How to use the command 'vale' (with examples)

Vale is an extensible style checker that supports multiple markup formats, such as Markdown and AsciiDoc. It helps users check the style of their files and provides options to specify configuration, output format, severity level, and markup format. This article will provide examples of each of these use cases to illustrate how to utilize the ‘vale’ command effectively.

Use case 1: Check the style of a file

Code:

vale path/to/file

Motivation: This use case is useful when you want to quickly check the style of a specific file without any additional configuration.

Explanation: Running the command vale path/to/file will check the style of the specified file. ‘path/to/file’ should be replaced with the actual path to the file you want to check.

Example output: The command will display the style issues found in the file, if any.

Use case 2: Check the style of a file with a specified configuration

Code:

vale --config='path/to/.vale.ini' path/to/file

Motivation: In case you have a specific configuration file (.vale.ini), this use case allows you to check the style of a file while using that configuration.

Explanation: By using the --config flag, you can specify the path to the configuration file (‘path/to/.vale.ini’). The command vale --config='path/to/.vale.ini' path/to/file will then check the style of the specified file using the provided configuration.

Example output: The command will display the style issues found in the file based on the specified configuration.

Use case 3: Output the results in JSON format

Code:

vale --output=JSON path/to/file

Motivation: If you want to process the style issues programmatically or generate reports, using the JSON output format can be beneficial.

Explanation: With the --output flag, you can specify the format in which the results should be displayed. In this use case, we set the format to JSON using --output=JSON, and the command will output the style issues in JSON format.

Example output: The command will display the style issues found in the file in JSON format.

Use case 4: Check style issues at the specific severity and higher

Code:

vale --minAlertLevel=suggestion|warning|error path/to/file

Motivation: Sometimes, you may want to check for style issues of a certain severity level and higher to focus on the more critical issues.

Explanation: By using the --minAlertLevel flag, you can specify the minimum severity level to consider during the style check. Replace ‘suggestion’ with ‘warning’ or ’error’ to check for style issues at the corresponding severity level and higher.

Example output: The command will display the style issues found in the file that meet the specified severity level or higher.

Use case 5: Check the style from ‘stdin’, specifying markup format

Code:

cat file.md | vale --ext=.md

Motivation: If you want to check a file’s style without specifying its path directly, reading the file from ‘stdin’ allows for more flexibility.

Explanation: This use case utilizes the ‘stdin’ to process the file content. The command cat file.md reads the file content and pipes it to vale, which checks the style. The --ext flag is used to specify the markup format (in this case, .md for Markdown).

Example output: The command will display the style issues found in the file content read from ‘stdin’ using the specified markup format.

Use case 6: List the current configuration

Code:

vale ls-config

Motivation: This use case helps you view the current configuration settings, which can be useful when troubleshooting or modifying the styling rules.

Explanation: Running the command vale ls-config will list the current configuration settings being used.

Example output: The command will display the current configuration options such as the base styles, additional styles, and ignore rules.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored different use cases of the ‘vale’ command, a versatile style checker for multiple markup formats. By using these examples, you can efficiently check the style of files, specify configurations, output results in different formats, and filter style issues based on severity levels. Utilizing these features can greatly improve your writing style and consistency in various documents.