CSpell

Settings related to CSpell Command Line Tool.

Setting	Scope	Description
`cSpell.engines`		Specify compatible engine versions.
`cSpell.ignoreRandomStrings`		Ignore sequences of characters that look like random strings.
`cSpell.ignoreRegExpList`	resource	List of regular expressions or Pattern names (defined in `cSpell.patterns`)…
`cSpell.includeRegExpList`	resource	List of regular expression patterns or defined pattern names to match for spell checking.
`cSpell.maxFileSize`		The Maximum size of a file to spell check. This is used to prevent spell checking very large…
`cSpell.minRandomLength`		The minimum length of a random string to be ignored.
`cSpell.overrides`	resource	Overrides are used to apply settings for specific files in your project.
`cSpell.patterns`	resource	Defines a list of patterns that can be used with the `cSpell.ignoreRegExpList`…
`cSpell.substitutionDefinitions`		The set of available substitutions. This is a collection of substitution definitions that can…
`cSpell.substitutions`		The set of substitutions to apply to a document before spell checking.
`cSpell.useIntlWordSegmentation`		Enables enables locale-sensitive text segmentation to support languages like Japanese, Chinese,…
`cSpell.vfs`		Files to add to the CSpell Virtual File System.

Settings

`cSpell.engines`

Name

cSpell.engines

Description

Specify compatible engine versions.

This allows dictionaries and other components to specify the versions of engines (like cspell) they are compatible with.

It does not enforce compatibility, it is up to the client to use this information as needed.

Type

Fields
Name `code-spell-checker` Description The VSCode Spell Checker version predicate. Type `string` CSpell Version 9.6.3
Name `cspell` Description CSpell version predicate. Type `string` CSpell Version 9.6.3

{
  "code-spell-checker"?: string;
  cspell?: string;
  [key: string]: string;
}

Scope

- none -

Default

- none -

CSpell Version

9.6.3

`cSpell.ignoreRandomStrings`

Name: cSpell.ignoreRandomStrings
Description: Ignore sequences of characters that look like random strings.
Type: boolean
Scope: - none -
Default: true

`cSpell.ignoreRegExpList`

Name

cSpell.ignoreRegExpList

Description

List of regular expressions or Pattern names (defined in cSpell.patterns) to exclude from spell checking.

When using the VS Code Preferences UI, it is not necessary to escape the \, VS Code takes care of that.
When editing the VS Code settings.json file, it is necessary to escape \. Each \ becomes \\.

The default regular expression flags are gi. Add u (gui), to enable Unicode.

VS Code UI	settings.json	Description
`/\\[a-z]+/gi`	`/\\\\[a-z]+/gi`	Exclude LaTeX command like `\mapsto`
`/\b[A-Z]{3,5}\b/g`	`/\\b[A-Z]{3,5}\\b/g`	Exclude full-caps acronyms of 3-5 length.
`CStyleComment`	`CStyleComment`	A built in pattern

Type

string[]

Scope

resource - Resource settings, which apply to files and folders, and can be configured in all settings levels, even folder settings.

Default

- none -

`cSpell.includeRegExpList`

Name

cSpell.includeRegExpList

Description

List of regular expression patterns or defined pattern names to match for spell checking.

If this property is defined, only text matching the included patterns will be checked.

Type

string[]

Scope

resource - Resource settings, which apply to files and folders, and can be configured in all settings levels, even folder settings.

Default

- none -

`cSpell.maxFileSize`

Name

cSpell.maxFileSize

Description

The Maximum size of a file to spell check. This is used to prevent spell checking very large files.

The value can be number or a string formatted <number>[units], number with optional units.

Supported units:

K, KB - value * 1024
M, MB - value * 2^20
G, GB - value * 2^30

Special values:

0 - has the effect of removing the limit.

Examples:

1000000 - 1 million bytes
1000K or 1000KB - 1 thousand kilobytes
0.5M or 0.5MB - 0.5 megabytes

default: no limit

Type

Any of:

number
string

( number | string )

Scope

- none -

Default

- none -

CSpell Version

9.4.0

`cSpell.minRandomLength`

Name: cSpell.minRandomLength
Description: The minimum length of a random string to be ignored.
Type: number
Scope: - none -
Default: 40

`cSpell.overrides`

Name

cSpell.overrides

Description

Overrides are used to apply settings for specific files in your project.

Example:

"cSpell.overrides": [
  // Force `*.hrr` and `*.crr` files to be treated as `cpp` files:
  {
    "filename": "**/{*.hrr,*.crr}",
    "languageId": "cpp"
  },
  // Force `dutch/**/*.txt` to be treated as Dutch (dictionary needs to be installed separately):
  {
    "filename": "**/dutch/**/*.txt",
    "language": "nl"
  }
]

Type

OverrideSettings[]

Scope

resource - Resource settings, which apply to files and folders, and can be configured in all settings levels, even folder settings.

Default

- none -

`cSpell.patterns`

Name

cSpell.patterns

Description

Defines a list of patterns that can be used with the cSpell.ignoreRegExpList and cSpell.includeRegExpList options.

