The current version only checks for a consistent number of columns in the file, by default the first non-empty/comment line determines the number of columns, unless maxcol= was used to set it.
# this is an example ’lint’ specification for tablint
#
maxcol 10
col 1 {
    name id        # name of a column (optional)
    type int
    range -10:10 
    blank -999        # although outside range, this signifies BLANK ???
}
col 2 {
    name town
    type char
    length 1:10        # a string 1-10 characters in length
}
col 3 {
    name zipcode
    type char
    length 2        # all strings must be 2 chars length
    match DC|MD|VA    # example of exclusive OR-ed
}
col 4 {
    name any
    type char
}
col 5 {
    name bad        
    type float        # example of a non-existent type
    john doe        # example of a non-existent 
}
col 6 {
    name good
    type real
    range 0:        # example of a half-infinite range interval
}
13-Jan-95 V0.1 Prototype created PJT 18-may-05 V0.3 deprecate lint= for now, and just simple column counting check PJT