SERVICE UPDATES

What is PurgoMalum?

PurgoMalum is a simple, free, RESTful web service for filtering and removing content of profanity, obscenity and other unwanted text. PurgoMalum's interface accepts several parameters for customization and can return results in plain text, XML and JSON.

PurgoMalum is designed to remove words from input text, based on an internal profanity list (you may optionally add your own words to the profanity list through a request parameter (see Request Parameters below). It is designed to recognize character alternates often used in place of standard alphabetic characters, e.g. "@" will be recognized as an "a", "$" will be recognized as an "s", and so forth.

PurgoMalum also utilizes a list of "safe words", i.e. innocuous words which contain words from the profanity list ("class" for example). These safe words are excluded from the filter.

If you discover any bugs or have any concerns, please contact me, and I will do my best to address them.

Usage

Calling the Web Service

Calling the web service involves a simple HTTP GET request. The only two requirements for using PurgoMalum are the "text" parameter on the query string and the request-type name as part of the path in the request. Here is a basic example of a request call to PurgoMalum, which will return the result as XML:

https://www.purgomalum.com/service/xml?text=this is some test input

Note the return type within the request URL - "xml" - and the required parameter "text".

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Request Parameters

This is a current list of available parameters which can be used in the request query string:

Parameter Required? Description
text Required Input text to be processed.
add Optional A comma separated list of words to be added to the profanity list. Accepts letters, numbers, underscores (_) and commas (,). Accepts up to 10 words (or 200 maximum characters in length). The PurgoMalum filter is case-insensitive, so the case of your entry is not important.
fill_text Optional Text used to replace any words matching the profanity list. Accepts letters, numbers, underscores (_) tildes (~), exclamation points (!), dashes/hyphens (-), equal signs (=), pipes (|), single quotes ('), double quotes ("), asterisks (*), open and closed curly brackets ({ }), square brackets ([ ]) and parentheses (). Maximum length of 20 characters. When not used, the default is an asterisk (*) fill.
fill_char Optional Single character used to replace any words matching the profanity list. Fills designated character to length of word replaced. Accepts underscore (_) tilde (~), dash/hyphen (-), equal sign (=), pipe (|) and asterisk (*). When not used, the default is an asterisk (*) fill.

Response Types

This is a current list of methods provided by the web service and their corresponding return type:

Method Name Response Type Description
containsprofanity Plain Text Returns "true" if input text contains words matching profanity list. If no matches are found, returns "false".
xml XML Returns processed input text as XML.
json JSON Returns processed input text as JSON.
plain Plain Text Returns processed input text as plain text.

Examples

Here are some examples of PurgoMalum implementations. Note that the method name follows the "/service/" section in the path.

XML Request

https://www.purgomalum.com/service/xml?text=this is some test input

XML Response

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<PurgoMalum xmlns="http://www.purgomalum.com">
<result>this is some test input</result>
</PurgoMalum>

JSON Request

https://www.purgomalum.com/service/json?text=this is some test input

JSON Response

{"result":"this is some test input"}

Plain Text Request

https://www.purgomalum.com/service/plain?text=this is some test input

Plain Text Response

this is some test input

Contains Profanity Request

https://www.purgomalum.com/service/containsprofanity?text=this is some test input

Contains Profanity Plain Text Response

false

Advanced Examples

Here are some examples of PurgoMalum implementations using the various optional parameters:

XML Request

https://www.purgomalum.com/service/xml?text=this is some test input&add=this, some&fill_text=[replaced]

XMLResponse

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<PurgoMalum xmlns="http://www.purgomalum.com">
<result>[replaced] is [replaced] test input</result>
</PurgoMalum>

JSON Request

https://www.purgomalum.com/service/json?text=this is some test input&add=input&fill_char=_

JSON Response

{"result":"this is some test _____"}

Error Handling

When an error occurs - caused by either invalid user input or generated within the application - PurgoMalum will not return the "results" element, but instead will return the "error" element with an associated error message.

Here is an example of a request using an invalid parameter, causing an error response:

Request

https://www.purgomalum.com/service/xml?text=this is some test input&fill_text=this is curiously long replacement text

Response

<PurgoMalum xmlns="http://www.purgomalum.com">
<error>User Replacement Text Exceeds Limit of 20 Characters.</error>
</PurgoMalum>

Contact

Please contact me with any questions, concerns or suggestions. If you encounter a response that is unusual or erroneous, please send me the exact text and optional parameters (if any) you used to make the request.

Thanks!
Sam
email: admin@purgomalum.com