Spell Checker - PHP example

String Handling in PHP example from a Well House Consultants training course
More on String Handling in PHP [link]

This example is described in the following article(s):
   • Looking ahead and behind in a Regular Expression - [link]
   • Hot answers in PHP - [link]
   • Helping new arrivals find out about source code examples - [link]

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This example references the following resources:
http://www.wellho.net/

Source code: spell.php Module: H107


<?php

/* This code demonstratates PHP regular expressions
in heavy use - the application is to spell check a
file and report on any spelling mistakes that are
detected.  Please note that this is a proof of
concept and the algorithms aren't 100% accurate.
You MUST check the code for suitability before you
use it */

##  Sort function for use later

function bycount($first,$second) {
   global $oops;
   $diff = $oops[$second] - $oops[$first];
   if (! $diff) $diff = strcmp($first,$second);
   return $diff;
   }

######################################################
# Read in the data for checking and ensure that there's
# no attempt by the user to get to the wrong places when
# used on the live site!
######################################################

$dopageerr = "";
$page = "";
$local = 0;
if (ereg("192\.168\.200",$_SERVER[REMOTE_ADDR])) $local = 1;
if (ereg("100\.100\.100",$_SERVER[REMOTE_ADDR])) $local = 1;
if (ereg("127\.0\.0",$_SERVER[REMOTE_ADDR])) $local = 1;

if ($_REQUEST[dopage]) {
if (ereg('(^/)|(\.\.)',$_REQUEST[page]) and $local==0) {
    $dopageerr = "<b>File path must be relative and not ascend.".
        " Full http:// URL also acceptable</b><br>";
} else {
    $page = @file_get_contents($_REQUEST[page]);
    if (! $page)
    $dopageerr =
       "<b>Sorry - unable to read this resource</b><br>";
}
}

if ($_REQUEST[dotext]) {
$page = stripslashes($_REQUEST[text]);
}

######################################################
# If we have valid data to check, read in the dictionary
######################################################

if ($page) {

$bad = $good = 0;
$oops = array();

$wtab = array();
$files = array("words","connectives","propernames");
foreach ($files as $section) {
foreach (file("$_SERVER[DOCUMENT_ROOT]/../words/$section") as $word) {
    $word = strtolower(trim($word));
    $wtab[$word] = 1;
    }
}
foreach (file("extrawords") as $word) {
    if (ereg("^#",$word)) continue;
    $word = strtolower(trim($word));
    $wtab[$word] = 1;
    }

######################################################
# Strip out Javascript and tags from source to check
######################################################

$page = preg_replace('/<script(.*?)<\/script>/is'," ",$page);
$page = preg_replace('!</td>!i'," ",$page); # strip_tags bug
$page = preg_replace('!<(div|br)[^>]*>!is'," ",$page); # div bug
$page = strip_tags($page);

######################################################
# Split clean source into words. A ' is allowed when it
# is embedded within a word
######################################################

$elements = preg_split("/\b(?<!')(?!')/",$page);

######################################################
# Loop through each element and check that, if it contains
# a letter, that it's a valid word.
######################################################

