LOU_TRANSLATE(1)

📦
version 3.39.0 · 14 versions
, in arch rolling

💅 LOU_TRANSLATE 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to lou_translate, a whole manual page from the User Commands corner of the universe ✨ this is the Braille translator for large scale testing of liblouis Braille translation tables — like, it's the tool you run when you want to put a translation table through its absolute paces 🔥

✨ NAME ✨

lou_translate — a Braille translator for large scale testing of liblouis Braille translation tables 🎀

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

lou_translate [OPTIONS] TABLE

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So what does it actually do? It translates whatever is sitting on standard input and prints the result on standard output. That's it, that's the vibe 💖 It is intended for large-scale testing of the accuracy of braille translation and back-translation. Basically it's the stress-test bestie for your tables 👑

🎀 TABLE is either:

  • a query — like this:
KEY[:VALUE] [KEY[:VALUE] ...]
  • a file list — like this:
FILE[,FILE,...]

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -h, --help — display this help and exit 🫶
  • -v, --version — display version information and exit ⭐
  • -f, --forward — forward translation using the given table ➡️
  • -b, --backward — backward translation using the given table. If neither -f nor -b are specified forward translation is assumed 🙈
  • -d, --display-table — use the given display table for the translation. The display table determines how braille dot patterns are encoded as text (decoded in case of backward translation). Without a display table, the braille encoding is determined by the translation table, when it is specified as a file list, or Unicode braille when the table is specified as a query. For clarity and reliability, it is recommended to always make the display table explicit. 👀
ngl bestie, that last sentence is a real one — make the display table explicit, your future self will thank you 💜

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Let's get into the fun part, shall we 😭

lou_translate language:en grade:2 region:en-US < input.txt

Do a forward translation of English text to grade 2 contracted braille according to the U.S. braille standard. slay 🇺🇸

lou_translate -d en-us-brf.dis language:en grade:2 region:en-US < input.txt

Here we do the same forward translation but with a specific ASCII braille encoding instead of Unicode braille. same energy, different encoding 💫

lou_translate -d unicode.dis en-us-g2.ctb < input.txt

Do a forward translation with table en-us-g2.ctb and Unicode braille encoding. iconic behavior ✨

echo ",! qk br{n fox" | lou_translate -b -d text_nabcc.dis language:en grade:2 region:en-US

Do a backward translation with the English grade 2 table. Note that the ASCII braille input (as shown here) must match the specified display table (North American Braille Computer Code in this case). like, no cap, they have to match or it's giving chaos 💀

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Written by John J. Boyer. legend behavior, honestly 🫡

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

Report bugs to liblouis-liblouisxml@freelists.org. Liblouis home page: <http://www.liblouis.io>

Copyright © 2024 ViewPlus Technologies, Inc. and JJB Software, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

fr fr, no warranty, to the extent permitted by law — iconique and legally binding 💅

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

The full documentation for lou_translate is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and lou_translate programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info liblouis

should give you access to the complete manual. go read it bestie, it's giving complete 📚

🧚 Liblouis 3.39.0 🌸 September 2026 🧚 — that's the source, the version, and the date, all cute and accounted for. bye bestie, go translate some braille 💖✨🎀

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