NAME

ChatBot::Simple - new and flexible chatbot engine in Perl

DESCRIPTION

ChatBot::Simple is a flexible chatbot engine written in Perl.

Instead of specifying the chatbot knowledge base in xml, we are going to use the powerful text manipulation capabilities of Perl.

The rationale behind this decision is that "simple" AI languages, like AIML, are only simple if you want to do simple things. Once you start adding features, they quickly become unmanageable.

ChatBot::Simple's design goal is to make easy things easy, and difficult things possible.

FEATURES

pattern

Use "pattern" to declare input patterns and responses:

pattern 'hello' => 'hi!';

Multiple patterns

pattern ['hello', 'hi'] => 'hi!';

Multiple (random) responses

pattern ['hello', 'hi'] => ['hello', 'hi', 'how are you doing?'];

Named variables

pattern 'my name is :name' => 'hello, :name!';

Once defined, named variables can be used at any point later during conversation.

Regular expressions with captured variables

pattern qr{good (morning|afternoon|night)} => 'good :1, :name!';

Perl code

pattern 'what is :n1 times :n2' => sub {
    my ($input, $param) = @_;
    my ($n1, $n2) = ($param->{n1}, $param->{n2});
    if ($n1 <= 10 and $n2 <= 10) {
        my $answer = $param->{n1} + $param->{n2};
        return "the answer is $answer!";
    }
    return;
} => "sorry, I only know how to multiply up to 10";

Unrecognized patterns

When everything fails, you can use a catch-all variable to deal with unrecognized patterns:

pattern ':something_else' => "sorry, I don't understand that";

transform

Use "transform" for simple normalization:

transform "isn't"  => "is not";
transform "aren't" => "are not";
transform "what's" => "what is";

context

Use "context" to isolate patterns that could have different meanings according to the context where they appear. Examples:

{
    context 'do you like x?';

    pattern 'yes' => 'I like it too';
    pattern 'no'  => 'why not?';
}

{
    context 'have you ever x?';

    pattern 'yes' => 'tell me more about that!';
    pattern 'no'  => 'would you like to?';
}

Use the "global" context to register patterns and transformations that should be applied in all contexts:

{
    context "global";

    pattern 'tell me a joke' => 'knock, knock';
}

process

"process(str)" will apply all the possible transformations and patterns, and return a valid response according to the context:

while (<>) {
    chomp;
    my $chatbot_response = process($_);
    print "$chatbot_response\n";
}

(See more examples in the "examples/" and "t/" directories)

INSTALLATION

To install this module, run the following commands:

perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION

After installing, you can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

perldoc ChatBot::Simple

Send comments, suggestions and bug reports to:

https://github.com/nferraz/ChatBot-Simple/issues

Or fork the code on github:

https://github.com/nferraz/ChatBot-Simple

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Nelson Ferraz

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either: the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; or the Artistic License.

See http://dev.perl.org/licenses/ for more information.