Commands

Without commands, Utterly Voice would simply type everything you say. If you want to use your computer hands-free, you need to use your voice to accomplish much more than just typing. For example, you may need to scroll your mouse, delete the previous word, move the text cursor up, click a button, copy and paste text, etc. These types of actions are accomplished with commands.

Commands are specific phrases found within an utterance. Each utterance can have zero or more commands within it.

Simple Commands

Most commands are simple commands. They are executed when you say a particular phrase in an utterance. For example, "bang" is a simple command in the "advanced" mode. It types the exclamation point character. If you say "hello world bang", "hello world!" is typed.

Commands with Utterance Arguments

Some commands accept utterance arguments. For example, "scroll down three" executes the "scroll down" command with an argument of 3. This results in a scroll down of three ticks. In order for utterance arguments to be processed, they must come immediately after the command, and they must be in the same utterance.

Some commands expect certain types of words as arguments. For example, the "repeat space" command expects a single argument that is a number. If you say "repeat space four", four space characters are typed. If you say "repeat space blueberries", the command is ignored and a warning is shown in the user interface.

Commands with Optional Utterance Arguments

Some commands accept optional utterance arguments. These arguments have default values when they are not supplied. For example, the "page down" command has an optional number argument that has a default value of 1. If you say "page down", the page down key is pressed once. If you say "page down four", the page down key is pressed four times.

When you are ready to use compound utterances that chain commands, also see Compound Utterances: Handling Optional Arguments.

Commands with Variable Number of Arguments

Some commands accept one or more arguments. By default, these commands use the remainder of the utterance as arguments. For example, the "title" command takes one or more arguments. If you say "title brave new world", "Brave New World" is typed.

If you wish to use this type of command in a compound utterance, you can use the special word "stop" to complete the command. If you say "title brave new world stop is my favorite book", "Brave New World is my favorite book" is typed.

Typing a Command Name

In some cases, you may need to type words that match a command name. For example, you may want to type "the title of my book". Because "title" is the name of a command, this utterance will actually type "the Of My Book".

There is a special command called "escape". This command simply types the words you say after it, without considering whether it is a command or not. Similar to "title", you can say "stop" to complete the command. If you say "the escape title of my book", "the title of my book" is typed.

If you want to type the word "escape", say "escape escape".