Example:

"cSpell.patterns": [
  {
    "name": "comment-single-line",
    "pattern": "/#.*/g"
  },
  {
    "name": "comment-multi-line",
    "pattern": "/(?:\\/\\*[\\s\\S]*?\\*\\/)/g"
  }
]

Type

Array of:

Fields
Name `name` (required) Description Pattern name, used as an identifier in ignoreRegExpList and includeRegExpList. It is possible to redefine one of the predefined patterns to override its value. Type `string` Required Yes
Name `pattern` (required) Description RegExp pattern or array of RegExp patterns. Type `( string \| string[] )` Required Yes
Name `description` Description Description of the pattern. Type `string`

{
  description?: string;
  name: string;
  pattern: (string | string[]);
}

Scope

resource - Resource settings, which apply to files and folders, and can be configured in all settings levels, even folder settings.

Default

- none -

`cSpell.substitutionDefinitions`

Name

cSpell.substitutionDefinitions

Description

The set of available substitutions. This is a collection of substitution definitions that can be applied to a document before spell checking.

Type

Array of:

Fields
Name `entries` (required) Description The entries for the substitution definition. This is a collection of substitution entries that can be applied to a document before spell checking. Type `[ string, string ][]` Required Yes
Name `name` (required) Description The name of the substitution definition. This is used to reference the substitution definition in the substitutions array. Type `string` CSpell Version 9.7.0 Required Yes
Name `description` Description An optional description of the substitution definition. This is not used for anything, but can be useful for documentation purposes. Type `string`

{
  description?: string;
  entries: [string, string][];
  name: string;
}

Scope

- none -

Default

- none -

CSpell Version

9.7.0

`cSpell.substitutions`

Name: cSpell.substitutions
Description: The set of substitutions to apply to a document before spell checking.
Type: ( [ string, string ] | string )[]
Scope: - none -
Default: - none -
CSpell Version: 9.7.0

`cSpell.useIntlWordSegmentation`

Name: cSpell.useIntlWordSegmentation
Description: Enables enables locale-sensitive text segmentation to support languages like Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Lao, Khmer, Myanmar, etc. The locale used for the segmentation is based on the language setting.
Type: boolean
Scope: - none -
Default: - none -
CSpell Version: 10.2.0

`cSpell.vfs`

Name

cSpell.vfs

Description

Files to add to the CSpell Virtual File System.

They can be referenced using cspell-vfs:///<module>/<path-to-file>/<file-name> URLs.

They can be referenced in the path field of dictionary definitions.

Type

TypeScript:

{
  [key: string]: {
    data: string;
    encoding?: ("base64" | "plaintext" | "utf8");
    url?: string;
  };
}

Scope

- none -

Default

- none -

CSpell Version

9.7.0

Type Definitions

`CustomDictionary`

Name

CustomDictionary

Description

Type

Fields
Name `name` (required) Description The reference name of the dictionary. Example: `My Words` or `custom` If the name matches a pre-defined dictionary, it will override the pre-defined dictionary. If you use: `typescript` it will replace the built-in TypeScript dictionary. Type `string` Required Yes
Name `path` (required) Description Define the path to the dictionary text file. Note: if path is `undefined` the `name`d dictionary is expected to be found in the `dictionaryDefinitions`. File Format: Each line in the file is considered a dictionary entry. Case is preserved while leading and trailing space is removed. The path should be absolute, or relative to the workspace. Example: relative to User's folder `"path": "~/dictionaries/custom_dictionary.txt"` Example: relative to the `client` folder in a multi-root workspace `"path": "${workspaceFolder:client}/build/custom_dictionary.txt"` Example: relative to the current workspace folder in a single-root workspace Note: this might not work as expected in a multi-root workspace since it is based upon the relative workspace for the currently open file. `"path": "${workspaceFolder}/build/custom_dictionary.txt"` Example: relative to the workspace folder in a single-root workspace or the first folder in a multi-root workspace `"path": "./build/custom_dictionary.txt"` Type `string` Required Yes
Name `addWords` Description Indicate if this custom dictionary should be used to store added words. Type `boolean` Default `true`
Name `btrie` Description An alternative path to a bTrie dictionary file. It will be used in place of `path` if the version of CSpell being used supports btrie files. Type `string` CSpell Version 9.6.0
Name `description` Description Optional: A human readable description. Type `string`
Name `ignoreForbiddenWords` Description Some dictionaries may contain forbidden words to prevent compounding from generating words that are not valid in the language. These are often words that are used in other languages or might be generated through compounding. This setting allows flagged words to be ignored when checking the dictionary. The effect is similar to the word not being in the dictionary. Type `boolean`
Name `kind` Description Used to specify the type of dictionary being referenced. Values: `words` - (default) A dictionary containing words. `flag-words` - A dictionary containing flag words. Words found in the dictionary will be treated like `flagWords`. `ignore-words` - A dictionary containing words to ignore. This is the same as setting `noSuggest` to `true`. `suggest-words` - A dictionary containing suggested word corrections. Words found in the dictionary will be treated like `suggestWords`. Type `( "words" \| "flag-words" \| "ignore-words" \| "suggest-words" )` CSpell Version 10.3.0
Name `noSuggest` Description Indicate that suggestions should not come from this dictionary. Words in this dictionary are considered correct, but will not be used when making spell correction suggestions. Note: if a word is suggested by another dictionary, but found in this dictionary, it will be removed from the set of possible suggestions. Type `boolean`
Name `scope` Description Options are `user` - words that apply to all projects and workspaces `workspace` - words that apply to the entire workspace `folder` - words that apply to only a workspace folder Type `( ( "user" \| "workspace" \| "folder" ) \| ( "user" \| "workspace" \| "folder" )[] )`
Name `supportNonStrictSearches` Description Strip case and accents to allow for case insensitive searches and words without accents. Note: this setting only applies to word lists. It has no-impact on trie dictionaries. Type `boolean` Default `true`

