1*syntax.txt* For Vim version 7.0aa. Last change: 2004 Jun 16 2 3 4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar 5 6 7Syntax highlighting *syntax* *syntax-highlighting* *coloring* 8 9Syntax highlighting enables Vim to show parts of the text in another font or 10color. Those parts can be specific keywords or text matching a pattern. Vim 11doesn't parse the whole file (to keep it fast), so the highlighting has its 12limitations. Lexical highlighting might be a better name, but since everybody 13calls it syntax highlighting we'll stick with that. 14 15Vim supports syntax highlighting on all terminals. But since most ordinary 16terminals have very limited highlighting possibilities, it works best in the 17GUI version, gvim. 18 19In the User Manual: 20|usr_06.txt| introduces syntax highlighting. 21|usr_44.txt| introduces writing a syntax file. 22 231. Quick start |:syn-qstart| 242. Syntax files |:syn-files| 253. Syntax loading procedure |syntax-loading| 264. Syntax file remarks |:syn-file-remarks| 275. Defining a syntax |:syn-define| 286. :syntax arguments |:syn-arguments| 297. Syntax patterns |:syn-pattern| 308. Syntax clusters |:syn-cluster| 319. Including syntax files |:syn-include| 3210. Synchronizing |:syn-sync| 3311. Listing syntax items |:syntax| 3412. Highlight command |:highlight| 3513. Linking groups |:highlight-link| 3614. Cleaning up |:syn-clear| 3715. Highlighting tags |tag-highlight| 3816. Color xterms |xterm-color| 39 40{Vi does not have any of these commands} 41 42Syntax highlighting is not available when the |+syntax| feature has been 43disabled at compile time. 44 45============================================================================== 461. Quick start *:syn-qstart* 47 48 *:syn-enable* *:syntax-enable* 49This command switches on syntax highlighting: > 50 51 :syntax enable 52 53What this command actually does is to execute the command > 54 :source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim 55 56If the VIM environment variable is not set, Vim will try to find 57the path in another way (see |$VIMRUNTIME|). Usually this works just 58fine. If it doesn't, try setting the VIM environment variable to the 59directory where the Vim stuff is located. For example, if your syntax files 60are in the "/usr/vim/vim50/syntax" directory, set $VIMRUNTIME to 61"/usr/vim/vim50". You must do this in the shell, before starting Vim. 62 63 *:syn-on* *:syntax-on* 64The ":syntax enable" command will keep your current color settings. This 65allows using ":highlight" commands to set your preferred colors before or 66after using this command. If you want Vim to overrule your settings with the 67defaults, use: > 68 :syntax on 69< 70 *:hi-normal* *:highlight-normal* 71If you are running in the GUI, you can get white text on a black background 72with: > 73 :highlight Normal guibg=Black guifg=White 74For a color terminal see |:hi-normal-cterm|. 75For setting up your own colors syntax highlighting see |syncolor|. 76 77NOTE: The syntax files on MS-DOS and Windows have lines that end in <CR><NL>. 78The files for Unix end in <NL>. This means you should use the right type of 79file for your system. Although on MS-DOS and Windows the right format is 80automatically selected if the 'fileformats' option is not empty. 81 82NOTE: When using reverse video ("gvim -fg white -bg black"), the default value 83of 'background' will not be set until the GUI window is opened, which is after 84reading the .gvimrc. This will cause the wrong default highlighting to be 85used. To set the default value of 'background' before switching on 86highlighting, include the ":gui" command in the .gvimrc: > 87 88 :gui " open window and set default for 'background' 89 :syntax on " start highlighting, use 'background' to set colors 90 91NOTE: Using ":gui" in the .gvimrc means that "gvim -f" won't start in the 92foreground! Use ":gui -f" then. 93 94 95You can toggle the syntax on/off with this command > 96 :if exists("syntax_on") | syntax off | else | syntax enable | endif 97 98To put this into a mapping, you can use: > 99 :map <F7> :if exists("syntax_on") <Bar> 100 \ syntax off <Bar> 101 \ else <Bar> 102 \ syntax enable <Bar> 103 \ endif <CR> 104[using the |<>| notation, type this literally] 105 106Details 107The ":syntax" commands are implemented by sourcing a file. To see exactly how 108this works, look in the file: 109 command file ~ 110 :syntax enable $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim 111 :syntax on $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim 112 :syntax manual $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/manual.vim 113 :syntax off $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim 114Also see |syntax-loading|. 115 116============================================================================== 1172. Syntax files *:syn-files* 118 119The syntax and highlighting commands for one language are normally stored in 120a syntax file. The name convention is: "{name}.vim". Where {name} is the 121name of the language, or an abbreviation (to fit the name in 8.3 characters, 122a requirement in case the file is used on a DOS filesystem). 123Examples: 124 c.vim perl.vim java.vim html.vim 125 cpp.vim sh.vim csh.vim 126 127The syntax file can contain any Ex commands, just like a vimrc file. But 128the idea is that only commands for a specific language are included. When a 129language is a superset of another language, it may include the other one, 130for example, the cpp.vim file could include the c.vim file: > 131 :so $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/c.vim 132 133The .vim files are normally loaded with an autocommand. For example: > 134 :au Syntax c runtime! syntax/c.vim 135 :au Syntax cpp runtime! syntax/cpp.vim 136These commands are normally in the file $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/synload.vim. 137 138 139MAKING YOUR OWN SYNTAX FILES *mysyntaxfile* 140 141When you create your own syntax files, and you want to have Vim use these 142automatically with ":syntax enable", do this: 143 1441. Create your user runtime directory. You would normally use the first item 145 of the 'runtimepath' option. Example for Unix: > 146 mkdir ~/.vim 147 1482. Create a directory in there called "syntax". For Unix: > 149 mkdir ~/.vim/syntax 150 1513. Write the Vim syntax file. Or download one from the internet. Then write 152 it in your syntax directory. For example, for the "mine" syntax: > 153 :w ~/.vim/syntax/mine.vim 154 155Now you can start using your syntax file manually: > 156 :set syntax=mine 157You don't have to exit Vim to use this. 158 159If you also want Vim to detect the type of file, see |new-filetype|. 160 161If you are setting up a system with many users and you don't want each user 162to add the same syntax file, you can use another directory from 'runtimepath'. 163 164 165ADDING TO AN EXISTING SYNTAX FILE *mysyntaxfile-add* 166 167If you are mostly satisfied with an existing syntax file, but would like to 168add a few items or change the highlighting, follow these steps: 169 1701. Create your user directory from 'runtimepath', see above. 171 1722. Create a directory in there called "after/syntax". For Unix: > 173 mkdir ~/.vim/after 174 mkdir ~/.vim/after/syntax 175 1763. Write a Vim script that contains the commands you want to use. For 177 example, to change the colors for the C syntax: > 178 highlight cComment ctermfg=Green guifg=Green 179 1804. Write that file in the "after/syntax" directory. Use the name of the 181 syntax, with ".vim" added. For our C syntax: > 182 :w ~/.vim/after/syntax/c.vim 183 184That's it. The next time you edit a C file the Comment color will be 185different. You don't even have to restart Vim. 186 187 188REPLACING AN EXISTING SYNTAX FILE *mysyntaxfile-replace* 189 190If you don't like a distributed syntax file, or you have downloaded a new 191version, follow the same steps as for |mysyntaxfile| above. Just make sure 192that you write the syntax file in a directory that is early in 'runtimepath'. 193Vim will only load the first syntax file found. 194 195 196NAMING CONVENTIONS 197 *group-name* *{group-name}* *E669* *W18* 198The name for a highlight or syntax group must consist of ASCII letters, digits 199and the underscore. As a regexp: "[a-zA-Z0-9_]*" 200 201To be able to allow each user to pick his favorite set of colors, there must 202be preferred names for highlight groups that are common for many languages. 203These are the suggested group names (if syntax highlighting works properly 204you can see the actual color, except for "Ignore"): 205 206 *Comment any comment 207 208 *Constant any constant 209 String a string constant: "this is a string" 210 Character a character constant: 'c', '\n' 211 Number a number constant: 234, 0xff 212 Boolean a boolean constant: TRUE, false 213 Float a floating point constant: 2.3e10 214 215 *Identifier any variable name 216 Function function name (also: methods for classes) 217 218 *Statement any statement 219 Conditional if, then, else, endif, switch, etc. 220 Repeat for, do, while, etc. 221 Label case, default, etc. 222 Operator "sizeof", "+", "*", etc. 223 Keyword any other keyword 224 Exception try, catch, throw 225 226 *PreProc generic Preprocessor 227 Include preprocessor #include 228 Define preprocessor #define 229 Macro same as Define 230 PreCondit preprocessor #if, #else, #endif, etc. 231 232 *Type int, long, char, etc. 233 StorageClass static, register, volatile, etc. 234 Structure struct, union, enum, etc. 235 Typedef A typedef 236 237 *Special any special symbol 238 SpecialChar special character in a constant 239 Tag you can use CTRL-] on this 240 Delimiter character that needs attention 241 SpecialComment special things inside a comment 242 Debug debugging statements 243 244 *Underlined text that stands out, HTML links 245 246 *Ignore left blank, hidden 247 248 *Error any erroneous construct 249 250 *Todo anything that needs extra attention; mostly the 251 keywords TODO FIXME and XXX 252 253The names marked with * are the preferred groups; the others are minor groups. 