> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.vale.sh/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.vale.sh/checks/occurrence.md).

# occurrence

Learn about the occurrence extension point.

| Name         | Type     | Description                                                         |
| ------------ | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `max`        | `int`    | The maximum amount of times `token` may appear in a given scope.    |
| `min`        | `int`    | The minimum amount of times `token` has to appear in a given scope. |
| `token`      | `string` | The token of interest.                                              |
| `ignorecase` | `bool`   | Makes all matches case-insensitive.                                 |

`occurrence` enforces the maximum or minimum number of times a particular token can appear in a given scope.

```yaml
extends: occurrence
message: 'More than 3 commas!'
level: error
# Here, we're counting the number of times a comma appears
# in a sentence.
#
# If it occurs more than 3 times, we'll flag it.
scope: sentence
max: 3
token: ','
```

In the example above, we’re limiting the number of commas per sentence. The alert lands on the first match in the scope that went over:

> First, second, third, fourth, and fifth. Then, done.

```bash
test.md:1:6:style.Commas:More than 3 commas!
```

## [min](#min)

`min` makes absence a violation: a scope with fewer than `min` matches is flagged. The rule is evaluated once per scope, so a document that satisfies it in one paragraph and not the next is flagged at the paragraph that fell short.

```yaml
extends: occurrence
message: 'A paragraph here has no example (found %d).'
level: suggestion
scope: paragraph
min: 1
token: 'for example'
```

> Some tools, for example Vale, lint prose.
>
> Others lint code.

```bash
test.md:3:1:style.Examples:A paragraph here has no example (found 0).
```

When a scope has zero matches there is no occurrence to point at, so the alert is anchored to the scope's first word — one alert per scope that fell short, at that scope's own position.

{% hint style="info" %}
Per-scope positions for `min` shortfalls require Vale v3.20.0 or later. Earlier versions report once per file, at `1:1`.
{% endhint %}

## [message](#message)

The `message` key can contain an optional format specifier, `%s` or `%d`, which is populated with the number of occurrences:

```yaml
message: 'Titles should use fewer than 70 characters (found: %s).'
```


---

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