TypeScript:

{
  addWords?: boolean;
  btrie?: string;
  description?: string;
  ignoreForbiddenWords?: boolean;
  kind?: ("words" | "flag-words" | "ignore-words" | "suggest-words");
  name: string;
  noSuggest?: boolean;
  path: string;
  scope?: (("user" | "workspace" | "folder") | ("user" | "workspace" | "folder")[]);
  supportNonStrictSearches?: boolean;
}

`DictionaryDefPreferred`

Name

DictionaryDefPreferred

Description

Type

Fields
Name `name` (required) Description This is the name of a dictionary. Name Format: Must contain at least 1 number or letter. Spaces are allowed. Leading and trailing space will be removed. Names ARE case-sensitive. Must not contain `*`, `!`, `;`, `,`, `{`, `}`, `[`, `]`, `~`. Type `string` Required Yes
Name `path` (required) Description Path or url to the dictionary file. Type `string` Required Yes
Name `btrie` Description An alternative path to a bTrie dictionary file. It will be used in place of `path` if the version of CSpell being used supports btrie files. Type `string` CSpell Version 9.6.0
Name `description` Description Optional description of the contents / purpose of the dictionary. Type `string`
Name `ignoreForbiddenWords` Description Some dictionaries may contain forbidden words to prevent compounding from generating words that are not valid in the language. These are often words that are used in other languages or might be generated through compounding. This setting allows flagged words to be ignored when checking the dictionary. The effect is similar to the word not being in the dictionary. Type `boolean`
Name `kind` Description Used to specify the type of dictionary being referenced. Values: `words` - (default) A dictionary containing words. `flag-words` - A dictionary containing flag words. Words found in the dictionary will be treated like `flagWords`. `ignore-words` - A dictionary containing words to ignore. This is the same as setting `noSuggest` to `true`. `suggest-words` - A dictionary containing suggested word corrections. Words found in the dictionary will be treated like `suggestWords`. Type `( "words" \| "flag-words" \| "ignore-words" \| "suggest-words" )` CSpell Version 10.3.0
Name `noSuggest` Description Indicate that suggestions should not come from this dictionary. Words in this dictionary are considered correct, but will not be used when making spell correction suggestions. Note: if a word is suggested by another dictionary, but found in this dictionary, it will be removed from the set of possible suggestions. Type `boolean`
Name `supportNonStrictSearches` Description Strip case and accents to allow for case insensitive searches and words without accents. Note: this setting only applies to word lists. It has no-impact on trie dictionaries. Type `boolean` Default `true`

TypeScript:

{
  btrie?: string;
  description?: string;
  ignoreForbiddenWords?: boolean;
  kind?: ("words" | "flag-words" | "ignore-words" | "suggest-words");
  name: string;
  noSuggest?: boolean;
  path: string;
  supportNonStrictSearches?: boolean;
}

`DictionaryDefCustom`

Name

DictionaryDefCustom

Description

Type

Fields
Name `addWords` (required) Description When `true`, let's the spell checker know that words can be added to this dictionary. Type `boolean` Required Yes
Name `name` (required) Description This is the name of a dictionary. Name Format: Must contain at least 1 number or letter. Spaces are allowed. Leading and trailing space will be removed. Names ARE case-sensitive. Must not contain `*`, `!`, `;`, `,`, `{`, `}`, `[`, `]`, `~`. Type `string` Required Yes
Name `path` (required) Description A file path or url to a custom dictionary file. Type `string` Required Yes
Name `btrie` Description An alternative path to a bTrie dictionary file. It will be used in place of `path` if the version of CSpell being used supports btrie files. Type `string` CSpell Version 9.6.0
Name `description` Description Optional description of the contents / purpose of the dictionary. Type `string`
Name `ignoreForbiddenWords` Description Some dictionaries may contain forbidden words to prevent compounding from generating words that are not valid in the language. These are often words that are used in other languages or might be generated through compounding. This setting allows flagged words to be ignored when checking the dictionary. The effect is similar to the word not being in the dictionary. Type `boolean`
Name `kind` Description Used to specify the type of dictionary being referenced. Values: `words` - (default) A dictionary containing words. `flag-words` - A dictionary containing flag words. Words found in the dictionary will be treated like `flagWords`. `ignore-words` - A dictionary containing words to ignore. This is the same as setting `noSuggest` to `true`. `suggest-words` - A dictionary containing suggested word corrections. Words found in the dictionary will be treated like `suggestWords`. Type `( "words" \| "flag-words" \| "ignore-words" \| "suggest-words" )` CSpell Version 10.3.0
Name `noSuggest` Description Indicate that suggestions should not come from this dictionary. Words in this dictionary are considered correct, but will not be used when making spell correction suggestions. Note: if a word is suggested by another dictionary, but found in this dictionary, it will be removed from the set of possible suggestions. Type `boolean`
Name `scope` Description Defines the scope for when words will be added to the dictionary. Scope values: `user`, `workspace`, `folder`. Type `( ( "user" \| "workspace" \| "folder" ) \| ( "user" \| "workspace" \| "folder" )[] )`
Name `supportNonStrictSearches` Description Strip case and accents to allow for case insensitive searches and words without accents. Note: this setting only applies to word lists. It has no-impact on trie dictionaries. Type `boolean` Default `true`