254For the preferred groups, the "syntax.vim" file contains default highlighting. 255The minor groups are linked to the preferred groups, so they get the same 256highlighting. You can override these defaults by using ":highlight" commands 257after sourcing the "syntax.vim" file. 258 259Note that highlight group names are not case sensitive. "String" and "string" 260can be used for the same group. 261 262The following names are reserved and cannot be used as a group name: 263 NONE ALL ALLBUT contains contained 264 265============================================================================== 2663. Syntax loading procedure *syntax-loading* 267 268This explains the details that happen when the command ":syntax enable" is 269issued. When Vim initializes itself, it finds out where the runtime files are 270located. This is used here as the variable |$VIMRUNTIME|. 271 272":syntax enable" and ":syntax on" do the following: 273 274 Source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim 275 | 276 +- Clear out any old syntax by sourcing $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim 277 | 278 +- Source first syntax/synload.vim in 'runtimepath' 279 | | 280 | +- Setup the colors for syntax highlighting. If a color scheme is 281 | | defined it is loaded again with ":colors {name}". Otherwise 282 | | ":runtime! syntax/syncolor.vim" is used. ":syntax on" overrules 283 | | existing colors, ":syntax enable" only sets groups that weren't 284 | | set yet. 285 | | 286 | +- Set up syntax autocmds to load the appropriate syntax file when 287 | | the 'syntax' option is set. *synload-1* 288 | | 289 | +- Source the user's optional file, from the |mysyntaxfile| variable. 290 | This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only. *synload-2* 291 | 292 +- Do ":filetype on", which does ":runtime! filetype.vim". It loads any 293 | filetype.vim files found. It should always Source 294 | $VIMRUNTIME/filetype.vim, which does the following. 295 | | 296 | +- Install autocmds based on suffix to set the 'filetype' option 297 | | This is where the connection between file name and file type is 298 | | made for known file types. *synload-3* 299 | | 300 | +- Source the user's optional file, from the *myfiletypefile* 301 | | variable. This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only. 302 | | *synload-4* 303 | | 304 | +- Install one autocommand which sources scripts.vim when no file 305 | | type was detected yet. *synload-5* 306 | | 307 | +- Source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim, to setup the Syntax menu. |menu.vim| 308 | 309 +- Install a FileType autocommand to set the 'syntax' option when a file 310 | type has been detected. *synload-6* 311 | 312 +- Execute syntax autocommands to start syntax highlighting for each 313 already loaded buffer. 314 315 316Upon loading a file, Vim finds the relevant syntax file as follows: 317 318 Loading the file triggers the BufReadPost autocommands. 319 | 320 +- If there is a match with one of the autocommands from |synload-3| 321 | (known file types) or |synload-4| (user's file types), the 'filetype' 322 | option is set to the file type. 323 | 324 +- The autocommand at |synload-5| is triggered. If the file type was not 325 | found yet, then scripts.vim is searched for in 'runtimepath'. This 326 | should always load $VIMRUNTIME/scripts.vim, which does the following. 327 | | 328 | +- Source the user's optional file, from the *myscriptsfile* 329 | | variable. This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only. 330 | | 331 | +- If the file type is still unknown, check the contents of the file, 332 | again with checks like "getline(1) =~ pattern" as to whether the 333 | file type can be recognized, and set 'filetype'. 334 | 335 +- When the file type was determined and 'filetype' was set, this 336 | triggers the FileType autocommand |synload-6| above. It sets 337 | 'syntax' to the determined file type. 338 | 339 +- When the 'syntax' option was set above, this triggers an autocommand 340 | from |synload-1| (and |synload-2|). This find the main syntax file in 341 | 'runtimepath', with this command: 342 | runtime! syntax/<name>.vim 343 | 344 +- Any other user installed FileType or Syntax autocommands are 345 triggered. This can be used to change the highlighting for a specific 346 syntax. 347 348============================================================================== 3494. Syntax file remarks *:syn-file-remarks* 350 351 *b:current_syntax-variable* 352Vim stores the name of the syntax that has been loaded in the 353"b:current_syntax" variable. You can use this if you want to load other 354settings, depending on which syntax is active. Example: > 355 :au BufReadPost * if b:current_syntax == "csh" 356 :au BufReadPost * do-some-things 357 :au BufReadPost * endif 358 359 3602HTML *2html.vim* *convert-to-HTML* 361 362This is not a syntax file itself, but a script that converts the current 363window into HTML. Vim opens a new window in which it builds the HTML file. 364 365You are not supposed to set the 'filetype' or 'syntax' option to "2html"! 366Source the script to convert the current file: > 367 368 :runtime! syntax/2html.vim 369< 370Warning: This is slow! 371 *:TOhtml* 372Or use the ":TOhtml" user command. It is defined in a standard plugin. 373":TOhtml" also works with a range and in a Visual area: > 374 375 :10,40TOhtml 376 377After you save the resulting file, you can view it with any HTML viewer, such 378as Netscape. The colors should be exactly the same as you see them in Vim. 379 380To restrict the conversion to a range of lines set "html_start_line" and 381"html_end_line" to the first and last line to be converted. Example, using 382the last set Visual area: > 383 384 :let html_start_line = line("'<") 385 :let html_end_line = line("'>") 386 387The lines are numbered according to 'number' option and the Number 388highlighting. You can force lines to be numbered in the HTML output by 389setting "html_number_lines" to non-zero value: > 390 :let html_number_lines = 1 391Force to omit the line numbers by using a zero value: > 392 :let html_number_lines = 0 393Go back to the default to use 'number' by deleting the variable: > 394 :unlet html_number_lines 395 396By default, HTML optimized for old browsers is generated. If you prefer using 397cascading style sheets (CSS1) for the attributes (resulting in considerably 398shorter and valid HTML 4 file), use: > 399 :let html_use_css = 1 400 401By default "<pre>" and "</pre>" is used around the text. This makes it show 402up as you see it in Vim, but without wrapping. If you prefer wrapping, at the 403risk of making some things look a bit different, use: > 404 :let html_no_pre = 1 405This will use <br> at the end of each line and use " " for repeated 406spaces. 407 408The current value of 'encoding' is used to specify the charset of the HTML 409file. This only works for those values of 'encoding' that have an equivalent 410HTML charset name. To overrule this set g:html_use_encoding to the name of 411the charset to be used: > 412 :let html_use_encoding = "foobar" 413To omit the line that specifies the charset, set g:html_use_encoding to an 414empty string: > 415 :let html_use_encoding = "" 416To go back to the automatic mechanism, delete the g:html_use_encoding 417variable: > 418 :unlet html_use_encoding 419< 420 *convert-to-XML* *convert-to-XHTML* 421An alternative is to have the script generate XHTML (XML compliant HTML). To 422do this set the "use_xhtml" variable: > 423 :let use_xhtml = 1 424To disable it again delete the variable: > 425 :unlet use_xhtml 426The generated XHTML file can be used in DocBook XML documents. See: 427 http://people.mech.kuleuven.ac.be/~pissaris/howto/src2db.html 428 429Remarks: 430- This only works in a version with GUI support. If the GUI is not actually 431 running (possible for X11) it still works, but not very well (the colors 432 may be wrong). 433- Older browsers will not show the background colors. 434- From most browsers you can also print the file (in color)! 435 436Here is an example how to run the script over all .c and .h files from a 437Unix shell: > 438 for f in *.[ch]; do gvim -f +"syn on" +"run! syntax/2html.vim" +"wq" +"q" $f; done 439< 440 441ABEL *abel.vim* *abel-syntax* 442 443ABEL highlighting provides some user-defined options. To enable them, assign 444any value to the respective variable. Example: > 445 :let abel_obsolete_ok=1 446To disable them use ":unlet". Example: > 447 :unlet abel_obsolete_ok 448 449Variable Highlight ~ 450abel_obsolete_ok obsolete keywords are statements, not errors 451abel_cpp_comments_illegal do not interpret '//' as inline comment leader 452 453 454ADA *ada.vim* *ada-syntax* 455 456This mode is designed for the 1995 edition of Ada ("Ada95"), which 457includes support for objected-programming, protected types, and so on. 458It handles code written for the original Ada language 459("Ada83" or "Ada87") as well, though Ada83 code which uses Ada95-only 460keywords will be wrongly colored (such code should be fixed anyway). 461For more information about Ada, see http://www.adapower.com. 462 463The Ada mode handles a number of situations cleanly. 464For example, it knows that the "-" in "-5" is a number, but the same 465character in "A-5" is an operator. Normally, a "with" or "use" clause 466referencing another compilation unit is colored the same way as C's 467"#include" is colored. If you have "Conditional" or "Repeat" 468groups colored differently, then "end if" and "end loop" will be 469colored as part of those respective groups. 470You can set these to different colors using vim's "highlight" command 471(e.g., to change how loops are displayed, enter the command 472":hi Repeat" followed by the color specification; on simple terminals 473the color specification ctermfg=White often shows well). 