# Typo Fr

> Typographie francaise

- Skill: `johnjackhouzi/typo-fr` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 5 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add johnjackhouzi/typo-fr`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/johnjackhouzi/typo-fr/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: JohnJackHouzi (https://skillmd.com/u/johnjackhouzi)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/johnjackhouzi/typo-fr

---


# Typographie francaise

Two modes. Read the one you need.

## Enforcement mode - you are writing French

Apply these silently, every time. Do not ask, do not explain, just write it right.

| Rule | Wrong | Right |
|---|---|---|
| No em or en dash | `Le prix — 30 €` | `Le prix - 30 €` (or a comma, or a colon) |
| Apostrophe: ASCII by default | `l’offre` (U+2019) | `l'offre` (U+0027) |
| Accents on capitals | `Etat`, `A propos` | `État`, `À propos` |
| oe ligature | `coeur`, `oeuvre` | `cœur`, `œuvre` |
| Thin no-break space before `;` `!` `?` | `Bonjour !` (plain space) | `Bonjour !` (U+202F) |
| No-break space before `:` | `Prix : 30` (plain space) | `Prix : 30` (U+00A0) |
| Guillemets, not straight quotes | `"oui"` | `« oui »` |
| Ordinals | `2ème`, `1ère` | `2e`, `1re` |
| `etc.` | `etc...` | `etc.` |
| No-break space before a unit | `30%`, `20€` | `30 %`, `20 €` (U+00A0) |
| Sentence case in titles | `Notre Nouvelle Offre` | `Notre nouvelle offre` |

The apostrophe rule has a profile, because the right answer depends on where the
text lands:

- **web** (default) - ASCII `'`. Survives copy-paste, search, URLs, database
  round-trips, and every editor.
- **print** - curly `’`. Correct French typography, for PDF and printed matter.
- **data** - ASCII everything, plain spaces, `...` instead of `…`. For CSV, JSON,
  and database fields where an invisible character becomes a bug.

Accents are never optional. "ASCII apostrophes" does not mean "strip the accents":
`é è à ç ù` always stay.

## Audit mode - you are reviewing existing text

```bash
scripts/typo_fr.py check src/ docs/          # report, exits 1 on findings
scripts/typo_fr.py diff README.md            # preview the rewrite
scripts/typo_fr.py fix README.md             # apply
scripts/typo_fr.py fix --profile print livre.md
scripts/typo_fr.py rules                     # the twelve rules
```

It never edits code. In a `.tsx` or `.py` file only string literals and comments
are prose, and a string with no whitespace in it - an import path, a class name, a
key - is left alone even then. In Markdown, code fences, inline code, link
targets, HTML tags, and frontmatter are protected. URLs, emails, file paths, HTML
entities, and times like `14:30` are protected everywhere.

Standard library Python, no dependencies. Regression suite: `sh tests/run.sh`.

## Never run `fix` blind

A whole-repository `fix` on a first run is how you corrupt data. Run `check`,
read the findings, then fix a directory at a time.

Two characters carry meaning even when they look like noise: the BOM at the head
of a CSV exported for Excel, and significant whitespace in a fixture or a dump.
This tool does not touch either, and that is exactly why you should not replace it
with a `sed` one-liner that would.

The remaining traps - non-breaking spaces being invisible in a code review, curly
apostrophes breaking a search index, English text run through a French linter -
are in `references/pieges.md`. The full rule set with its typographic sources is
in `references/regles.md`.