Spell-checking

A typo in a comment or in a name is easy to miss and hard to fix later, when the misspelt name is used in many files. The IDE’s Typo inspection (a check it runs as you type and shows in the editor) underlines misspelt words in SystemVerilog files and offers the correction on Alt+Enter (⌥⏎ on macOS). It is on by default.

Try it

The steps use the sample project; open it and wait for indexing first. They end with the file as it was.

1. Open rtl/counter.sv, click on the empty line just above state_t state; and type // the recieved count. recieved gets a wavy underline: it is a typo. Other underlines elsewhere in the file are not part of this example (an abbreviation such as clk can be unknown to the dictionary; see What is checked). Leave them; they do not affect the example.

2. With the caret (the text cursor) on recieved, press Option+Return (⌥⏎) on macOS or Alt+Enter on Windows/Linux. A popup lists corrections: choose received. The comment now reads // the received count and the underline is gone.

3. Press End, then Enter, and type logic cuont_q;. cuont is underlined: a name is split into words at _ and at case changes, and each word is checked. Put the caret on cuont and press ⌥⏎ / Alt+Enter. The popup offers Rename to … (a list of corrected names): choosing one would rename the declaration and every use. This example skips it. Press Escape to close the popup without choosing.

4. Press ⌘Z (macOS) / Ctrl+Z (Windows/Linux) repeatedly until the two lines you typed are gone. Check the result: the first line after import counter_pkg::*; is blank, then comes state_t state;. If you lose track, close the file without saving the change and open it again.

If nothing is underlined, see If it doesn’t work.

What is checked

In SystemVerilog files:

• comments and string literals;
• every name a declaration introduces (modules, classes, signals, functions, `define macro names, …), split into words at _ and at case changes (rx_fifo_lenght → lenght). A name is checked where it is declared, not at each use, so a misspelt name is reported once; an abbreviation the dictionary does not know (rx, fifo) may be reported too (see below for what to do).

Not checked:

• escape sequences (\n, \t) and format specifiers (%0d) in strings;
• keywords, system tasks, attributes ((* mark_debug = "true" *)) and compiler directives (`timescale, `ifdef …);
• the code of an inactive `ifdef branch (Conditional compilation).

If a word is correct but unknown to the dictionary (an abbreviation such as fifo), press Alt+Enter on it and choose Save ‘word’ to dictionary. It is not reported again. To remove it later, open Settings | Editor | Natural Languages | Spelling.

If it doesn’t work

You see	Likely cause	What to do
recieved is not underlined	You typed in a different file than rtl/counter.sv, or the project is still indexing	Check the file name in the editor tab; wait for the progress bar at the bottom right to finish
Nothing is underlined anywhere	The Typo inspection is turned off	Turn it on under Settings (⌘, on macOS, Ctrl+Alt+S on Windows/Linux) | Editor | Inspections | Proofreading | Typo
A word you expect is not underlined	It is a keyword or a directive, or is in an inactive `ifdef branch	See What is checked
The popup shows no correction	The word has no close match in the dictionary	Save it to the dictionary if it is correct
The popup has no Rename to …	The caret is not on the misspelt word in the declaration (names are checked only where they are declared)	Put the caret on cuont in logic cuont_q;
A correct abbreviation is underlined	It is not in the dictionary	Save it to a dictionary from the Alt+Enter popup