474 475There are several options you can select in this Ada mode. 476To enable them, assign a value to the option. For example, to turn one on: 477 let ada_standard_types = 1 478To disable them use ":unlet". Example: 479 unlet ada_standard_types = 1 480You can just use ":" and type these into the command line to set these 481temporarily before loading an Ada file. You can make these option settings 482permanent by adding the "let" command(s), without a colon, 483to your "~/.vimrc" file. 484 485Here are the Ada mode options: 486 487Variable Action ~ 488ada_standard_types Highlight types in package Standard (e.g., "Float") 489ada_space_errors Highlight extraneous errors in spaces... 490ada_no_trail_space_error but ignore trailing spaces at the end of a line 491ada_no_tab_space_error but ignore tabs after spaces 492ada_withuse_ordinary Show "with" and "use" as ordinary keywords 493 (when used to reference other compilation units 494 they're normally highlighted specially). 495ada_begin_preproc Show all begin-like keywords using the coloring 496 of C preprocessor commands. 497 498Even on a slow (90Mhz) PC this mode works quickly, but if you find 499the performance unacceptable, turn on ada_withuse_ordinary. 500 501 502ANT *ant.vim* *ant-syntax* 503 504The ant syntax file provides syntax highlighting for javascript and python 505by default. Syntax highlighting for other script languages can be installed 506by the function AntSyntaxScript(), which takes the tag name as first argument 507and the script syntax file name as second argument. Example: > 508 509 :call AntSyntaxScript('perl', 'perl.vim') 510 511will install syntax perl highlighting for the following ant code > 512 513 <script language = 'perl'><![CDATA[ 514 # everything inside is highlighted as perl 515 ]]></script> 516 517See |mysyntaxfile-add| for installing script languages permanently. 518 519 520APACHE *apache.vim* *apache-syntax* 521 522The apache syntax file provides syntax highlighting depending on Apache HTTP 523server version, by default for 1.3.x. Set "apache_version" to Apache version 524(as a string) to get highlighting for another version. Example: > 525 526 :let apache_version = "2.0" 527< 528 529 *asm.vim* *asmh8300.vim* *nasm.vim* *masm.vim* *asm68k* 530ASSEMBLY *asm-syntax* *asmh8300-syntax* *nasm-syntax* *masm-syntax* 531 *asm68k-syntax* *fasm.vim* 532 533Files matching "*.i" could be Progress or Assembly. If the automatic detection 534doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your 535startup vimrc: > 536 :let filetype_i = "asm" 537Replace "asm" with the type of assembly you use. 538 539There are many types of assembly languages that all use the same file name 540extensions. Therefore you will have to select the type yourself, or add a 541line in the assembly file that Vim will recognize. Currently these syntax 542files are included: 543 asm GNU assembly (the default) 544 asm68k Motorola 680x0 assembly 545 asmh8300 Hitachi H-8300 version of GNU assembly 546 ia64 Intel Itanium 64 547 fasm Flat assembly (http://flatassembler.net) 548 masm Microsoft assembly (probably works for any 80x86) 549 nasm Netwide assembly 550 tasm Turbo Assembly (with opcodes 80x86 up to Pentium, and 551 MMX) 552 pic PIC assembly (currently for PIC16F84) 553 554The most flexible is to add a line in your assembly file containing: > 555 :asmsyntax=nasm 556Replace "nasm" with the name of the real assembly syntax. This line must be 557one of the first five lines in the file. 558 559The syntax type can always be overruled for a specific buffer by setting the 560b:asmsyntax variable: > 561 :let b:asmsyntax=nasm 562 563If b:asmsyntax is not set, either automatically or by hand, then the value of 564the global variable asmsyntax is used. This can be seen as a default assembly 565language: > 566 :let asmsyntax=nasm 567 568As a last resort, if nothing is defined, the "asm" syntax is used. 569 570 571Netwide assembler (nasm.vim) optional highlighting ~ 572 573To enable a feature: > 574 :let {variable}=1|set syntax=nasm 575To disable a feature: > 576 :unlet {variable} |set syntax=nasm 577 578Variable Highlight ~ 579nasm_loose_syntax unofficial parser allowed syntax not as Error 580 (parser dependent; not recommended) 581nasm_ctx_outside_macro contexts outside macro not as Error 582nasm_no_warn potentially risky syntax not as ToDo 583 584 585ASPPERL and ASPVBS *aspperl-syntax* *aspvbs-syntax* 586 587*.asp and *.asa files could be either Perl or Visual Basic script. Since it's 588hard to detect this you can set two global variables to tell Vim what you are 589using. For Perl script use: > 590 :let g:filetype_asa = "aspperl" 591 :let g:filetype_asp = "aspperl" 592For Visual Basic use: > 593 :let g:filetype_asa = "aspvbs" 594 :let g:filetype_asp = "aspvbs" 595 596 597BASIC *basic.vim* *vb.vim* *basic-syntax* *vb-syntax* 598 599Both Visual Basic and "normal" basic use the extension ".bas". To detect 600which one should be used, Vim checks for the string "VB_Name" in the first 601five lines of the file. If it is not found, filetype will be "basic", 602otherwise "vb". Files with the ".frm" extension will always be seen as Visual 603Basic. 604 605 606C *c.vim* *c-syntax* 607 608A few things in C highlighting are optional. To enable them assign any value 609to the respective variable. Example: > 610 :let c_comment_strings=1 611To disable them use ":unlet". Example: > 612 :unlet c_comment_strings 613 614Variable Highlight ~ 615c_gnu GNU gcc specific items 616c_comment_strings strings and numbers inside a comment 617c_space_errors trailing white space and spaces before a <Tab> 618c_no_trail_space_error ... but no trailing spaces 619c_no_tab_space_error ... but no spaces before a <Tab> 620c_no_bracket_error don't highlight {}; inside [] as errors 621c_no_ansi don't do standard ANSI types and constants 622c_ansi_typedefs ... but do standard ANSI types 623c_ansi_constants ... but do standard ANSI constants 624c_no_utf don't highlight \u and \U in strings 625c_syntax_for_h use C syntax for *.h files, instead of C++ 626c_no_if0 don't highlight "#if 0" blocks as comments 627c_no_cformat don't highlight %-formats in strings 628c_no_c99 don't highlight C99 standard items 629 630If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 631when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "c_minlines" internal variable 632to a larger number: > 633 :let c_minlines = 100 634This will make the syntax synchronization start 100 lines before the first 635displayed line. The default value is 50 (15 when c_no_if0 is set). The 636disadvantage of using a larger number is that redrawing can become slow. 637 638When using the "#if 0" / "#endif" comment highlighting, notice that this only 639works when the "#if 0" is within "c_minlines" from the top of the window. If 640you have a long "#if 0" construct it will not be highlighted correctly. 641 642To match extra items in comments, use the cCommentGroup cluster. 643Example: > 644 :au Syntax c call MyCadd() 645 :function MyCadd() 646 : syn keyword cMyItem contained Ni 647 : syn cluster cCommentGroup add=cMyItem 648 : hi link cMyItem Title 649 :endfun 650 651ANSI constants will be highlighted with the "cConstant" group. This includes 652"NULL", "SIG_IGN" and others. But not "TRUE", for example, because this is 653not in the ANSI standard. If you find this confusing, remove the cConstant 654highlighting: > 655 :hi link cConstant NONE 656 657If you see '{' and '}' highlighted as an error where they are OK, reset the 658highlighting for cErrInParen and cErrInBracket. 659 660If you want to use folding in your C files, you can add these lines in a file 661an the "after" directory in 'runtimepath'. For Unix this would be 662~/.vim/after/syntax/c.vim. > 663 syn region myFold start="{" end="}" transparent fold 664 syn sync fromstart 665 set foldmethod=syntax 666 667 668CHILL *chill.vim* *chill-syntax* 669 670Chill syntax highlighting is similar to C. See |c.vim| for all the settings 671that are available. Additionally there is: 672 673chill_syntax_for_h use Ch syntax for *.h files, instead of C or C++ 674chill_space_errors like c_space_errors 675chill_comment_string like c_comment_strings 676chill_minlines like c_minlines 677 678 679CHANGELOG *changelog.vim* *changelog-syntax* 680 681ChangeLog supports highlighting spaces at the start of a line. 682If you do not like this, add following line to your .vimrc: > 683 let g:changelog_spacing_errors = 0 684This works the next time you edit a changelog file. You can also use 685"b:changelog_spacing_errors" to set this per buffer (before loading the syntax 686file). 687 688You can change the highlighting used, e.g., to flag the spaces as an error: > 689 :hi link ChangelogError Error 690Or to avoid the highlighting: > 691 :hi link ChangelogError NONE 692This works immediately. 693 694 695COBOL *cobol.vim* *cobol-syntax* 696 697COBOL highlighting has different needs for legacy code than it does for fresh 698development. This is due to differences in what is being done (maintenance 699versus development) and other factors. To enable legacy code highlighting, 700add this line to your .vimrc: > 701 :let cobol_legacy_code = 1 702To disable it again, use this: > 703 :unlet cobol_legacy_code 704 705 706COLD FUSION *coldfusion.vim* *coldfusion-syntax* 707 708The ColdFusion has its own version of HTML comments. To turn on ColdFusion 709comment highlighting, add the following line to your startup file: > 710 711 :let html_wrong_comments = 1 712 713The ColdFusion syntax file is based on the HTML syntax file. 714 715 716CSH *csh.vim* *csh-syntax* 717 718This covers the shell named "csh". Note that on some systems tcsh is actually 719used. 720 721Detecting whether a file is csh or tcsh is notoriously hard. Some systems 722symlink /bin/csh to /bin/tcsh, making it almost impossible to distinguish 723between csh and tcsh. In case VIM guesses wrong you can set the 724"filetype_csh" variable. For using csh: > 725 726 :let filetype_csh = "csh" 727 728For using tcsh: > 729 730 :let filetype_csh = "tcsh" 731 732Any script with a tcsh extension or a standard tcsh filename (.tcshrc, 733tcsh.tcshrc, tcsh.login) will have filetype tcsh. All other tcsh/csh scripts 734will be classified as tcsh, UNLESS the "filetype_csh" variable exists. If the 735"filetype_csh" variable exists, the filetype will be set to the value of the 736variable. 