Our Eliza (oureliza)

A minimal Python implementation of the classic ELIZA chatbot with zero dependencies.

Try the Demo

Chat with ELIZA in your browser: Interactive Demo

Installation

pip install oureliza

Or with Poetry:

poetry add oureliza

Usage

from oureliza import Eliza

eliza = Eliza()

# Get initial greeting
print(eliza.initial())

# Have a conversation
print(eliza.respond("I feel sad today"))
print(eliza.respond("My mother never understood me"))
print(eliza.respond("I dream about flying"))

# Get final message
print(eliza.final())

Script Format

ELIZA uses a script-based pattern matching system designed by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966. See SCRIPT_FORMAT.md for full history and specification.

The built-in DOCTOR_SCRIPT follows this format:

Tags

Pattern Matching

• * matches zero or more words
• @word matches any synonym in the group
• (1), (2), etc. reference captured groups from decomposition

Example Script Block

key: mother 10
  decomp: * my mother *
    reasmb: Tell me more about your mother.
    reasmb: What else comes to mind when you think of your mother?
  decomp: * mother *
    reasmb: Who else in your family (2)?

Special Features

• goto: Redirect to another keyword's patterns

  reasmb: goto family
  

• save ($): Save response to memory for later use

  decomp: $ * i want *
  

• xnone: Fallback responses when no pattern matches

  key: xnone
    decomp: *
      reasmb: Please go on.
      reasmb: Tell me more about that.
  

Custom Scripts

You can provide your own script:

from oureliza import Eliza

my_script = """
initial: Hello! How can I help you today?
final: Goodbye!
quit: bye
quit: exit

key: xnone
  decomp: *
    reasmb: I see. Tell me more.
    reasmb: Please continue.

key: hello 10
  decomp: *
    reasmb: Hi there! What's on your mind?
"""

eliza = Eliza(script=my_script)
print(eliza.respond("hello"))

Development

# Install dependencies
make install

# Run tests
make test

# Build package
make build

# Do everything
make all

References

Based on wadetb/eliza with significant script expansion.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Author

Craig Trim - craigtrim@gmail.com

More NLP articles and demos at craigtrim.com