foreach ($elements as $cell) {
    if (ereg("[[:alpha:]]", $cell)) {
        $ok = 0;
        if ($wtab[strtolower($cell)]) {
            $ok = 1;
        } else {
# Not a valid word. Perhaps it's a derivative?
# Allow words with leading / trailing (but not embedded) quotes
            ereg("[[:alnum:]]+.*[[:alnum:]]",$cell,$c2);
            $celld = $c2[0];
            if ($wtab[strtolower($celld)]) $ok = 1;
# allow nails as well as nail, sleeved as well as sleeve
            if (eregi('(.*)(s|d)$',$celld,$ig)) {
                if ($wtab[strtolower($ig[1])]) $ok = 1;
            }
# allow miner as well as mine
            if (eregi('(.*e)r$',$celld,$ig)) {
                if ($wtab[strtolower($ig[1])]) $ok = 1;
            }
# allow ending, endings, ended, etc as well as end
            if (eregi("(.*)(ings?|es|er|ed|'s)\$",$celld,$ig)) {
                if ($wtab[strtolower($ig[1])]) $ok = 1;
            }
# allow tipping as well as tip, fanning as well as fan
            if (eregi('(.*)([tnpl])(ings?|ed)$',$celld,$ig)) {
                if ($wtab[strtolower($ig[1])]) $ok = 1;
            }
# allow placing as well as place
            if (eregi('(.*)ing$',$celld,$ig)) {
                if ($wtab[strtolower($ig[1])."e"]) $ok = 1;
            }
# allow copied as well as copy
            if (eregi('(.*)ied$',$celld,$ig)) {
                if ($wtab[strtolower($ig[1])."y"]) $ok = 1;
            }
# allow copies as well as copy
            if (eregi('(.*)ies$',$celld,$ig)) {
                if ($wtab[strtolower($ig[1])."ey"]) $ok = 1;
                if ($wtab[strtolower($ig[1])."y"]) $ok = 1;
            }
        }
        if ($ok == 0) {
            $oops[strtolower($cell)]++;
            $cell = "<b><font color=red>$cell</font></b>";
            $bad++;
        } else {
            $good++;
            }
        }
    $result .= $cell;
}
$page = nl2br($result);
$page = preg_replace('!(<br />\s*){3,}!s',"<br /><br />\n",$page);

$oopsline = "";

uksort($oops,bycount);
$ohdear = "";
foreach (array_keys($oops) as $oh) {
    $wordflow = $oops[$oh] == 1 ? "once" : "$oops[$oh] times";
    $ohdear .= "$oh - $wordflow<br>";
    }
}
############## The web page generator
?>
<html><head><title> Web page spell check. <?= htmlspecialchars
($_REQUEST[page]) ?></title>
<body><h1>Spellcheck a web page or block of html</h1>
--> Link - <a
href=/solutions/php-web-page-and-html-spell-checker.html
>description of this application</a><br>
--> Link - <a href=/resources/ex.php4?item=h107/spell.php>source
code</a><br><br>
<?php if ($page) { ?>
--> Link - <a href=#refill>form to resubmit current
text</a><br>
--> Link - <a href=?>test a new piece of text</a><br><br>
<b>On <?= $_REQUEST[page] ?> there were <?= $bad ?> words
that were doubted out of <?= $bad+$good ?>:</b><blockquote>
<?= $ohdear ?></blockquote><br>
<b>Here is the full text of the page with the doubted words
in red</b><br>
<?= $page ?>
<?php } ?><hr>
<b><a name=refill>Select the source you would like to test</a>
</b><br><br> You may enter the full URL of a page you would
like checked, or a block of HTML source. This script will check
the spelling of the words in the page against its English
dictionary and highlight words that do not match.  <br><br>
<form method=POST>EITHER a page to test:<br>
<input name=page value="<?=
htmlspecialchars(stripslashes($_REQUEST[page]))
?>" size=60><br><?= $dopageerr ?>
<input type=submit name=dopage value=go><br><br>
OR some HTML to check:<br>
<textarea name=text rows=20 cols=60><?=
htmlspecialchars(stripslashes($_REQUEST[text]))
?></textarea><br>
<input type=submit name=dotext value=go><br><br>
</form><br><br><hr>
This page is provided by Well House Consultants who provide
training course in Perl, Python, PHP, MySQL, Linux and Tcl/Tk
from their base in Melksham, Wiltshire, England.  We work
worldwide, though ... this script was written during a quiet
couple of hours in Saudi Arabia. Please consider our <a
href=/course/phfull.html>PHP course</a> if you want to learn
how to write web applications such as this spell checker</a>.
<br><br>
Copyright <?= date("Y") ?>,
<a href=http://www.wellho.net/>Well House Consultants.</a>
</body>
</html>

Learn about this subject

This module and example are covered on the following public courses:
* Learning to program in PHP
* PHP Programming
* Beginning PHP - weekend course / hobby / club / leisure users
* PHP Programming
* Learning to program in PHP
Also available on on site courses for larger groups

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Other Examples

This example comes from our "String Handling in PHP" training module. You'll find a description of the topic and some other closely related examples on the "String Handling in PHP" module index page.

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