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Command Line Interface

The textlint Command Line Interface (CLI) is a tool for linting text from terminal.

Run the CLI​

textlint requires Node.js for running. Follow the instruction in the Getting Started with textlint to run the CLI.

Most users use npx to run textlint command from terminal.

$ npx textlint README.md

textlint support glob pattern and directory as path.

# Should wrap the glob pattern with double quotes
$ npx textlint "docs/**/*.md"
# Run for directory
$ npx textlint docs/

Options​

You can view all the CLI options by running textlint --help.

$ textlint [options] file.md [file|dir|glob*]

Options:
  -h, --help                  Show help.
  -c, --config path::String   Use configuration from this file or sharable config.
  --ignore-path path::String  Specify path to a file containing patterns that describes files to ignore. - default: .textlintignore
  --init                      Create the config file if not existed. - default: false
  --fix                       Automatically fix problems
  --dry-run                   Enable dry-run mode for --fix. Only show result, don't change the file.
  --debug                     Outputs debugging information
  --print-config              Print the config object to stdout
  -v, --version               Outputs the version number.

Using stdin:
  --stdin                     Lint text provided on <STDIN>. - default: false
  --stdin-filename String     Specify filename to process STDIN as

Output:
  -o, --output-file path::String  Enable report to be written to a file.
  -f, --format String         Use a specific output format.

                              Available formatter          : checkstyle, compact, jslint-xml, json, junit, pretty-error, stylish, table, tap, unix

                              Available formatter for --fix: compats, diff, fixed-result, json, stylish - default: stylish
  --no-color                  Disable color in piped output.
  --quiet                     Report errors only. - default: false

Specifying rules and plugins:
  --no-textlintrc             Disable .textlintrc
  --plugin [String]           Set plugin package name
  --rule [String]             Set rule package name
  --preset [String]           Set preset package name and load rules from preset package.
  --rulesdir [path::String]   Use additional rules from this directory

Caching:
  --cache                     Only check changed files - default: false
  --cache-location path::String  Path to the cache file or directory - default: .textlintcache

Experimental:
  --experimental              Enable experimental flag.Some feature use on experimental.
  --rules-base-directory path::String  Set module base directory. textlint load modules(rules/presets/plugins) from the base directory.

Pipe to textlint​

textlint supports stdin from other commands via pipe.

$ cat README.md | npx textlint --stdin --stdin-filename "README.md"

You can get --fix result via --format=fixed-result formatter.

$ cat README.md | npx textlint --stdin --stdin-filename README.md --fix --format fixed-result --output-file NEW.md

Note:

  • --stdin-filename is required when using --stdin for recognizing the file type.
  • Almost formatter output lint message, but fixed-result formatter output --fix result text.

Cache​

textlint supports caching for performance. The cache is disabled by default. You can enable it with the --cache option.

$ textlint --cache README.md

If you want to clear the cache, you can use the --no-cache option or just remove --cache option.

Exit Code​

📝 This status is defined in textlint v13.0.0 or later.

0: No Error

  • Not found lint error
  • --fix: found errors but fix all errors, so exit with 0
  • --output-file: Found lint error but --output-file is specified
  • --dry-run: Found lint error but --dry-run is specified

1: Lint Error

  • found lint error
  • --fix: found errors and could not fix all errors, so exit with 1

2: Fatal Error

  • Crash textlint process
  • Fail to load config/rule/plugin etc...