Golang : Example of how to detect which type of script a word belongs to




In one of my projects, I need to detect if a word that cannot be translated is of Arabic or Latin script type. In order to detect a word's script type, I use the unicode.In() function to match every single character inside the word against a dictionary.

Golang's unicode package provides the dictionary that I needed and it is fairly easy to do so with a for loop.

Here you go!


 package main

 import (
  "fmt"
  "github.com/chrisport/go-lang-detector/langdet/langdetdef"
  "unicode"
 )

 func main() {

  // "love" translated to different languages
  input := []string{"爱", "好き", "ආදරය", "cinta", "حب", "مينه", "ฮัก", "माया"}

  for k, v := range input {

 if checkifLatin(v) {
 fmt.Println(k, "["+v+"] is a Latin or a derivative of Latin ? ", checkifLatin(v))
 } else if checkifArabic(v) {
 fmt.Println(k, "["+v+"] is an Arabic or a derivative of Arabic ? ", checkifArabic(v))
 } else if checkifThai(v) {
 fmt.Println(k, "["+v+"] is a Thai or a derivative of Thai ? ", checkifThai(v))
 } else if checkifHan(v) {
 fmt.Println(k, "["+v+"] is a Han(Chinese) or a derivative of Han(Chinese) ? ", checkifHan(v))
 } else if checkifDevanagari(v) {
 fmt.Println(k, "["+v+"] is a Devanagari or a derivative of Devanagari ? ", checkifDevanagari(v))
 } else {
 // throw in an unknown script Japanese and Sinhala just to test out. To detect, use unicode.Sinhala and unicode.Hiragana
 fmt.Println(k, "["+v+"] unable to detect script type. Need new function to detect this script type. ")
 }

  }

  fmt.Println("----------------------------------------------------------------------------")

  // alternative method, but....it is not what I want.
  detector := langdetdef.NewWithDefaultLanguages()
  result := detector.GetClosestLanguage(input[4])
  fmt.Println("GetClosestLanguage returns : ", result)

 }

 // checkifLatin - check if input is Latin scripts or not.
 func checkifLatin(input string) bool {

  var isLatin = false

  for _, v := range input {
 if unicode.In(v, unicode.Latin) {
 isLatin = true
 } else {
 isLatin = false
 }
  }
  return isLatin
 }

 // checkifThai - check if input is Thai scripts or not.
 func checkifThai(input string) bool {

  var isThai = false

  for _, v := range input {
 if unicode.In(v, unicode.Thai) {
 isThai = true
 } else {
 isThai = false
 }
  }
  return isThai
 }

 // checkifArabic is Arabic characters or not.
 func checkifArabic(input string) bool {

  var isArabic = false

  for _, v := range input {
 if unicode.In(v, unicode.Arabic) {
 isArabic = true
 } else {
 isArabic = false
 }
  }
  return isArabic
 }

 // checkifHan is Han(Chinese) characters or not.
 func checkifHan(input string) bool {

  var isHan = false

  for _, v := range input {
 if unicode.In(v, unicode.Han) {
 isHan = true
 } else {
 isHan = false
 }
  }
  return isHan
 }

 // checkifDevanagari - check if input is Devanagari scripts or not.
 func checkifDevanagari(input string) bool {

  var isDevanagari = false

  for _, v := range input {
 if unicode.In(v, unicode.Devanagari) {
 isDevanagari = true
 } else {
 isDevanagari = false
 }
  }
  return isDevanagari
 }

Output:

 0 [爱] is a Han(Chinese) or a derivative of Han(Chinese) ?  true
 1 [好き] unable to detect script type. Need new function to detect this script type. 
 2 [ආදරය] unable to detect script type. Need new function to detect this script type. 
 3 [cinta] is a Latin or a derivative of Latin ?  true
 4 [حب] is an Arabic or a derivative of Arabic ?  true
 5 [مينه] is an Arabic or a derivative of Arabic ?  true
 6 [ฮัก] is a Thai or a derivative of Thai ?  true
 7 [माया] is a Devanagari or a derivative of Devanagari ?  true
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 GetClosestLanguage returns :  undefined

Reference :

https://golang.org/pkg/unicode/#pkg-variables

  See also : Golang : Converting individual Jawi alphabet to Rumi(Romanized) alphabet example





By Adam Ng(黃武俊)

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