stacked-colon

A rule that is off by default: it reports two or more clause-introducing colons in one paragraph once a decisions table turns it on.

What it catches

Two or more clause-introducing colons in one paragraph.

Dimension

economy: words that carry nothing. A finding is counted on the dimension of its rule, the cost it names to the reader.

Why

A colon that introduces a clause reads as a label on the next idea; a second one in the same paragraph turns the prose into a run of labeled claims, a shape generated text takes and a person writing to a colleague rarely does. A leading label of three words or fewer ("Not done:"), a colon inside a code span, a quote or a URL, and a time are not counted. No firing has been labeled, so it ships off.

Default decision

The code is PRF4031. The decision depends on the kind of text judged:

Changing it

A decisions table sets this rule to deny, advise or off, for everything judged or for the files a glob matches. Proofread reads the table from the file its -decisions flag names:

{
  "rules": {"stacked-colon": "deny"},
  "paths": {"blog/**": {"stacked-colon": "off"}}
}

rules applies to every file. A glob in paths applies to the files it matches, and the last match wins. A rule set to off never reports.

Seeing it

A finding names the rule, its code and the decision that applies, and links here:

{"rule": "stacked-colon", "code": "PRF4031", "decision": "off", "url": "https://eli.gladman.cc/magus/reference/proofread/stacked-colon/"}

proofread rules prints this entry with every other rule's.

See also

• All proofread rules - every rule, grouped by what it checks
• Writing rules - how the rules apply to this repository's pages and pull requests
• The findings contract - the fields every finding carries