LOU_TRANSLATE(1) User Commands LOU_TRANSLATE(1)

lou_translate - A Braille translator for large scale testing of liblouis Braille translation tables

lou_translate [OPTIONS] TABLE

Translate whatever is on standard input and print it on standard output. It is intended for large-scale testing of the accuracy of braille translation and back-translation.

KEY[:VALUE] [KEY[:VALUE] ...]
FILE[,FILE,...]

display this help and exit
display version information and exit
forward translation using the given table
backward translation using the given table If neither -f nor -b are specified forward translation is assumed
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.

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.
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.
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.
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).

Written by John J. Boyer.

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.

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.

June 2026 Liblouis 3.38.0