737 738 739CYNLIB *cynlib.vim* *cynlib-syntax* 740 741Cynlib files are C++ files that use the Cynlib class library to enable 742hardware modelling and simulation using C++. Typically Cynlib files have a .cc 743or a .cpp extension, which makes it very difficult to distinguish them from a 744normal C++ file. Thus, to enable Cynlib highlighting for .cc files, add this 745line to your .vimrc file: > 746 747 :let cynlib_cyntax_for_cc=1 748 749Similarly for cpp files (this extension is only usually used in Windows) > 750 751 :let cynlib_cyntax_for_cpp=1 752 753To disable these again, use this: > 754 755 :unlet cynlib_cyntax_for_cc 756 :unlet cynlib_cyntax_for_cpp 757< 758 759CWEB *cweb.vim* *cweb-syntax* 760 761Files matching "*.w" could be Progress or cweb. If the automatic detection 762doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your 763startup vimrc: > 764 :let filetype_w = "cweb" 765 766 767DESKTOP *desktop.vim* *desktop-syntax* 768 769Primary goal of this syntax file is to highlight .desktop and .directory files 770according to freedesktop.org standard: http://pdx.freedesktop.org/Standards/ 771But actually almost none implements this standard fully. Thus it will 772highlight all Unix ini files. But you can force strict highlighting according 773to standard by placing this in your vimrc file: > 774 :let enforce_freedesktop_standard = 1 775 776 777DIRCOLORS *dircolors.vim* *dircolors-syntax* 778 779The dircolors utility highlighting definition has one option. It exists to 780provide compatibility with the Slackware GNU/Linux distributions version of 781the command. It adds a few keywords that are generally ignored by most 782versions. On Slackware systems, however, the utility accepts the keywords and 783uses them for processing. To enable the Slackware keywords add the following 784line to your startup file: > 785 let dircolors_is_slackware = 1 786 787 788DOCBOOK *docbk.vim* *docbk-syntax* *docbook* 789DOCBOOK XML *docbkxml.vim* *docbkxml-syntax* 790DOCBOOK SGML *docbksgml.vim* *docbksgml-syntax* 791 792There are two types of DocBook files: SGML and XML. To specify what type you 793are using the "b:docbk_type" variable should be set. Vim does this for you 794automatically if it can recognize the type. When Vim can't guess it the type 795defaults to XML. 796You can set the type manually: > 797 :let docbk_type = "sgml" 798or: > 799 :let docbk_type = "xml" 800You need to do this before loading the syntax file, which is complicated. 801Simpler is setting the filetype to "docbkxml" or "docbksgml": > 802 :set filetype=docbksgml 803or: > 804 :set filetype=docbkxml 805 806 807DOSBATCH *dosbatch.vim* *dosbatch-syntax* 808 809There is one option with highlighting DOS batch files. This covers new 810extensions to the Command Interpreter introduced with Windows 2000 and 811is controlled by the variable dosbatch_cmdextversion. For Windows NT 812this should have the value 1, and for Windows 2000 it should be 2. 813Select the version you want with the following line: > 814 815 :let dosbatch_cmdextversion = 1 816 817If this variable is not defined it defaults to a value of 2 to support 818Windows 2000. 819 820 821DTD *dtd.vim* *dtd-syntax* 822 823The DTD syntax highlighting is case sensitive by default. To disable 824case-sensitive highlighting, add the following line to your startup file: > 825 826 :let dtd_ignore_case=1 827 828The DTD syntax file will highlight unknown tags as errors. If 829this is annoying, it can be turned off by setting: > 830 831 :let dtd_no_tag_errors=1 832 833before sourcing the dtd.vim syntax file. 834Parameter entity names are highlighted in the definition using the 835'Type' highlighting group and 'Comment' for punctuation and '%'. 836Parameter entity instances are highlighted using the 'Constant' 837highlighting group and the 'Type' highlighting group for the 838delimiters % and ;. This can be turned off by setting: > 839 840 :let dtd_no_param_entities=1 841 842The DTD syntax file is also included by xml.vim to highlight included dtd's. 843 844 845EIFFEL *eiffel.vim* *eiffel-syntax* 846 847While Eiffel is not case-sensitive, its style guidelines are, and the 848syntax highlighting file encourages their use. This also allows to 849highlight class names differently. If you want to disable case-sensitive 850highlighting, add the following line to your startup file: > 851 852 :let eiffel_ignore_case=1 853 854Case still matters for class names and TODO marks in comments. 855 856Conversely, for even stricter checks, add one of the following lines: > 857 858 :let eiffel_strict=1 859 :let eiffel_pedantic=1 860 861Setting eiffel_strict will only catch improper capitalization for the 862five predefined words "Current", "Void", "Result", "Precursor", and 863"NONE", to warn against their accidental use as feature or class names. 864 865Setting eiffel_pedantic will enforce adherence to the Eiffel style 866guidelines fairly rigorously (like arbitrary mixes of upper- and 867lowercase letters as well as outdated ways to capitalize keywords). 868 869If you want to use the lower-case version of "Current", "Void", 870"Result", and "Precursor", you can use > 871 872 :let eiffel_lower_case_predef=1 873 874instead of completely turning case-sensitive highlighting off. 875 876Support for ISE's proposed new creation syntax that is already 877experimentally handled by some compilers can be enabled by: > 878 879 :let eiffel_ise=1 880 881Finally, some vendors support hexadecimal constants. To handle them, add > 882 883 :let eiffel_hex_constants=1 884 885to your startup file. 886 887 888ERLANG *erlang.vim* *erlang-syntax* 889 890The erlang highlighting supports Erlang (ERicsson LANGuage). 891Erlang is case sensitive and default extension is ".erl". 892 893If you want to disable keywords highlighting, put in your .vimrc: > 894 :let erlang_keywords = 1 895If you want to disable built-in-functions highlighting, put in your 896.vimrc file: > 897 :let erlang_functions = 1 898If you want to disable special characters highlighting, put in 899your .vimrc: > 900 :let erlang_characters = 1 901 902 903FORM *form.vim* *form-syntax* 904 905The coloring scheme for syntax elements in the FORM file uses the default 906modes Conditional, Number, Statement, Comment, PreProc, Type, and String, 907following the language specifications in 'Symbolic Manipulation with FORM'' by 908J.A.M. Vermaseren, CAN, Netherlands, 1991. 909 910If you want include your own changes to the default colors, you have to 911redefine the following syntax groups: 912 913 - formConditional 914 - formNumber 915 - formStatement 916 - formHeaderStatement 917 - formComment 918 - formPreProc 919 - formDirective 920 - formType 921 - formString 922 923Note that the form.vim syntax file implements FORM preprocessor commands and 924directives per default in the same syntax group. 925 926A predefined enhanced color mode for FORM is available to distinguish between 927header statements and statements in the body of a FORM program. To activate 928this mode define the following variable in your vimrc file > 929 930 :let form_enhanced_color=1 931 932The enhanced mode also takes advantage of additional color features for a dark 933gvim display. Here, statements are colored LightYellow instead of Yellow, and 934conditionals are LightBlue for better distinction. 935 936 937FORTRAN *fortran.vim* *fortran-syntax* 938 939Default highlighting and dialect ~ 940Highlighting appropriate for f95 (Fortran 95) is used by default. This choice 941should be appropriate for most users most of the time because Fortran 95 is a 942superset of Fortran 90 and almost a superset of Fortran 77. 943 944Fortran source code form ~ 945Fortran 9x code can be in either fixed or free source form. Note that the 946syntax highlighting will not be correct if the form is incorrectly set. 947 948When you create a new fortran file, the syntax script assumes fixed source 949form. If you always use free source form, then > 950 :let fortran_free_source=1 951in your .vimrc prior to the :syntax on command. If you always use fixed source 952form, then > 953 :let fortran_fixed_source=1 954in your .vimrc prior to the :syntax on command. 955 956If the form of the source code depends upon the file extension, then it is 957most convenient to set fortran_free_source in a ftplugin file. For more 958information on ftplugin files, see |ftplugin|. For example, if all your 959fortran files with an .f90 extension are written in free source form and the 960rest in fixed source form, add the following code to your ftplugin file > 961 let s:extfname = expand("%:e") 962 if s:extfname ==? "f90" 963 let fortran_free_source=1 964 unlet! fortran_fixed_source 965 else 966 let fortran_fixed_source=1 967 unlet! fortran_free_source 968 endif 969Note that this will work only if the "filetype plugin indent on" command 970precedes the "syntax on" command in your .vimrc file. 971 972When you edit an existing fortran file, the syntax script will assume free 973source form if the fortran_free_source variable has been set, and assumes 974fixed source form if the fortran_fixed_source variable has been set. If 975neither of these variables have been set, the syntax script attempts to 976determine which source form has been used by examining the first five columns 977of the first 25 lines of your file. If no signs of free source form are 978detected, then the file is assumed to be in fixed source form. The algorithm 979should work in the vast majority of cases. In some cases, such as a file that 980begins with 25 or more full-line comments, the script may incorrectly decide 981that the fortran code is in fixed form. If that happens, just add a 982non-comment statement beginning anywhere in the first five columns of the 983first twenty five lines, save (:w) and then reload (:e!) the file. 984 985Tabs in fortran files ~ 986Tabs are not recognized by the Fortran standards. Tabs are not a good idea in 987fixed format fortran source code which requires fixed column boundaries. 