.. _babble_file:


Babble File
===========

Babble files are a form of Markov specification to generate text on the
fly that preserves some statistical properties of the original source
material.  There are 2 types of lines in this file.  The file begins
with a list of tokens/words and their relative frequency in the source.
These frequencies are used to decide the likelihood of choosing one of
those tokens when there is no "next" state from the current.  These
lines look like:

.. code-block:: cfg

    connections 24
    recommended 4
    book 3

which gives the tokens ``connections``, ``recommended``, and ``book``
with the frequency of each token in the source.

The second type of line is a pair of tokens.  The first representing
the current state, or previously selected token.  The second token is
the next token to select followed by a relative frequency.  The first
token may appear on many lines.  This sequence of lines could be
combined into a :ref:`cdf_line`.  For example

.. code-block:: cfg

    own use. 0.5
    own server 1

both apply when the current state is ``own`` and show that there is an
equal chance of moving to either ``use.`` or ``server``.  This would be
a CDF line like ``0.5 use., 1.0 server``.