Azure AI Text Analytics SDK for Python

Client library for Azure AI Language service NLP capabilities including sentiment, entities, key phrases, and more.

Installation

pip install azure-ai-textanalytics

Environment Variables

AZURE_LANGUAGE_ENDPOINT=https://<resource>.cognitiveservices.azure.com
AZURE_LANGUAGE_KEY=<your-api-key>  # If using API key

Authentication

API Key

import os
from azure.core.credentials import AzureKeyCredential
from azure.ai.textanalytics import TextAnalyticsClient

endpoint = os.environ["AZURE_LANGUAGE_ENDPOINT"]
key = os.environ["AZURE_LANGUAGE_KEY"]

client = TextAnalyticsClient(endpoint, AzureKeyCredential(key))

Entra ID (Recommended)

from azure.ai.textanalytics import TextAnalyticsClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential

client = TextAnalyticsClient(
    endpoint=os.environ["AZURE_LANGUAGE_ENDPOINT"],
    credential=DefaultAzureCredential()
)

Sentiment Analysis

documents = [
    "I had a wonderful trip to Seattle last week!",
    "The food was terrible and the service was slow."
]

result = client.analyze_sentiment(documents, show_opinion_mining=True)

for doc in result:
    if not doc.is_error:
        print(f"Sentiment: {doc.sentiment}")
        print(f"Scores: pos={doc.confidence_scores.positive:.2f}, "
              f"neg={doc.confidence_scores.negative:.2f}, "
              f"neu={doc.confidence_scores.neutral:.2f}")
        
        # Opinion mining (aspect-based sentiment)
        for sentence in doc.sentences:
            for opinion in sentence.mined_opinions:
                target = opinion.target
                print(f"  Target: '{target.text}' - {target.sentiment}")
                for assessment in opinion.assessments:
                    print(f"    Assessment: '{assessment.text}' - {assessment.sentiment}")

Entity Recognition

documents = ["Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque."]

result = client.recognize_entities(documents)

for doc in result:
    if not doc.is_error:
        for entity in doc.entities:
            print(f"Entity: {entity.text}")
            print(f"  Category: {entity.category}")
            print(f"  Subcategory: {entity.subcategory}")
            print(f"  Confidence: {entity.confidence_score:.2f}")

PII Detection

documents = ["My SSN is 123-45-6789 and my email is john@example.com"]

result = client.recognize_pii_entities(documents)

for doc in result:
    if not doc.is_error:
        print(f"Redacted: {doc.redacted_text}")
        for entity in doc.entities:
            print(f"PII: {entity.text} ({entity.category})")

Key Phrase Extraction

documents = ["Azure AI provides powerful machine learning capabilities for developers."]

result = client.extract_key_phrases(documents)

for doc in result:
    if not doc.is_error:
        print(f"Key phrases: {doc.key_phrases}")

Language Detection

documents = ["Ce document est en francais.", "This is written in English."]

result = client.detect_language(documents)

for doc in result:
    if not doc.is_error:
        print(f"Language: {doc.primary_language.name} ({doc.primary_language.iso6391_name})")
        print(f"Confidence: {doc.primary_language.confidence_score:.2f}")

Healthcare Text Analytics

documents = ["Patient has diabetes and was prescribed metformin 500mg twice daily."]

poller = client.begin_analyze_healthcare_entities(documents)
result = poller.result()

for doc in result:
    if not doc.is_error:
        for entity in doc.entities:
            print(f"Entity: {entity.text}")
            print(f"  Category: {entity.category}")
            print(f"  Normalized: {entity.normalized_text}")
            
            # Entity links (UMLS, etc.)
            for link in entity.data_sources:
                print(f"  Link: {link.name} - {link.entity_id}")

Multiple Analysis (Batch)

from azure.ai.textanalytics import (
    RecognizeEntitiesAction,
    ExtractKeyPhrasesAction,
    AnalyzeSentimentAction
)

documents = ["Microsoft announced new Azure AI features at Build conference."]

poller = client.begin_analyze_actions(
    documents,
    actions=[
        RecognizeEntitiesAction(),
        ExtractKeyPhrasesAction(),
        AnalyzeSentimentAction()
    ]
)

results = poller.result()
for doc_results in results:
    for result in doc_results:
        if result.kind == "EntityRecognition":
            print(f"Entities: {[e.text for e in result.entities]}")
        elif result.kind == "KeyPhraseExtraction":
            print(f"Key phrases: {result.key_phrases}")
        elif result.kind == "SentimentAnalysis":
            print(f"Sentiment: {result.sentiment}")

Async Client

from azure.ai.textanalytics.aio import TextAnalyticsClient
from azure.identity.aio import DefaultAzureCredential

async def analyze():
    async with TextAnalyticsClient(
        endpoint=endpoint,
        credential=DefaultAzureCredential()
    ) as client:
        result = await client.analyze_sentiment(documents)
        # Process results...

Client Types

Client	Purpose
TextAnalyticsClient	All text analytics operations
TextAnalyticsClient (aio)	Async version

Available Operations

Method	Description
analyze_sentiment	Sentiment analysis with opinion mining
recognize_entities	Named entity recognition
recognize_pii_entities	PII detection and redaction
recognize_linked_entities	Entity linking to Wikipedia
extract_key_phrases	Key phrase extraction
detect_language	Language detection
begin_analyze_healthcare_entities	Healthcare NLP (long-running)
begin_analyze_actions	Multiple analyses in batch

Best Practices

1. Use batch operations for multiple documents (up to 10 per request)
2. Enable opinion mining for detailed aspect-based sentiment
3. Use async client for high-throughput scenarios
4. Handle document errors — results list may contain errors for some docs
5. Specify language when known to improve accuracy
6. Use context manager or close client explicitly

When to Use

This skill is applicable to execute the workflow or actions described in the overview.