TypeScript:

{
  addWords: boolean;
  btrie?: string;
  description?: string;
  ignoreForbiddenWords?: boolean;
  kind?: ("words" | "flag-words" | "ignore-words" | "suggest-words");
  name: string;
  noSuggest?: boolean;
  path: string;
  scope?: (("user" | "workspace" | "folder") | ("user" | "workspace" | "folder")[]);
  supportNonStrictSearches?: boolean;
}

`DictionaryDef`

Name

DictionaryDef

Description

Type

Any of:

CustomDictionary
DictionaryDefPreferred
DictionaryDefCustom

( CustomDictionary | DictionaryDefPreferred | DictionaryDefCustom )

`LanguageSetting`

Name

LanguageSetting

Description

Type

Fields
Name `languageId` (required) Note: Matches against `languageId` (File Type) Description The language id. Ex: `typescript`, `html`, or `php`. `*` -- will match all languages. Type `( string \| string[] )` Required Yes
Name `locale` Note: Matches against `language` Description The locale filter, matches against the language. This can be a comma separated list. `*` will match all locales. Type `( string \| string[] )`
Name `allowCompoundWords` Description True to enable compound word checking. Type `boolean`
Name `caseSensitive` Description Determines if words must match case and accent rules. See Case Sensitivity for more details. `false` - Case is ignored and accents can be missing on the entire word. Incorrect accents or partially missing accents will be marked as incorrect. `true` - Case and accents are enforced. Type `boolean`
Name `description` Description Optional description of configuration. Type `string`
Name `dictionaries` Description Optional list of dictionaries to use. Each entry should match the name of the dictionary. To remove a dictionary from the list, add `!` before the name. For example, `!typescript` will turn off the dictionary with the name `typescript`. See the Dictionaries and Custom Dictionaries for more details. Type `string[]`
Name `dictionaryDefinitions` Description Define custom dictionaries. If `addWords` is `true` words will be added to this dictionary. This setting is subject to User/Workspace settings precedence rules: Visual Studio Code User and Workspace Settings. It is better to use `cSpell.customDictionaries` Example: `"cSpell.dictionaryDefinitions": [ { "name": "project-words", "path": "${workspaceRoot}/project-words.txt", "description": "Words used in this project", "addWords": true } ]` Type `DictionaryDef`[]
Name `enabled` Description Is the spell checker enabled. Type `boolean` Default `true`
Name `flagWords` Description List of words to always be considered incorrect. Words found in `flagWords` override `words`. Format of `flagWords` single word entry - `word` with suggestions - `word:suggestion` or `word->suggestion, suggestions` Example: `"flagWords": [ "color: colour", "incase: in case, encase", "canot->cannot", "cancelled->canceled" ]` Case Sensitivity: A word is flagged if it exactly matches an entry, or if its lowercased form exactly matches an entry. In practice this means: An entry written in all lowercase (e.g. `avocado`) flags that word in any casing found in the document — `avocado`, `Avocado`, and `AVOCADO` are all flagged. An entry containing any uppercase letter (e.g. `Avocado`) only flags that exact casing — `avocado` and `AVOCADO` are not flagged. Type `string[]`
Name `id` Description Optional identifier. Type `string`
Name `ignoreRegExpList` Description List of regular expression patterns or pattern names to exclude from spell checking. Example: `["href"]` - to exclude html href pattern. Regular expressions use JavaScript regular expression syntax. Example: to ignore ALL-CAPS words JSON `"ignoreRegExpList": ["/\\b[A-Z]+\\b/g"]` YAML `ignoreRegExpList: - >- /\b[A-Z]+\b/g` By default, several patterns are excluded. See Configuration for more details. While you can create your own patterns, you can also leverage several patterns that are built-in to CSpell. Type `( string \| ( "Base64" \| "Base64MultiLine" \| "Base64SingleLine" \| "CStyleComment" \| "CStyleHexValue" \| "CSSHexValue" \| "CommitHash" \| "CommitHashLink" \| "Email" \| "EscapeCharacters" \| "HexValues" \| "href" \| "PhpHereDoc" \| "PublicKey" \| "RsaCert" \| "SshRsa" \| "SHA" \| "HashStrings" \| "SpellCheckerDisable" \| "SpellCheckerDisableBlock" \| "SpellCheckerDisableLine" \| "SpellCheckerDisableNext" \| "SpellCheckerIgnoreInDocSetting" \| "string" \| "UnicodeRef" \| "Urls" \| "UUID" \| "Everything" ) )[]`
Name `ignoreWords` Description List of words to be ignored. An ignored word will not show up as an error, even if it is also in the `flagWords`. Type `string[]`
Name `includeRegExpList` Description List of regular expression patterns or defined pattern names to match for spell checking. If this property is defined, only text matching the included patterns will be checked. While you can create your own patterns, you can also leverage several patterns that are built-in to CSpell. Type `( string \| ( "Base64" \| "Base64MultiLine" \| "Base64SingleLine" \| "CStyleComment" \| "CStyleHexValue" \| "CSSHexValue" \| "CommitHash" \| "CommitHashLink" \| "Email" \| "EscapeCharacters" \| "HexValues" \| "href" \| "PhpHereDoc" \| "PublicKey" \| "RsaCert" \| "SshRsa" \| "SHA" \| "HashStrings" \| "SpellCheckerDisable" \| "SpellCheckerDisableBlock" \| "SpellCheckerDisableLine" \| "SpellCheckerDisableNext" \| "SpellCheckerIgnoreInDocSetting" \| "string" \| "UnicodeRef" \| "Urls" \| "UUID" \| "Everything" ) )[]`
Name `name` Description Optional name of configuration. Type `string`
Name `noSuggestDictionaries` Description Optional list of dictionaries that will not be used for suggestions. Words in these dictionaries are considered correct, but will not be used when making spell correction suggestions. Note: if a word is suggested by another dictionary, but found in one of these dictionaries, it will be removed from the set of possible suggestions. Type `string[]`
Name `patterns` Description Defines a list of patterns that can be used with the `ignoreRegExpList` and `includeRegExpList` options. For example: `"ignoreRegExpList": ["comments"], "patterns": [ { "name": "comment-single-line", "pattern": "/#./g" }, { "name": "comment-multi-line", "pattern": "/(?:\\/\\[\\s\\S]?\\\\/)/g" }, // You can also combine multiple named patterns into one single named pattern { "name": "comments", "pattern": ["comment-single-line", "comment-multi-line"] } ]` Type `{ description?: string; name: string; pattern: (string \| string[]); }[]`
Name `substitutionDefinitions` Description The set of available substitutions. This is a collection of substitution definitions that can be applied to a document before spell checking. Type `{ description?: string; entries: [string, string][]; name: string; }[]` CSpell Version 9.7.0
Name `substitutions` Description The set of substitutions to apply to a document before spell checking. Type `( [ string, string ] \| string )[]` CSpell Version 9.7.0
Name `suggestWords` Description A list of suggested replacements for words. Suggested words provide a way to make preferred suggestions on word replacements. To hint at a preferred change, but not to require it. Format of `suggestWords` Single suggestion (possible auto fix) `word: suggestion` `word->suggestion` Multiple suggestions (not auto fixable) `word: first, second, third` `word->first, second, third` Type `string[]`
Name `unknownWords` Description Controls how unknown words are handled. `report-all` - Report all unknown words (default behavior) `report-simple` - Report unknown words that have simple spelling errors, typos, and flagged words. `report-common-typos` - Report unknown words that are common typos and flagged words. `report-flagged` - Report unknown words that are flagged. Type `( "report-all" \| "report-simple" \| "report-common-typos" \| "report-flagged" )` Default `"report-all"` CSpell Version 9.1.0
Name `useIntlWordSegmentation` Description Enables enables locale-sensitive text segmentation to support languages like Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Lao, Khmer, Myanmar, etc. The locale used for the segmentation is based on the `language` setting. Type `boolean` CSpell Version 10.2.0
Name `words` Description List of words to be considered correct. Type `string[]`

