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Typos analyzer reference

The typos analyzer detects typo-fix identifier pairs from source code in commit diffs using Levenshtein distance.

For the conceptual model — how detection works and what Levenshtein distance measures — see Understanding typo detection. To run it, see the Quick start.

Configuration options

Option Type Default Description
TyposDatasetBuilder.MaximumAllowedDistance int 4 Maximum Levenshtein distance between two lines to consider them a typo-fix candidate. Lower values produce fewer but higher-confidence results. 
# .codefang.yml
history:
  typos:
    max_distance: 4

Tuning the distance

  • Distance 1-2: Very high confidence. Catches single-character typos.
  • Distance 3-4 (default): Good balance. Catches transposition errors and short misspellings.
  • Distance 5+: Lower confidence. May produce false positives from intentional renames.

The analyzer requires UAST support to extract identifiers from source code. It is automatically enabled when the UAST pipeline is available. The --typos-max-distance CLI flag sets MaximumAllowedDistance for a single run.

Example output

{
  "typos": [
    {
      "wrong": "recieve",
      "correct": "receive",
      "file": "pkg/api/handler.go",
      "commit": "a1b2c3d4e5f6...",
      "line": 42
    },
    {
      "wrong": "calcualte",
      "correct": "calculate",
      "file": "pkg/math/stats.go",
      "commit": "f6e5d4c3b2a1...",
      "line": 15
    },
    {
      "wrong": "reponse",
      "correct": "response",
      "file": "pkg/api/client.go",
      "commit": "1a2b3c4d5e6f...",
      "line": 88
    }
  ]
}

typos:
  - wrong: recieve
    correct: receive
    file: pkg/api/handler.go
    line: 42
  - wrong: calcualte
    correct: calculate
    file: pkg/math/stats.go
    line: 15
  - wrong: reponse
    correct: response
    file: pkg/api/client.go
    line: 88

See also