the following attribute-value pairs:

Attribute	Type	Value	Description
type	string	spelling grammar style	Type of the match found.
offset	unsigned number		Start position of a match found in a sentence/text.
length	unsigned number		The length of the match.
ud	boolean	true false	True if a misspelled word is present in a user dictionary.
url	boolean	true false	True if match is a part of the URL/URI.
suggestions	array of strings		Suggested corrections for spelling, grammar or style problem.
rule	string		A short description of the match by rule; available only for type 'grammar'.
message	string		Description of the problem; available only for type 'grammar'.
probability	float number	between 0.0 and 1.0	Probability of the match.

Type: Spelling

{
    "result": [
        {
            "matches": [
                {
                    "type": "spelling",
                    "offset": X,
                    "length": Y,
					          "ud": true,
					          "probability": 1.0,
                    "suggestions": ["..."]
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Type: Grammar

{
    "result": [
        {
            "matches": [
                {
                    "type": "grammar",
                    "offset": X,
                    "length": Y,
                    "rule": "...",
                    "message": "...",
                    "probability": 0.Z
                    "suggestions": ["..."]
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Example 1.1 [GET]: Check request for American English text with all available check types (output in JSON)

Request URL (GET):

https://svc.webspellchecker.net/api?cmd=check&text=this sampl text demonstrates the work of the Web API service.&lang=en_US&format=json&customerid=[your-service-id]

http(s)://server_entry_point/?cmd=check&text=this sampl text demonstrates the work of the Web API service.&lang=en_US&format=json

Parameters:

• Command: check

• Text: this sample text demonstrates the work of the Web API service.

• Language: en_US

• Format: json

Request response:

{
  "result": [
    {
      "matches": [
        {
          "type": "grammar",
          "offset": 0,
          "length": 4,
          "message": "",
          "rule": "14766687526281413077",
          "description": "",
          "category": "",
          "probability": 0.9970703125,
          "suggestions": [
            "This"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "spelling",
          "offset": 5,
          "length": 5,
          "message": "Spelling mistake",
          "rule": "14551130629728879226",
          "probability": 0.9970703125,
          "suggestions": [
            "sample"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Example 1.2 [GET]: Check request for American English text with all available check types (output in XML)

Request URL (GET):

https://svc.webspellchecker.net/api?cmd=check&text=this sampl text demonstrates the work of the Web API service.&lang=en_US&format=xml&customerid=[your-service-id]

http(s)://server_entry_point/?cmd=check&text=this sampl text demonstrates the work of the Web API service.&lang=en_US&format=xml

Parameters:

• Command: check

• Text: this sampl text demonstrates the work of the Web API service.

• Language: en_US

• Format: xml

Request response:

<result>
	<result>
		<matches>
			<matches>
				<type>grammar</type>
				<offset>0</offset>
				<length>4</length>
				<message/>
				<rule>14766687526281413077</rule>
				<description/>
				<category/>
				<probability>0.99707</probability>
				<suggestions>
					<suggestions>This</suggestions>
				</suggestions>
			</matches>
			<type>spelling</type>
			<offset>5</offset>
			<length>5</length>
			<message>Spelling mistake</message>
			<rule>14551130629728879226</rule>
			<probability>0.99707</probability>
			<suggestions>
				<suggestions>sample</suggestions>
			</suggestions>
		</matches>
	</result>
</result>

Example 1.3 [GET]: Check request for American English text as two tokens with all available check types (output in JSON)

Request URL (GET):

https://svc.webspellchecker.net/api?cmd=check&tokens=["this sampl text.", " It demonstrate the work of the Web API service."]&lang=en_US&customerid=[your-service-id]

http(s)://server_entry_point/?cmd=check&tokens=["this sampl text.", " It demonstrate the work of the Web API service."]&lang=en_US

Parameters:

• Command: check

• Tokens: ["this sampl text.", " It demonstrate the work of the Web API service."]

• Language: en_US

• Format: json

Request response:

{
  "result": [
    {
      "matches": [
        {
          "type": "grammar",
          "offset": 0,
          "length": 4,
          "message": "This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter.",
          "rule": "UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START",
          "description": "Checks that a sentence starts with an uppercase letter",
          "category": "CASING",
          "probability": 1.0,
          "suggestions": [
            "This"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "spelling",
          "offset": 5,
          "length": 5,
          "message": "Spelling mistake",
          "rule": "14551130629728879226",
          "probability": 0.943359375,
          "suggestions": [
            "sample"
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "matches": [
        {
          "type": "grammar",
          "offset": 4,
          "length": 11,
          "message": "",
          "rule": "11156818907134265203",
          "description": "",
          "category": "",
          "probability": 0.90234375,
          "suggestions": [
            "demonstrated"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Example 1.4 [GET]: Check request for American English text as two tokens with all available check types and shortened response (output in JSON)

Request URL (GET):

https://svc.webspellchecker.net/api?cmd=check&tokens=["this sampl text.", " It demonstrate the work of the Web API service."]&lang=en_US&short_answer=true&customerid=[your-service-id]

http(s)://server_entry_point/?cmd=check&tokens=["this sampl text.", " It demonstrate the work of the Web API service."]&lang=en_US&short_answer=true

Parameters:

• Command: check

• Tokens: ["this sampl text.", " It demonstrate the work of the Web API service."]

• Language: en_US

• Format: json

• Short Answer: true

Request response:

{
  "r": [
    {
      "m": [
        {
          "t": "grammar",
          "o": 0,
          "l": 4,
          "m": "This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter.",
          "r": "UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START",
          "d": "Checks that a sentence starts with an uppercase letter",
          "c": "CASING",
          "p": 1.0,
          "s": [
            "This"
          ]
        },
        {
          "t": "spelling",
          "o": 5,
          "l": 5,
          "m": "Spelling mistake",
          "r": "14551130629728879226",
          "p": 0.9576822519302368,
          "s": [
            "sample"
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "m": [
        {
          "t": "grammar",
          "o": 4,
          "l": 11,
          "m": "",
          "r": "11156818907134265203",
          "d": "",
          "c": "",
          "p": 0.9033203125,
          "s": [
            "demonstrated"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Example 1.5 [POST]: Check request for American English text with all available check types (output in JSON)

Here we use the same request and parameters as described in example 1.1 but form it as a POST request.

Request URL (POST):

https://svc.webspellchecker.net/api?

http(s)://server_entry_point/?

Body (Raw):

cmd=check&text=this sampl text demonstrates the work of the Web API service.&lang=en_US&format=json&customerid=[your-service-id]

Request response:

{
  "result": [
    {
      "matches": [
        {
          "type": "grammar",
          "offset": 0,
          "length": 4,
          "message": "",
          "rule": "14766687526281413077",
          "description": "",
          "category": "",
          "probability": 0.9970703125,
          "suggestions": [
            "This"
          ]
        },
        {
          "type": "spelling",
          "offset": 5,
          "length": 5,
          "message": "Spelling mistake",
          "rule": "14551130629728879226",
          "probability": 0.9970703125,
          "suggestions": [
            "sample"
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Example 1.6 [POST]: Check request for text with the auto-detected language (output in JSON)

In this POST type request, we use “auto” as a value for language and define the priorities for the language dialects. If “en” is detected, then British English will be used during check request.

Request body (POST):

JSON

{
  "cmd": "check",
  "text": "this sampl text demonstrates the work of the Web API service.",
  "lang": "auto",
  "format": "json",
  "serviceid": "[your-service-id]",
  "auto_lang_priorities": {
    "en": "en_GB"
  }
}

Raw