TypeScript:

{
  allowCompoundWords?: boolean;
  caseSensitive?: boolean;
  description?: string;
  dictionaries?: string[];
  dictionaryDefinitions?: DictionaryDef[];
  enabled?: boolean;
  flagWords?: string[];
  id?: string;
  ignoreRegExpList?: (string | ("Base64" | "Base64MultiLine" | "Base64SingleLine" | "CStyleComment" | "CStyleHexValue" | "CSSHexValue" | "CommitHash" | "CommitHashLink" | "Email" | "EscapeCharacters" | "HexValues" | "href" | "PhpHereDoc" | "PublicKey" | "RsaCert" | "SshRsa" | "SHA" | "HashStrings" | "SpellCheckerDisable" | "SpellCheckerDisableBlock" | "SpellCheckerDisableLine" | "SpellCheckerDisableNext" | "SpellCheckerIgnoreInDocSetting" | "string" | "UnicodeRef" | "Urls" | "UUID" | "Everything"))[];
  ignoreWords?: string[];
  includeRegExpList?: (string | ("Base64" | "Base64MultiLine" | "Base64SingleLine" | "CStyleComment" | "CStyleHexValue" | "CSSHexValue" | "CommitHash" | "CommitHashLink" | "Email" | "EscapeCharacters" | "HexValues" | "href" | "PhpHereDoc" | "PublicKey" | "RsaCert" | "SshRsa" | "SHA" | "HashStrings" | "SpellCheckerDisable" | "SpellCheckerDisableBlock" | "SpellCheckerDisableLine" | "SpellCheckerDisableNext" | "SpellCheckerIgnoreInDocSetting" | "string" | "UnicodeRef" | "Urls" | "UUID" | "Everything"))[];
  languageId: (string | string[]);
  locale?: (string | string[]);
  name?: string;
  noSuggestDictionaries?: string[];
  patterns?: {
    description?: string;
    name: string;
    pattern: (string | string[]);
  }[];
  substitutionDefinitions?: {
    description?: string;
    entries: [string, string][];
    name: string;
  }[];
  substitutions?: ([string, string] | string)[];
  suggestWords?: string[];
  unknownWords?: ("report-all" | "report-simple" | "report-common-typos" | "report-flagged");
  useIntlWordSegmentation?: boolean;
  words?: string[];
}

`OverrideSettings`

Name

OverrideSettings

Description

Type

Fields

Name

filename (required)
Note: Selects Files

Description

The filename glob pattern to which this override applies. This is how the override determines which files it affects.

