NAME

       set.rules - Rules set for acheck

DESCRIPTION

       Rules set files contain rules to be check by acheck.

       Lines beginning with a number sign (`#') and empty lines will be ignored.  Spaces at the
       beginning and the end of a line will also be ignored as well as tabulators.  If you need
       spaces at the end or the beginning of a value you can use apostrophes (`"').  A comment
       starts with the number sign, there can be any number of spaces and/or tab stops in front
       of the #.  Long lines can be broken into multiple lines ending with a backslash (`\').
       Some possible examples:

        # this line is ignored
        field    value
        field    value                               # this is a comment
        field         "value ending with space   "
        field    value\
                 continuing on the next line

       You have to escape number signs with a backslash to use it in a value and use apostrophes
       if a value ends with a backslash.

       Rule sets are made of lists of rules. Theses lists can be repeated a number of times,
       until or while a condition happens.

       A rule detects an error if the corresponding test succeeds and none of its validation
       tests does. Each rule can then produce some fixes, a warning or an error, and provide
       hints to help the operator to correct the error.

       Parts of the text can be set as comments and so no rule and no spell check will be
       performed on them.

RULE FILE SYNTAX

SYNTAX RULES

   list
       A list starts at a `list' statement, and stops at the first `end_list' or at the end of
       the file.

       Mandatory fields:

       type type
           until, perform the list until the current line matches `test'
           while, perform the lint while the current line matches `test'
           loop, perform the list `test' times
       test regex / number
           A regex for `until' and `while' lists. The number of times the list must be performed
           for `loop', or `0' for infinite loop.

       Optional fields:

       name name
           Use this to give the list a name.

       spell yes / no
           Set it to `yes' (default) or `no', if you want or don't want spelling to be checked in
           the lines matching this list. This value will be inherited by the nested lists.

       Sub-rules:

       list [name]
       rule [name]
       comment [name]
           Followed by the name of the sub-rule or its definition for an anonymous sub-rule.

   rule
       A rule starts at a `rule' statement, and stops at the first `end_rule' or at the beginning
       of a comment or a list.

       Mandatory fields:

       type type
           fix, rule provides fixes and hints thought a menu
           autofix, rule fixes the mistake with no interaction
           warning, rule issues a warning
           error, rule issues an error
           nop, special rule that do nothing, no other field is required
       regex regex
           The regex to be match to found this error. Patterns can be captures and then used in
           the `fix' expression.

       fix expr
           Provides a correction for the rule, this field can be repeated to provides more than
           one choice. Only the first one will be used for `autofix' rules.  `warning' and
           `error' do not provides fixes. The captured patterns can be used here with variables
           `$1', `$2', and so on.

       hint text
           Provides some explanations, this will be used as reviewer comments in review mode.

       Optional fields:

       name name
           Use this to give the rule a name.

       valid [name]
           Provides a validation test, it can be named or anonymous. For anonymous validation,
           the test definition must follow.  This field can be repeated more than once, if any of
           the validation test succeed, the rule does not apply.

   valid
       A validation test starts at a `valid' statement, and stops at the first `end_valid' or at
       the beginning of a rule, a comment, a list or another validation test.

       Mandatory field:

       pre regex
       in regex>
       post regex
           Try the regex before, in or after the match of the regex rule. At least one of these
           test must be provided. If all tests are successful, the rule won't apply.

       Optional field:

       name name
           Use this to give the validation test a name.

   comment
       A comment starts at a `comment' statement, and stops at the first `end_comment' or at the
       beginning of a rule, a comment or a list.

       Comments are just skipped, no other rule and no spelling are performed on them.

       Mandatory field:

       skip regex
           A regex matching the text of the comment. Do not use `start' and `stop' with this.

       start regex
       stop regex
           Regexs defining the beginning and the end of the comment, all the text between will be
           considered as comment. Do not use `skip' with this.

       Optional fields:

       name name
           Use this to give the comment a name.

       start_offset
       stop_offset
           Defines where the comment really starts or end. Values are `s' for the place the match
           starts, `s+<n>' for n characters after the match starts, `e' for the place the match
           ends, or `e-<n>' for n characters before the match ends. Defaults are `s' for `start'
           matches and `e' for `stop' matches.

SEE ALSO

       acheck(1), acheck(5)

AUTHOR

       Nicolas Bertolissio <nico.bertol@free.fr>