988Therefore, tabs are marked as errors. Nevertheless, some programmers like 989using tabs. If your fortran files contain tabs, then you should set the 990variable fortran_have_tabs in your .vimrc with a command such as > 991 :let fortran_have_tabs=1 992placed prior to the :syntax on command. Unfortunately, the use of tabs will 993mean that the syntax file will not be able to detect incorrect margins. 994 995Syntax folding of fortran files ~ 996If you wish to use foldmethod=syntax, then you must first set the variable 997fortran_fold with a command such as > 998 :let fortran_fold=1 999to instruct the syntax script to define fold regions for program units, that 1000is main programs starting with a program statement, subroutines, function 1001subprograms, block data subprograms, interface blocks, and modules. If you 1002also set the variable fortran_fold_conditionals with a command such as > 1003 :let fortran_fold_conditionals=1 1004then fold regions will also be defined for do loops, if blocks, and select 1005case constructs. If you also set the variable 1006fortran_fold_multilinecomments with a command such as > 1007 :let fortran_fold_multilinecomments=1 1008then fold regions will also be defined for three or more consecutive comment 1009lines. Note that defining fold regions can be slow for large files. 1010 1011If fortran_fold, and possibly fortran_fold_conditionals and/or 1012fortran_fold_multilinecomments, have been set, then vim will fold your file if 1013you set foldmethod=syntax. Comments or blank lines placed between two program 1014units are not folded because they are seen as not belonging to any program 1015unit. 1016 1017More precise fortran syntax ~ 1018If you set the variable fortran_more_precise with a command such as > 1019 :let fortran_more_precise=1 1020then the syntax coloring will be more precise but slower. In particular, 1021statement labels used in do, goto and arithmetic if statements will be 1022recognized, as will construct names at the end of a do, if, select or forall 1023construct. 1024 1025Non-default fortran dialects ~ 1026The syntax script supports five Fortran dialects: f95, f90, f77, the Lahey 1027subset elf90, and the Imagine1 subset F. 1028 1029If you use f77 with extensions, even common ones like do/enddo loops, do/while 1030loops and free source form that are supported by most f77 compilers including 1031g77 (GNU Fortran), then you will probably find the default highlighting 1032satisfactory. However, if you use strict f77 with no extensions, not even free 1033source form or the MIL STD 1753 extensions, then the advantages of setting the 1034dialect to f77 are that names such as SUM are recognized as user variable 1035names and not highlighted as f9x intrinsic functions, that obsolete constructs 1036such as ASSIGN statements are not highlighted as todo items, and that fixed 1037source form will be assumed. 1038 1039If you use elf90 or F, the advantage of setting the dialect appropriately is 1040that f90 features excluded from these dialects will be highlighted as todo 1041items and that free source form will be assumed as required for these 1042dialects. 1043 1044The dialect can be selected by setting the variable fortran_dialect. The 1045permissible values of fortran_dialect are case-sensitive and must be "f95", 1046"f90", "f77", "elf" or "F". Invalid values of fortran_dialect are ignored. 1047 1048If all your fortran files use the same dialect, set fortran_dialect in your 1049.vimrc prior to your syntax on statement. If the dialect depends upon the file 1050extension, then it is most convenient to set it in a ftplugin file. For more 1051information on ftplugin files, see |ftplugin|. For example, if all your 1052fortran files with an .f90 extension are written in the elf subset, your 1053ftplugin file should contain the code > 1054 let s:extfname = expand("%:e") 1055 if s:extfname ==? "f90" 1056 let fortran_dialect="elf" 1057 else 1058 unlet! fortran_dialect 1059 endif 1060Note that this will work only if the "filetype plugin indent on" command 1061precedes the "syntax on" command in your .vimrc file. 1062 1063Finer control is necessary if the file extension does not uniquely identify 1064the dialect. You can override the default dialect, on a file-by-file basis, by 1065including a comment with the directive "fortran_dialect=xx" (where xx=f77 or 1066elf or F or f90 or f95) in one of the first three lines in your file. For 1067example, your older .f files may be written in extended f77 but your newer 1068ones may be F codes, and you would identify the latter by including in the 1069first three lines of those files a Fortran comment of the form > 1070 ! fortran_dialect=F 1071F overrides elf if both directives are present. 1072 1073Limitations ~ 1074Parenthesis checking does not catch too few closing parentheses. Hollerith 1075strings are not recognized. Some keywords may be highlighted incorrectly 1076because Fortran90 has no reserved words. 1077 1078For further information related to fortran, see |fortran-indent| and 1079|fortran-plugin|. 1080 1081 1082FVWM CONFIGURATION FILES *fvwm.vim* *fvwm-syntax* 1083 1084In order for Vim to recognize Fvwm configuration files that do not match 1085the patterns *fvwmrc* or *fvwm2rc* , you must put additional patterns 1086appropriate to your system in your myfiletypes.vim file. For these 1087patterns, you must set the variable "b:fvwm_version" to the major version 1088number of Fvwm, and the 'filetype' option to fvwm. 1089 1090For example, to make Vim identify all files in /etc/X11/fvwm2/ 1091as Fvwm2 configuration files, add the following: > 1092 1093 :au! BufNewFile,BufRead /etc/X11/fvwm2/* let b:fvwm_version = 2 | 1094 \ set filetype=fvwm 1095 1096If you'd like Vim to highlight all valid color names, tell it where to 1097find the color database (rgb.txt) on your system. Do this by setting 1098"rgb_file" to its location. Assuming your color database is located 1099in /usr/X11/lib/X11/, you should add the line > 1100 1101 :let rgb_file = "/usr/X11/lib/X11/rgb.txt" 1102 1103to your .vimrc file. 1104 1105 1106GSP *gsp.vim* 1107 1108The default coloring style for GSP pages is defined by |html.vim|, and 1109the coloring for java code (within java tags or inline between backticks) 1110is defined by |java.vim|. The following HTML groups defined in |html.vim| 1111are redefined to incorporate and highlight inline java code: 1112 1113 htmlString 1114 htmlValue 1115 htmlEndTag 1116 htmlTag 1117 htmlTagN 1118 1119Highlighting should look fine most of the places where you'd see inline 1120java code, but in some special cases it may not. To add another HTML 1121group where you will have inline java code where it does not highlight 1122correctly, just copy the line you want from |html.vim| and add gspJava 1123to the contains clause. 1124 1125The backticks for inline java are highlighted according to the htmlError 1126group to make them easier to see. 1127 1128 1129GROFF *groff.vim* *groff-syntax* 1130 1131The groff syntax file is a wrapper for |nroff.vim|, see the notes 1132under that heading for examples of use and configuration. The purpose 1133of this wrapper is to set up groff syntax extensions by setting the 1134filetype from a |modeline| or in a personal filetype definitions file 1135(see |filetype.txt|). 1136 1137 1138HASKELL *haskell.vim* *lhaskell.vim* *haskell-syntax* 1139 1140The Haskell syntax files support plain Haskell code as well as literate 1141Haskell code, the latter in both Bird style and TeX style. The Haskell 1142syntax highlighting will also highlight C preprocessor directives. 1143 1144If you want to highlight delimiter characters (useful if you have a 1145light-coloured background), add to your .vimrc: > 1146 :let hs_highlight_delimiters = 1 1147To treat True and False as keywords as opposed to ordinary identifiers, 1148add: > 1149 :let hs_highlight_boolean = 1 1150To also treat the names of primitive types as keywords: > 1151 :let hs_highlight_types = 1 1152And to treat the names of even more relatively common types as keywords: > 1153 :let hs_highlight_more_types = 1 1154If you want to highlight the names of debugging functions, put in 1155your .vimrc: > 1156 :let hs_highlight_debug = 1 1157 1158The Haskell syntax highlighting also highlights C preprocessor 1159directives, and flags lines that start with # but are not valid 1160directives as erroneous. This interferes with Haskell's syntax for 1161operators, as they may start with #. If you want to highlight those 1162as operators as opposed to errors, put in your .vimrc: > 1163 :let hs_allow_hash_operator = 1 1164 1165The syntax highlighting for literate Haskell code will try to 1166automatically guess whether your literate Haskell code contains 1167TeX markup or not, and correspondingly highlight TeX constructs 1168or nothing at all. You can override this globally by putting 1169in your .vimrc > 1170 :let lhs_markup = none 1171for no highlighting at all, or > 1172 :let lhs_markup = tex 1173to force the highlighting to always try to highlight TeX markup. 1174For more flexibility, you may also use buffer local versions of 1175this variable, so e.g. > 1176 :let b:lhs_markup = tex 1177will force TeX highlighting for a particular buffer. It has to be 1178set before turning syntax highlighting on for the buffer or 1179loading a file. 1180 1181 1182HTML *html.vim* *html-syntax* 1183 1184The coloring scheme for tags in the HTML file works as follows. 