Example to set the language for all TypeScript files:

{
  "filename": "**/french/**", // match all files in the french directory
  "language": "fr" // Apply French language settings to all files in the french directory
}

Example to set the file type for a specific set of files:

{
  "filename": "**/*.ts",
  "languageId": "typescript"
}

Type

( string | string[] )

Required

Yes

Name: allowCompoundWords
Description: True to enable compound word checking.
Type: boolean

Name

caseSensitive

Description

Determines if words must match case and accent rules.

See Case Sensitivity for more details.

false - Case is ignored and accents can be missing on the entire word. Incorrect accents or partially missing accents will be marked as incorrect.
true - Case and accents are enforced.

Type

boolean

Name: description
Description: Optional description of configuration.
Type: string

Name

diagnosticLevel

Description

The Diagnostic Severity Level determines how issues are shown in the Problems Pane and within the document. Set the level to Hint to hide the issues from the Problems Pane.

Note: cSpell.useCustomDecorations must be false to use VS Code Diagnostic Severity Levels.

See: VS Code Diagnostic Severity Level

Type

( "Error" | "Warning" | "Information" | "Hint" )

Default

"Information"

Name

diagnosticLevelFlaggedWords

Description

Flagged word issues found by the spell checker are marked with a Diagnostic Severity Level. This affects the color of the squiggle. By default, flagged words will use the same diagnostic level as general issues. Use this setting to customize them.

See: VS Code Diagnostic Severity Level

Type

( "Error" | "Warning" | "Information" | "Hint" )

Since Extension Version

4.0.0

Name

dictionaries

Description

Optional list of dictionaries to use. Each entry should match the name of the dictionary.

To remove a dictionary from the list, add ! before the name.

For example, !typescript will turn off the dictionary with the name typescript.

See the Dictionaries and Custom Dictionaries for more details.

Type

string[]

Name

dictionaryDefinitions

Description

Define custom dictionaries. If addWords is true words will be added to this dictionary.

This setting is subject to User/Workspace settings precedence rules: Visual Studio Code User and Workspace Settings.

It is better to use cSpell.customDictionaries

Example:

"cSpell.dictionaryDefinitions": [
  {
    "name": "project-words",
    "path": "${workspaceRoot}/project-words.txt",
    "description": "Words used in this project",
    "addWords": true
  }
]

Type

DictionaryDef[]

Name: enabled
Description: Is the spell checker enabled.
Type: boolean
Default: true

Name

enabledFileTypes

Description

Enable / Disable checking file types (languageIds).

This setting replaces: Settings.enabledLanguageIds and Settings.enableFiletypes .

A Value of:

true - enable checking for the file type
false - disable checking for the file type

A file type of * is a wildcard that enables all file types.

Example: enable all file types

File Type	Enabled	Comment
`*`	`true`	Enable all file types.
`json`	`false`	Disable checking for json files.

Type

{
  [key: string]: boolean;
}

CSpell Version

8.8.1

Name: enabledLanguageIds
Description: Specify a list of file types to spell check. It is better to use Settings.enabledFileTypes to Enable / Disable checking files types.
Type: string[]

Name

enableFiletypes

Description

Enable / Disable checking file types (languageIds).

These are in additional to the file types specified by Settings.enabledLanguageIds . To disable a language, prefix with ! as in !json,

Example: individual file types

jsonc       // enable checking for jsonc
!json       // disable checking for json
kotlin      // enable checking for kotlin

Example: enable all file types

*           // enable checking for all file types
!json       // except for json

Type

string[]

Name

flagWords

Description

List of words to always be considered incorrect. Words found in flagWords override words.

Format of flagWords

single word entry - word
with suggestions - word:suggestion or word->suggestion, suggestions

Example:

"flagWords": [
  "color: colour",
  "incase: in case, encase",
  "canot->cannot",
  "cancelled->canceled"
]

Case Sensitivity:

A word is flagged if it exactly matches an entry, or if its lowercased form exactly matches an entry. In practice this means:

An entry written in all lowercase (e.g. avocado) flags that word in any casing found in the document — avocado, Avocado, and AVOCADO are all flagged.
An entry containing any uppercase letter (e.g. Avocado) only flags that exact casing — avocado and AVOCADO are not flagged.

Type

string[]

Name: id
Description: Optional identifier.
Type: string

Name: ignoreRandomStrings
Description: Ignore sequences of characters that look like random strings.
Type: boolean
Default: true

Name

ignoreRegExpList

Description

List of regular expression patterns or pattern names to exclude from spell checking.

Example: ["href"] - to exclude html href pattern.

Regular expressions use JavaScript regular expression syntax.

Example: to ignore ALL-CAPS words

JSON

"ignoreRegExpList": ["/\\b[A-Z]+\\b/g"]

YAML

ignoreRegExpList:
  - >-
   /\b[A-Z]+\b/g

By default, several patterns are excluded. See Configuration for more details.

While you can create your own patterns, you can also leverage several patterns that are built-in to CSpell.

