giita

CLI tool to format latin script Pali for chanting in the Thai style.

This program was written with the Makhot style of the Dhammayut order in mind but with the -samyok flag its output can also be used for the Saṁyok style of the Maha Nikaya order. You may also use the -css flag to pass personalized CSS.

This program implements the tone rules provided at https://www.dhammatalks.org/ebook_index.html#tone_guide (v151003)

Try it on CodePen: https://codepen.io/tassa-yoniso-manasi-karoto/pen/poaOedv

Please note:

• the input file needs to be UTF-8 encoded. Windows users, especially prior to windows 10, should be aware of this.
• without arguments, giita will process the "input.txt" file located in the folder of executable and output it there in a "output.htm" with HTML formatting
• in the HTML format, no formatting is hardcoded and all formatting can be changed through CSS
• the above mentionned guide does not provide a way to identify syllables which can get the optional low tone therefore this is not implemented
• optional high tones are disabled by default and will result in false positives
• this program is provided here "for posterity" and will not be actively maintained
• To chant in the Saṁyok style, try passing the -samyok flag which will optimize the default CSS for this style
• keep in mind that syllable delimitations and tone rules can be subject to exceptions and the guidance provided by the formatting is not always accurate!

Known issues

• certain pali grammatical transformations could create unusual syllables, needs testing
• non standard syllables embedded in the middle/end of a word : any *brāhma, *nhārū, *nhāyeyya derivates

Formatting of short/long syllables

By default there is no formatting to help differentiate short and long syllables.

With the -samyok flag the long syllables are in bold and the short are thin. This formatting makes it very easy to tell them apart but it impairs the readability of a word as whole a lot.

CSS makes it possible to increase the weight slightly through the font-weight attribute, however most fonts do not support font-weight other than with bold and thin. A font that does support all possible variations and has full support of IAST characters is noto-fonts. Download this folder and install the fonts.

With the -noto flag the long syllables can be formatted differently with little disruption. High tones are kept in bold.

Hints

You may rarely encounter this formatting, a wavy underline with a vertical bar:

This hint is guaranteed to be on a long syllable. It occurs in sentences with a long compound word or in enumerations where punctuation is missing, it is a suggested location to make the syllable extra long in order to have the time to read the rest, or, a short pause to catch one's breath.

This is an added feature and not a feature of the Makhot style.

Usage of giita:

    -c string
	allow comments in input file and specify which characters marks
	respectively the beginning and the end of a comment, separated
	by a colon
    -css string
	will overwrite all CSS and CSS-related options with the CSS file at
	this path.
    -d	dark mode, will use a white font on a dark background
    -f int
	set font size (default 34)
    -hint float
	suggests hints on where to catch one's breath in long compound words or
	list/enumerations missing proper punctuation.
	Superior values increase sensitivity as to what counts as a list.
	Reasonable range between 4 and 8, disabled with -hint 0. (default 4.5)
    -i string
	path of input UTF-8 encoded text file
	 (default: "input.txt" in directory of executable)
    -l int
	set how many linebreaks will be created from a single linebreak in
	the input file. Advisable to use 2 for smartphone/tablet/e-reader.
	 (default 1)
    -noto
	use noto-fonts and a slightly greater font weight for long syllables
    -o string
	path of output file
	 (default: "output.htm" in directory of executable)
    -optionalhigh
	requires -t, it formats optional high tones with capital letters
	just like true high tones
    -re string
	on the fly regular expression deletion. Uses Golang (Google RE2) format.
	See https://github.com/google/re2/wiki/Syntax, https://regex101.com/
    -samyok
	tweak and optimize default CSS for chanting in the Samyok style
    -t	use raw text instead of HTML for the output file
    -th int
	transliterate from Thai script from:
	    	1=Pali put down in regular Thai writing
	    	2=standard Thai Pali as used in Thai Tipitaka
    -version
	output version information and exit

Download: Releases