A Github Action that spell checks Python, Markdown, and Text files.

This action uses PySpelling to check spelling in source files in the designated repository.

• Customizable configuration and spell checking using PySpelling
• Support for the following formats: Python, Markdown and plain text
• Per repository and format custom word list to avoid errors based on words not known to default dictionary, see: PySpelling for more options
• Flexible repository layout integration via file name matching using Wildcard Match

1. First you have to add a configuration for the spelling checker
2. Create a file named: .spellcheck.yml or .spellcheck.yaml, do note if both files exist the prior will have precedence. Do note the recommendation is hidden files since these configuration files are not first rate citizens of your repository
3. Paste the contents of the outlined example, which is a configuration for Markdown, useful for your README file:

The file can be named:

1 .spellcheck.yml 1 .spellcheck.yaml 1 spellcheck.yml 1 spellcheck.yaml (the old default)

And is attempted read in that order, meaning first match is used, This means that you can use files prefixed with the . to have a less intrusive Spellcheck configuration in your repository.

matrix:
- name: Markdown
  aspell:
    lang: en
  dictionary:
    wordlists:
    - .wordlist.txt
    encoding: utf-8
  pipeline:
  - pyspelling.filters.markdown:
  - pyspelling.filters.html:
    comments: false
    ignores:
    - code
    - pre
  sources:
  - '**/*.md'
  default_encoding: utf-8

The above configuration will check the spelling of your repository's README.md and other Markdown files against an English dictionary. If your Markdown is named differently, correct or add additional patterns under sources, Markdown is sometimes named .mkdn.

Do note the reference to the .wordlist.txt under the dictionary, which is the custom list of words to supply the default dictionary for the specified language, in this case set to English en under aspell.

If you are using the default spellcheck configuration file have not specified a .wordlist.txt or wordlist.txt (please change or adhere to the value outlined in your configuration) and empty file will be created.

Change the configuration to suit your repository and needs, please see the examples/ directory for more example configurations.

The GitHub Action helps you make sure most spelling errors do not make it into your repository. You can however check your spelling prior to committing and pushing to your repository.

This simply uses the contents of our spelling toolchain:

$ pyspelling -c .spellcheck.yml
Misspelled words:

...

!!!Spelling check failed!!!

We can correct the error(s) pointed out by PySpelling as we go by adding new words to our local file: .wordlist.txt

And at some point we get:

$ pyspelling -c .spellcheck.yml
Spelling check passed :)

Now we should be good to go.

Do note you could also use the entrypoint.sh, which is the script used in the Docker image.

± sh entrypoint.sh

Using pyspelling on repository files outlined in .spellcheck.yml
----------------------------------------------------------------
Spelling check passed :)

This is a list of common diagnostics, which can be emitted by the action and it's tools.

This indicates that a spelling check has been completed, but spelling errors were located and should be corrected.

1. Either correct pinpointed spelling errors
2. Or add pinpointed words to custom dictionary

Please see the section: "Checking For Bad Spelling" above.

This diagnostic indicates that files outlines by the source wildcard pattern match did not match any files.

1. Either adjust the pattern
2. Or remove the configuration part since it does not match the repository contents

Please see the documentation for Wildcard Match.

This diagnostic indicates that a custom word list has been specified in the used configuration, .spellcheck.yml, but the file does not exist.

1. Create the empty file

$ touch .wordlist.txt

Please see the section: "Configuration" above.

The GitHub Action is based on a Docker implementation.

The Dockerfile contains the image building and the entrypoint.sh, which acts as ENTRYPOINT for the Docker image describes the execution part.

You can test the action locally by building the Docker image and running it against your project/repository.

First you have to build it.

Download or fork the spellcheck action repository.

Unpack or clone the source code and build the Docker image.

$ docker build -t github-action-spellcheck .

Run the newly build Docker image.

Do note the project/repository has to contain a configuration, please see the section on configuration above:

$ cd <your project/repository directory>
$ docker run -it  -v $PWD:/tmp github-action-spellcheck