1185 1186The <> of opening tags are colored differently than the </> of a closing tag. 1187This is on purpose! For opening tags the 'Function' color is used, while for 1188closing tags the 'Type' color is used (See syntax.vim to check how those are 1189defined for you) 1190 1191Known tag names are colored the same way as statements in C. Unknown tag 1192names are colored with the same color as the <> or </> respectively which 1193makes it easy to spot errors 1194 1195Note that the same is true for argument (or attribute) names. Known attribute 1196names are colored differently than unknown ones. 1197 1198Some HTML tags are used to change the rendering of text. The following tags 1199are recognized by the html.vim syntax coloring file and change the way normal 1200text is shown: <B> <I> <U> <EM> <STRONG> (<EM> is used as an alias for <I>, 1201while <STRONG> as an alias for <B>), <H1> - <H6>, <HEAD>, <TITLE> and <A>, but 1202only if used as a link that is, it must include a href as in 1203<A href="somfile.html">). 1204 1205If you want to change how such text is rendered, you must redefine the 1206following syntax groups: 1207 1208 - htmlBold 1209 - htmlBoldUnderline 1210 - htmlBoldUnderlineItalic 1211 - htmlUnderline 1212 - htmlUnderlineItalic 1213 - htmlItalic 1214 - htmlTitle for titles 1215 - htmlH1 - htmlH6 for headings 1216 1217To make this redefinition work you must redefine them all with the exception 1218of the last two (htmlTitle and htmlH[1-6], which are optional) and define the 1219following variable in your vimrc (this is due to the order in which the files 1220are read during initialization) > 1221 :let html_my_rendering=1 1222 1223If you'd like to see an example download mysyntax.vim at 1224http://www.fleiner.com/vim/download.html 1225 1226You can also disable this rendering by adding the following line to your 1227vimrc file: > 1228 :let html_no_rendering=1 1229 1230HTML comments are rather special (see an HTML reference document for the 1231details), and the syntax coloring scheme will highlight all errors. 1232However, if you prefer to use the wrong style (starts with <!-- and 1233ends with --!>) you can define > 1234 :let html_wrong_comments=1 1235 1236JavaScript and Visual Basic embedded inside HTML documents are highlighted as 1237'Special' with statements, comments, strings and so on colored as in standard 1238programming languages. Note that only JavaScript and Visual Basic are currently 1239supported, no other scripting language has been added yet. 1240 1241Embedded and inlined cascading style sheets (CSS) are highlighted too. 1242 1243There are several html preprocessor languages out there. html.vim has been 1244written such that it should be trivial to include it. To do so add the 1245following two lines to the syntax coloring file for that language 1246(the example comes from the asp.vim file): 1247 1248 runtime! syntax/html.vim 1249 syn cluster htmlPreproc add=asp 1250 1251Now you just need to make sure that you add all regions that contain 1252the preprocessor language to the cluster htmlPreproc. 1253 1254 1255HTML/OS (by Aestiva) *htmlos.vim* *htmlos-syntax* 1256 1257The coloring scheme for HTML/OS works as follows: 1258 1259Functions and variable names are the same color by default, because VIM 1260doesn't specify different colors for Functions and Identifiers. To change 1261this (which is recommended if you want function names to be recognizable in a 1262different color) you need to add the following line to either your ~/.vimrc: > 1263 :hi Function term=underline cterm=bold ctermfg=LightGray 1264 1265Of course, the ctermfg can be a different color if you choose. 1266 1267Another issues that HTML/OS runs into is that there is no special filetype to 1268signify that it is a file with HTML/OS coding. You can change this by opening 1269a file and turning on HTML/OS syntax by doing the following: > 1270 :set syntax=htmlos 1271 1272Lastly, it should be noted that the opening and closing characters to begin a 1273block of HTML/OS code can either be << or [[ and >> or ]], respectively. 1274 1275 1276IA64 *ia64.vim* *intel-itanium* *ia64-syntax* 1277 1278Highlighting for the Intel Itanium 64 assembly language. See |asm.vim| for 1279how to recognize this filetype. 1280 1281To have *.inc files be recognized as IA64, add this to your .vimrc file: > 1282 :let g:filetype_inc = "ia64" 1283 1284 1285INFORM *inform.vim* *inform-syntax* 1286 1287Inform highlighting includes symbols provided by the Inform Library, as 1288most programs make extensive use of it. If do not wish Library symbols 1289to be highlighted add this to your vim startup: > 1290 :let inform_highlight_simple=1 1291 1292By default it is assumed that Inform programs are Z-machine targeted, 1293and highlights Z-machine assembly language symbols appropriately. If 1294you intend your program to be targeted to a Glulx/Glk environment you 1295need to add this to your startup sequence: > 1296 :let inform_highlight_glulx=1 1297 1298This will highlight Glulx opcodes instead, and also adds glk() to the 1299set of highlighted system functions. 1300 1301The Inform compiler will flag certain obsolete keywords as errors when 1302it encounters them. These keywords are normally highlighted as errors 1303by Vim. To prevent such error highlighting, you must add this to your 1304startup sequence: > 1305 :let inform_suppress_obsolete=1 1306 1307By default, the language features highlighted conform to Compiler 1308version 6.30 and Library version 6.11. If you are using an older 1309Inform development environment, you may with to add this to your 1310startup sequence: > 1311 :let inform_highlight_old=1 1312 1313 1314JAVA *java.vim* *java-syntax* 1315 1316The java.vim syntax highlighting file offers several options: 1317 1318In Java 1.0.2 it was never possible to have braces inside parens, so this was 1319flagged as an error. Since Java 1.1 this is possible (with anonymous 1320classes), and therefore is no longer marked as an error. If you prefer the old 1321way, put the following line into your vim startup file: > 1322 :let java_mark_braces_in_parens_as_errors=1 1323 1324All identifiers in java.lang.* are always visible in all classes. To 1325highlight them use: > 1326 :let java_highlight_java_lang_ids=1 1327 1328You can also highlight identifiers of most standard java packages if you 1329download the javaid.vim script at http://www.fleiner.com/vim/download.html. 1330If you prefer to only highlight identifiers of a certain package, say java.io 1331use the following: > 1332 :let java_highlight_java_io=1 1333Check the javaid.vim file for a list of all the packages that are supported. 1334 1335Function names are not highlighted, as the way to find functions depends on 1336how you write java code. The syntax file knows two possible ways to highlight 1337functions: 1338 1339If you write function declarations that are always indented by either 1340a tab, 8 spaces or 2 spaces you may want to set > 1341 :let java_highlight_functions="indent" 1342However, if you follow the Java guidelines about how functions and classes are 1343supposed to be named (with respect to upper and lowercase), use > 1344 :let java_highlight_functions="style" 1345If both options do not work for you, but you would still want function 1346declarations to be highlighted create your own definitions by changing the 1347definitions in java.vim or by creating your own java.vim which includes the 1348original one and then adds the code to highlight functions. 1349 1350In java 1.1 the functions System.out.println() and System.err.println() should 1351only be used for debugging. Therefore it is possible to highlight debugging 1352statements differently. To do this you must add the following definition in 1353your startup file: > 1354 :let java_highlight_debug=1 1355The result will be that those statements are highlighted as 'Special' 1356characters. If you prefer to have them highlighted differently you must define 1357new highlightings for the following groups.: 1358 Debug, DebugSpecial, DebugString, DebugBoolean, DebugType 1359which are used for the statement itself, special characters used in debug 1360strings, strings, boolean constants and types (this, super) respectively. I 1361have opted to chose another background for those statements. 1362 1363In order to help you to write code that can be easily ported between 1364java and C++, all C++ keywords are marked as error in a java program. 1365However, if you use them regularly, you may want to define the following 1366variable in your .vimrc file: > 1367 :let java_allow_cpp_keywords=1 1368 1369Javadoc is a program that takes special comments out of java program files and 1370creates HTML pages. The standard configuration will highlight this HTML code 1371similarly to HTML files (see |html.vim|). You can even add javascript 1372and CSS inside this code (see below). There are four differences however: 1373 1. The title (all characters up to the first '.' which is followed by 1374 some white space or up to the first '@') is colored differently (to change 1375 the color change the group CommentTitle). 1376 2. The text is colored as 'Comment'. 1377 3. HTML comments are colored as 'Special' 1378 4. The special javadoc tags (@see, @param, ...) are highlighted as specials 1379 and the argument (for @see, @param, @exception) as Function. 