Type

( string  | ( "Base64"  | "Base64MultiLine"  | "Base64SingleLine"  |
 "CStyleComment"  | "CStyleHexValue"  | "CSSHexValue"  | "CommitHash"  |
 "CommitHashLink"  | "Email"  | "EscapeCharacters"  | "HexValues"  | "href"  |
 "PhpHereDoc"  | "PublicKey"  | "RsaCert"  | "SshRsa"  | "SHA"  |
 "HashStrings"  | "SpellCheckerDisable"  | "SpellCheckerDisableBlock"  |
 "SpellCheckerDisableLine"  | "SpellCheckerDisableNext"  |
 "SpellCheckerIgnoreInDocSetting"  | "string"  | "UnicodeRef"  | "Urls"  |
 "UUID"  | "Everything" ) )[]

Name: ignoreWords
Description: List of words to be ignored. An ignored word will not show up as an error, even if it is also in the flagWords.
Type: string[]

Name

includeRegExpList

Description

List of regular expression patterns or defined pattern names to match for spell checking.

If this property is defined, only text matching the included patterns will be checked.

While you can create your own patterns, you can also leverage several patterns that are built-in to CSpell.

Type

( string  | ( "Base64"  | "Base64MultiLine"  | "Base64SingleLine"  |
 "CStyleComment"  | "CStyleHexValue"  | "CSSHexValue"  | "CommitHash"  |
 "CommitHashLink"  | "Email"  | "EscapeCharacters"  | "HexValues"  | "href"  |
 "PhpHereDoc"  | "PublicKey"  | "RsaCert"  | "SshRsa"  | "SHA"  |
 "HashStrings"  | "SpellCheckerDisable"  | "SpellCheckerDisableBlock"  |
 "SpellCheckerDisableLine"  | "SpellCheckerDisableNext"  |
 "SpellCheckerIgnoreInDocSetting"  | "string"  | "UnicodeRef"  | "Urls"  |
 "UUID"  | "Everything" ) )[]

Name: language
Description: Sets the locale.
Type: string

Name: languageId
Description: Sets the programming language id to match file type.
Type: ( string | string[] )

Name: languageSettings
Description: Additional settings for individual programming languages and locales.
Type: LanguageSetting[]

Name: loadDefaultConfiguration
Description: By default, the bundled dictionary configurations are loaded. Explicitly setting this to false will prevent ALL default configuration from being loaded.
Type: boolean
Default: true

Name: maxDuplicateProblems
Description: The maximum number of times the same word can be flagged as an error in a file.
Type: number
Default: 5

Name

maxFileSize

Description

The Maximum size of a file to spell check. This is used to prevent spell checking very large files.

The value can be number or a string formatted <number>[units], number with optional units.

Supported units:

K, KB - value * 1024
M, MB - value * 2^20
G, GB - value * 2^30

Special values:

0 - has the effect of removing the limit.

Examples:

1000000 - 1 million bytes
1000K or 1000KB - 1 thousand kilobytes
0.5M or 0.5MB - 0.5 megabytes

default: no limit

Type

( number | string )

CSpell Version

9.4.0

Name: maxNumberOfProblems
Description: The maximum number of problems to report in a file.
Type: number
Default: 10000

Name: minRandomLength
Description: The minimum length of a random string to be ignored.
Type: number
Default: 40

Name: minWordLength
Description: The minimum length of a word before checking it against a dictionary.
Type: number
Default: 4

Name: name
Description: Optional name of configuration.
Type: string

Name

noSuggestDictionaries

Description

Optional list of dictionaries that will not be used for suggestions. Words in these dictionaries are considered correct, but will not be used when making spell correction suggestions.

Note: if a word is suggested by another dictionary, but found in one of these dictionaries, it will be removed from the set of possible suggestions.

Type

string[]

Name: numSuggestions
Description: Number of suggestions to make.
Type: number
Default: 10

Name

patterns

Description

Defines a list of patterns that can be used with the ignoreRegExpList and includeRegExpList options.

For example:

"ignoreRegExpList": ["comments"],
"patterns": [
  {
    "name": "comment-single-line",
    "pattern": "/#.*/g"
  },
  {
    "name": "comment-multi-line",
    "pattern": "/(?:\\/\\*[\\s\\S]*?\\*\\/)/g"
  },
  // You can also combine multiple named patterns into one single named pattern
  {
    "name": "comments",
    "pattern": ["comment-single-line", "comment-multi-line"]
  }
]

Type

{
  description?: string;
  name: string;
  pattern: (string | string[]);
}[]

Name

pnpFiles

Description

The PnP files to search for. Note: .mjs files are not currently supported.

Type

string[]

Default

default
[
  ".pnp.js",
  ".pnp.cjs"
]

Name

substitutionDefinitions

Description

The set of available substitutions. This is a collection of substitution definitions that can be applied to a document before spell checking.

Type

{
  description?: string;
  entries: [string, string][];
  name: string;
}[]

CSpell Version

9.7.0

Name: substitutions
Description: The set of substitutions to apply to a document before spell checking.
Type: ( [ string, string ] | string )[]
CSpell Version: 9.7.0

Name

suggestionNumChanges

Description

The maximum number of changes allowed on a word to be considered a suggestions.

For example, appending an s onto example -> examples is considered 1 change.

Range: between 1 and 5.

Type

number

Default

3

Name: suggestionsTimeout
Description: The maximum amount of time in milliseconds to generate suggestions for a word.
Type: number
Default: 500

Name

suggestWords

Description

A list of suggested replacements for words. Suggested words provide a way to make preferred suggestions on word replacements. To hint at a preferred change, but not to require it.

