usageExists

Usageexists is a term used in software tooling and linguistic data processing to denote the ability to check whether a given usage instance is present in a data source, such as a language corpus, codebase, or documentation repository. It is typically realized as a predicate or utility function in software projects.

Conceptually, usageexists evaluates a targeted usage pattern, phrase, or token, returning a boolean value or a list of matches. Exact-match checks may look for identical strings, while more flexible variants support normalization, case folding, and regular expressions.

Common applications include verifying coverage in lexicographic corpora, ensuring that code examples exist in API documentation, or confirming translations or phrases appear in localization files. It can aid quality assurance, documentation maintenance, and linguistic research.

Implementation often relies on indexed data sources. The function may query a database, search an inverted index, or scan files with optional filters such as date ranges or source type. Output can include metadata such as document identifier, location, and frequency.

Naming conventions vary by language; usageexists, usageExists, or usage_exists are typical forms. In code, it can be a simple boolean function or a higher-level API that returns matches and context.

Limitations include data completeness, indexing performance, and normalization errors. The usefulness depends on the quality of the underlying corpus or repository; false negatives can occur if data is missing or poorly indexed.

See also: existence check, corpus search, documentation validation, lexicography, localization workflow.