1380To turn this feature off add the following line to your startup file: > 1381 :let java_ignore_javadoc=1 1382 1383If you use the special javadoc comment highlighting described above you 1384can also turn on special highlighting for javascript, visual basic 1385scripts and embedded CSS (stylesheets). This makes only sense if you 1386actually have javadoc comments that include either javascript or embedded 1387CSS. The options to use are > 1388 :let java_javascript=1 1389 :let java_css=1 1390 :let java_vb=1 1391 1392In order to highlight nested parens with different colors define colors 1393for javaParen, javaParen1 and javaParen2, for example with > 1394 :hi link javaParen Comment 1395or > 1396 :hi javaParen ctermfg=blue guifg=#0000ff 1397 1398If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 1399when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "java_minlines" internal variable 1400to a larger number: > 1401 :let java_minlines = 50 1402This will make the syntax synchronization start 50 lines before the first 1403displayed line. The default value is 10. The disadvantage of using a larger 1404number is that redrawing can become slow. 1405 1406 1407LACE *lace.vim* *lace-syntax* 1408 1409Lace (Language for Assembly of Classes in Eiffel) is case insensitive, but the 1410style guide lines are not. If you prefer case insensitive highlighting, just 1411define the vim variable 'lace_case_insensitive' in your startup file: > 1412 :let lace_case_insensitive=1 1413 1414 1415LEX *lex.vim* *lex-syntax* 1416 1417Lex uses brute-force synchronizing as the "^%%$" section delimiter 1418gives no clue as to what section follows. Consequently, the value for > 1419 :syn sync minlines=300 1420may be changed by the user if s/he is experiencing synchronization 1421difficulties (such as may happen with large lex files). 1422 1423 1424LITE *lite.vim* *lite-syntax* 1425 1426There are two options for the lite syntax highlighting. 1427 1428If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this: > 1429 1430 :let lite_sql_query = 1 1431 1432For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 1433set "lite_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 1434 1435 :let lite_minlines = 200 1436 1437 1438LPC *lpc.vim* *lpc-syntax* 1439 1440LPC stands for a simple, memory-efficient language: Lars Pensj| C. The 1441file name of LPC is usually *.c. Recognizing these files as LPC would bother 1442users writing only C programs. If you want to use LPC syntax in Vim, you 1443should set a variable in your .vimrc file: > 1444 1445 :let lpc_syntax_for_c = 1 1446 1447If it doesn't work properly for some particular C or LPC files, use a 1448modeline. For a LPC file: 1449 1450 // vim:set ft=lpc: 1451 1452For a C file that is recognized as LPC: 1453 1454 // vim:set ft=c: 1455 1456If you don't want to set the variable, use the modeline in EVERY LPC file. 1457 1458There are several implementations for LPC, we intend to support most widely 1459used ones. Here the default LPC syntax is for MudOS series, for MudOS v22 1460and before, you should turn off the sensible modifiers, and this will also 1461asserts the new efuns after v22 to be invalid, don't set this variable when 1462you are using the latest version of MudOS: > 1463 1464 :let lpc_pre_v22 = 1 1465 1466For LpMud 3.2 series of LPC: > 1467 1468 :let lpc_compat_32 = 1 1469 1470For LPC4 series of LPC: > 1471 1472 :let lpc_use_lpc4_syntax = 1 1473 1474For uLPC series of LPC: 1475uLPC has been developed to Pike, so you should use Pike syntax 1476instead, and the name of your source file should be *.pike 1477 1478 1479LUA *lua.vim* *lua-syntax* 1480 1481This syntax file may be used for Lua 4.0 and Lua 5.0 (default). If you are 1482programming in Lua 4.0, use this: > 1483 1484 :let lua_version = 4 1485 1486If lua_version variable doesn't exist, it is set to 5. 1487 1488 1489MAIL *mail.vim* 1490 1491Vim highlights all the standard elements of an email (headers, signatures, 1492quoted text and URLs / email addresses). In keeping with standard conventions, 1493signatures begin in a line containing only "--" followed optionally by 1494whitespaces and end with a newline. 1495 1496Vim treats lines beginning with ']', '}', '|', '>' or a word followed by '>' 1497as quoted text. However Vim highlights headers and signatures in quoted text 1498only if the text is quoted with '>' (optionally followed by one space). 1499 1500By default mail.vim synchronises syntax to 100 lines before the first 1501displayed line. If you have a slow machine, and generally deal with emails 1502with short headers, you can change this to a smaller value: > 1503 1504 :let mail_minlines = 30 1505 1506 1507MAKE *make.vim* *make-syntax* 1508 1509In makefiles, commands are usually highlighted to make it easy for you to spot 1510errors. However, this may be too much coloring for you. You can turn this 1511feature off by using: > 1512 1513 :let make_no_commands = 1 1514 1515 1516MAPLE *maple.vim* *maple-syntax* 1517 1518Maple V, by Waterloo Maple Inc, supports symbolic algebra. The language 1519supports many packages of functions which are selectively loaded by the user. 1520The standard set of packages' functions as supplied in Maple V release 4 may be 1521highlighted at the user's discretion. Users may place in their .vimrc file: > 1522 1523 :let mvpkg_all= 1 1524 1525to get all package functions highlighted, or users may select any subset by 1526choosing a variable/package from the table below and setting that variable to 15271, also in their .vimrc file (prior to sourcing 1528$VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim). 1529 1530 Table of Maple V Package Function Selectors > 1531 mv_DEtools mv_genfunc mv_networks mv_process 1532 mv_Galois mv_geometry mv_numapprox mv_simplex 1533 mv_GaussInt mv_grobner mv_numtheory mv_stats 1534 mv_LREtools mv_group mv_orthopoly mv_student 1535 mv_combinat mv_inttrans mv_padic mv_sumtools 1536 mv_combstruct mv_liesymm mv_plots mv_tensor 1537 mv_difforms mv_linalg mv_plottools mv_totorder 1538 mv_finance mv_logic mv_powseries 1539 1540 1541MOO *moo.vim* *moo-syntax* 1542 1543If you use C-style comments inside expressions and find it mangles your 1544highlighting, you may want to use extended (slow!) matches for C-style 1545comments: > 1546 1547 :let moo_extended_cstyle_comments = 1 1548 1549To disable highlighting of pronoun substitution patterns inside strings: > 1550 1551 :let moo_no_pronoun_sub = 1 1552 1553To disable highlighting of the regular expression operator '%|', and matching 1554'%(' and '%)' inside strings: > 1555 1556 :let moo_no_regexp = 1 1557 1558Unmatched double quotes can be recognized and highlighted as errors: > 1559 1560 :let moo_unmatched_quotes = 1 1561 1562To highlight builtin properties (.name, .location, .programmer etc.): > 1563 1564 :let moo_builtin_properties = 1 1565 1566Unknown builtin functions can be recognized and highlighted as errors. If you 1567use this option, add your own extensions to the mooKnownBuiltinFunction group. 1568To enable this option: > 1569 1570 :let moo_unknown_builtin_functions = 1 1571 1572An example of adding sprintf() to the list of known builtin functions: > 1573 1574 :syn keyword mooKnownBuiltinFunction sprintf contained 1575 1576 1577MSQL *msql.vim* *msql-syntax* 1578 1579There are two options for the msql syntax highlighting. 1580 1581If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this: > 1582 1583 :let msql_sql_query = 1 1584 1585For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 1586set "msql_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 1587 1588 :let msql_minlines = 200 1589 1590 1591NCF *ncf.vim* *ncf-syntax* 1592 1593There is one option for NCF syntax highlighting. 1594 1595If you want to have unrecognized (by ncf.vim) statements highlighted as 1596errors, use this: > 1597 1598 :let ncf_highlight_unknowns = 1 1599 1600If you don't want to highlight these errors, leave it unset. 1601 1602 1603NROFF *nroff.vim* *nroff-syntax* 1604 1605The nroff syntax file works with AT&T n/troff out of the box. You need to 1606activate the GNU groff extra features included in the syntax file before you 1607can use them. 1608 1609For example, Linux and BSD distributions use groff as their default text 1610processing package. In order to activate the extra syntax highlighting 1611features for groff, add the following option to your start-up files: > 1612 1613 :let b:nroff_is_groff = 1 1614 1615Groff is different from the old AT&T n/troff that you may still find in 1616Solaris. Groff macro and request names can be longer than 2 characters and 1617there are extensions to the language primitives. For example, in AT&T troff 1618you access the year as a 2-digit number with the request \(yr. In groff you 1619can use the same request, recognized for compatibility, or you can use groff's 1620native syntax, \[yr]. Furthermore, you can use a 4-digit year directly: 1621\[year]. Macro requests can be longer than 2 characters, for example, GNU mm 1622accepts the requests ".VERBON" and ".VERBOFF" for creating verbatim 1623environments. 1624 1625In order to obtain the best formatted output g/troff can give you, you should 1626follow a few simple rules about spacing and punctuation. 1627 16281. Do not leave empty spaces at the end of lines. 1629 16302. Leave one space and one space only after an end-of-sentence period, 1631 exclamation mark, etc. 1632 16333. For reasons stated below, it is best to follow all period marks with a 1634 carriage return. 1635 1636The reason behind these unusual tips is that g/n/troff have a line breaking 1637algorithm that can be easily upset if you don't follow the rules given above. 1638 1639Unlike TeX, troff fills text line-by-line, not paragraph-by-paragraph and, 1640furthermore, it does not have a concept of glue or stretch, all horizontal and 1641vertical space input will be output as is. 1642 1643Therefore, you should be careful about not using more space between sentences 1644than you intend to have in your final document. For this reason, the common 1645practice is to insert a carriage return immediately after all punctuation 1646marks. If you want to have "even" text in your final processed output, you 1647need to maintaining regular spacing in the input text. To mark both trailing 1648spaces and two or more spaces after a punctuation as an error, use: > 1649 1650 :let nroff_space_errors = 1 1651 1652Another technique to detect extra spacing and other errors that will interfere 1653with the correct typesetting of your file, is to define an eye-catching 1654highlighting definition for the syntax groups "nroffDefinition" and 1655"nroffDefSpecial" in your configuration files. For example: > 1656 1657 hi def nroffDefinition term=italic cterm=italic gui=reverse 1658 hi def nroffDefSpecial term=italic,bold cterm=italic,bold 1659 \ gui=reverse,bold 1660 1661If you want to navigate preprocessor entries in your source file as easily as 1662with section markers, you can activate the following option in your .vimrc 1663file: > 1664 1665 let b:preprocs_as_sections = 1 1666 1667As well, the syntax file adds an extra paragraph marker for the extended 1668paragraph macro (.XP) in the ms package. 