Format of suggestWords

Single suggestion (possible auto fix)
- word: suggestion
- word->suggestion
Multiple suggestions (not auto fixable)
- word: first, second, third
- word->first, second, third

Type

string[]

Name

unknownWords

Description

Controls how unknown words are handled.

report-all - Report all unknown words (default behavior)
report-simple - Report unknown words that have simple spelling errors, typos, and flagged words.
report-common-typos - Report unknown words that are common typos and flagged words.
report-flagged - Report unknown words that are flagged.

Type

( "report-all" | "report-simple" | "report-common-typos" | "report-flagged" )

Default

"report-all"

CSpell Version

9.1.0

Name: useIntlWordSegmentation
Description: Enables enables locale-sensitive text segmentation to support languages like Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Lao, Khmer, Myanmar, etc. The locale used for the segmentation is based on the language setting.
Type: boolean
CSpell Version: 10.2.0

Name

usePnP

Description

Packages managers like Yarn 2 use a .pnp.cjs file to assist in loading packages stored in the repository.

When true, the spell checker will search up the directory structure for the existence of a PnP file and load it.

Type

boolean

Name: words
Description: List of words to be considered correct.
Type: string[]

TypeScript:

{
  allowCompoundWords?: boolean;
  caseSensitive?: boolean;
  description?: string;
  diagnosticLevel?: ("Error" | "Warning" | "Information" | "Hint");
  diagnosticLevelFlaggedWords?: ("Error" | "Warning" | "Information" | "Hint");
  dictionaries?: string[];
  dictionaryDefinitions?: DictionaryDef[];
  enableFiletypes?: string[];
  enabled?: boolean;
  enabledFileTypes?: {
    [key: string]: boolean;
  };
  enabledLanguageIds?: string[];
  filename: (string | string[]);
  flagWords?: string[];
  id?: string;
  ignoreRandomStrings?: boolean;
  ignoreRegExpList?: (string | ("Base64" | "Base64MultiLine" | "Base64SingleLine" | "CStyleComment" | "CStyleHexValue" | "CSSHexValue" | "CommitHash" | "CommitHashLink" | "Email" | "EscapeCharacters" | "HexValues" | "href" | "PhpHereDoc" | "PublicKey" | "RsaCert" | "SshRsa" | "SHA" | "HashStrings" | "SpellCheckerDisable" | "SpellCheckerDisableBlock" | "SpellCheckerDisableLine" | "SpellCheckerDisableNext" | "SpellCheckerIgnoreInDocSetting" | "string" | "UnicodeRef" | "Urls" | "UUID" | "Everything"))[];
  ignoreWords?: string[];
  includeRegExpList?: (string | ("Base64" | "Base64MultiLine" | "Base64SingleLine" | "CStyleComment" | "CStyleHexValue" | "CSSHexValue" | "CommitHash" | "CommitHashLink" | "Email" | "EscapeCharacters" | "HexValues" | "href" | "PhpHereDoc" | "PublicKey" | "RsaCert" | "SshRsa" | "SHA" | "HashStrings" | "SpellCheckerDisable" | "SpellCheckerDisableBlock" | "SpellCheckerDisableLine" | "SpellCheckerDisableNext" | "SpellCheckerIgnoreInDocSetting" | "string" | "UnicodeRef" | "Urls" | "UUID" | "Everything"))[];
  language?: string;
  languageId?: (string | string[]);
  languageSettings?: LanguageSetting[];
  loadDefaultConfiguration?: boolean;
  maxDuplicateProblems?: number;
  maxFileSize?: (number | string);
  maxNumberOfProblems?: number;
  minRandomLength?: number;
  minWordLength?: number;
  name?: string;
  noSuggestDictionaries?: string[];
  numSuggestions?: number;
  patterns?: {
    description?: string;
    name: string;
    pattern: (string | string[]);
  }[];
  pnpFiles?: string[];
  substitutionDefinitions?: {
    description?: string;
    entries: [string, string][];
    name: string;
  }[];
  substitutions?: ([string, string] | string)[];
  suggestWords?: string[];
  suggestionNumChanges?: number;
  suggestionsTimeout?: number;
  unknownWords?: ("report-all" | "report-simple" | "report-common-typos" | "report-flagged");
  useIntlWordSegmentation?: boolean;
  usePnP?: boolean;
  words?: string[];
}

Settings​

cSpell.engines​

cSpell.ignoreRandomStrings​

cSpell.ignoreRegExpList​

cSpell.includeRegExpList​

cSpell.maxFileSize​

cSpell.minRandomLength​

cSpell.overrides​

cSpell.patterns​

cSpell.substitutionDefinitions​

cSpell.substitutions​

cSpell.useIntlWordSegmentation​

cSpell.vfs​

Type Definitions​

CustomDictionary​

DictionaryDefPreferred​

DictionaryDefCustom​

DictionaryDef​

LanguageSetting​

OverrideSettings​

Settings

`cSpell.engines`

`cSpell.ignoreRandomStrings`

`cSpell.ignoreRegExpList`

`cSpell.includeRegExpList`

`cSpell.maxFileSize`

`cSpell.minRandomLength`

`cSpell.overrides`

`cSpell.patterns`

`cSpell.substitutionDefinitions`

`cSpell.substitutions`

`cSpell.useIntlWordSegmentation`

`cSpell.vfs`

Type Definitions

`CustomDictionary`

`DictionaryDefPreferred`

`DictionaryDefCustom`

`DictionaryDef`

`LanguageSetting`

`OverrideSettings`