1669 1670Finally, there is a |groff.vim| syntax file that can be used for enabling 1671groff syntax highlighting either on a file basis or globally by default. 1672 1673 1674OCAML *ocaml.vim* *ocaml-syntax* 1675 1676The OCaml syntax file handles files having the following prefixes: .ml, 1677.mli, .mll and .mly. By setting the following variable > 1678 1679 :let ocaml_revised = 1 1680 1681you can switch from standard OCaml-syntax to revised syntax as supported 1682by the camlp4 preprocessor. Setting the variable > 1683 1684 :let ocaml_noend_error = 1 1685 1686prevents highlighting of "end" as error, which is useful when sources 1687contain very long structures that Vim does not synchronize anymore. 1688 1689 1690PAPP *papp.vim* *papp-syntax* 1691 1692The PApp syntax file handles .papp files and, to a lesser extend, .pxml 1693and .pxsl files which are all a mixture of perl/xml/html/other using xml 1694as the top-level file format. By default everything inside phtml or pxml 1695sections is treated as a string with embedded preprocessor commands. If 1696you set the variable: > 1697 1698 :let papp_include_html=1 1699 1700in your startup file it will try to syntax-hilight html code inside phtml 1701sections, but this is relatively slow and much too colourful to be able to 1702edit sensibly ;) 1703 1704The newest version of the papp.vim syntax file can usually be found at 1705http://papp.plan9.de. 1706 1707 1708PASCAL *pascal.vim* *pascal-syntax* 1709 1710Files matching "*.p" could be Progress or Pascal. If the automatic detection 1711doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your 1712startup vimrc: > 1713 1714 :let filetype_p = "pascal" 1715 1716The Pascal syntax file has been extended to take into account some extensions 1717provided by Turbo Pascal, Free Pascal Compiler and GNU Pascal Compiler. 1718Delphi keywords are also supported. By default, Turbo Pascal 7.0 features are 1719enabled. If you prefer to stick with the standard Pascal keywords, add the 1720following line to your startup file: > 1721 1722 :let pascal_traditional=1 1723 1724To switch on Delphi specific constructions (such as one-line comments, 1725keywords, etc): > 1726 1727 :let pascal_delphi=1 1728 1729 1730The option pascal_symbol_operator controls whether symbol operators such as +, 1731*, .., etc. are displayed using the Operator color or not. To colorize symbol 1732operators, add the following line to your startup file: > 1733 1734 :let pascal_symbol_operator=1 1735 1736Some functions are highlighted by default. To switch it off: > 1737 1738 :let pascal_no_functions=1 1739 1740Furthermore, there are specific variable for some compiler. Besides 1741pascal_delphi, there are pascal_gpc and pascal_fpc. Default extensions try to 1742match Turbo Pascal. > 1743 1744 :let pascal_gpc=1 1745 1746or > 1747 1748 :let pascal_fpc=1 1749 1750To ensure that strings are defined on a single line, you can define the 1751pascal_one_line_string variable. > 1752 1753 :let pascal_one_line_string=1 1754 1755If you dislike <Tab> chars, you can set the pascal_no_tabs variable. Tabs 1756will be highlighted as Error. > 1757 1758 :let pascal_no_tabs=1 1759 1760 1761 1762PERL *perl.vim* *perl-syntax* 1763 1764There are a number of possible options to the perl syntax highlighting. 1765 1766If you use POD files or POD segments, you might: > 1767 1768 :let perl_include_pod = 1 1769 1770To handle package references in variable and function names differently from 1771the rest of the name (like 'PkgName::' in '$PkgName::VarName'): > 1772 1773 :let perl_want_scope_in_variables = 1 1774 1775If you want complex things like '@{${"foo"}}' to be parsed: > 1776 1777 :let perl_extended_vars = 1 1778 1779The coloring strings can be changed. By default strings and qq friends will be 1780highlighted like the first line. If you set the variable 1781perl_string_as_statement, it will be highlighted as in the second line. 1782 1783 "hello world!"; qq|hello world|; 1784 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^NN^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^N (unlet perl_string_as_statement) 1785 S^^^^^^^^^^^^SNNSSS^^^^^^^^^^^SN (let perl_string_as_statement) 1786 1787(^ = perlString, S = perlStatement, N = None at all) 1788 1789The syncing has 3 options. The first two switch off some triggering of 1790synchronization and should only be needed in case it fails to work properly. 1791If while scrolling all of a sudden the whole screen changes color completely 1792then you should try and switch off one of those. Let me know if you can figure 1793out the line that causes the mistake. 1794 1795One triggers on "^\s*sub\s*" and the other on "^[$@%]" more or less. > 1796 1797 :let perl_no_sync_on_sub 1798 :let perl_no_sync_on_global_var 1799 1800Below you can set the maximum distance VIM should look for starting points for 1801its attempts in syntax highlighting. > 1802 1803 :let perl_sync_dist = 100 1804 1805If you want to use folding with perl, set perl_fold: > 1806 1807 :let perl_fold = 1 1808 1809 1810PHP3 and PHP4 *php.vim* *php3.vim* *php-syntax* *php3-syntax* 1811 1812[note: previously this was called "php3", but since it now also supports php4 1813it has been renamed to "php"] 1814 1815There are the following options for the php syntax highlighting. 1816 1817If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings: > 1818 1819 let php_sql_query = 1 1820 1821For highlighting the Baselib methods: > 1822 1823 let php_baselib = 1 1824 1825Enable HTML syntax highlighting inside strings: > 1826 1827 let php_htmlInStrings = 1 1828 1829Using the old colorstyle: > 1830 1831 let php_oldStyle = 1 1832 1833Enable highlighting ASP-style short tags: > 1834 1835 let php_asp_tags = 1 1836 1837Disable short tags: > 1838 1839 let php_noShortTags = 1 1840 1841For highlighting parent error ] or ): > 1842 1843 let php_parent_error_close = 1 1844 1845For skipping an php end tag, if there exists an open ( or [ without a closing 1846one: > 1847 1848 let php_parent_error_open = 1 1849 1850Enable folding for classes and functions: > 1851 1852 let php_folding = 1 1853 1854Selecting syncing method: > 1855 1856 let php_sync_method = x 1857 1858x = -1 to sync by search (default), 1859x > 0 to sync at least x lines backwards, 1860x = 0 to sync from start. 1861 1862 1863PPWIZARD *ppwiz.vim* *ppwiz-syntax* 1864 1865PPWizard is a preprocessor for HTML and OS/2 INF files 1866 1867This syntax file has the options: 1868 1869- ppwiz_highlight_defs : determines highlighting mode for PPWizard's 1870 definitions. Possible values are 1871 1872 ppwiz_highlight_defs = 1 : PPWizard #define statements retain the 1873 colors of their contents (e. g. PPWizard macros and variables) 1874 1875 ppwiz_highlight_defs = 2 : preprocessor #define and #evaluate 1876 statements are shown in a single color with the exception of line 1877 continuation symbols 1878 1879 The default setting for ppwiz_highlight_defs is 1. 1880 1881- ppwiz_with_html : If the value is 1 (the default), highlight literal 1882 HTML code; if 0, treat HTML code like ordinary text. 1883 1884 1885PHTML *phtml.vim* *phtml-syntax* 1886 1887There are two options for the phtml syntax highlighting. 1888 1889If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this: > 1890 1891 :let phtml_sql_query = 1 1892 1893For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 1894set "phtml_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 1895 1896 :let phtml_minlines = 200 1897 1898 1899POSTSCRIPT *postscr.vim* *postscr-syntax* 1900 1901There are several options when it comes to highlighting PostScript. 1902 1903First which version of the PostScript language to highlight. There are 1904currently three defined language versions, or levels. Level 1 is the original 1905and base version, and includes all extensions prior to the release of level 2. 1906Level 2 is the most common version around, and includes its own set of 1907extensions prior to the release of level 3. Level 3 is currently the highest 1908level supported. You select which level of the PostScript language you want 1909highlighted by defining the postscr_level variable as follows: > 1910 1911 :let postscr_level=2 1912 1913If this variable is not defined it defaults to 2 (level 2) since this is 1914the most prevalent version currently. 1915 1916Note, not all PS interpreters will support all language features for a 1917particular language level. In particular the %!PS-Adobe-3.0 at the start of 1918PS files does NOT mean the PostScript present is level 3 PostScript! 1919 1920If you are working with Display PostScript, you can include highlighting of 1921Display PS language features by defining the postscr_display variable as 1922follows: > 1923 1924 :let postscr_display=1 1925 1926If you are working with Ghostscript, you can include highlighting of 1927Ghostscript specific language features by defining the variable 1928postscr_ghostscript as follows: > 1929 1930 :let postscr_ghostscript=1 1931 1932PostScript is a large language, with many predefined elements. While it 1933useful to have all these elements highlighted, on slower machines this can 1934cause Vim to slow down. In an attempt to be machine friendly font names and 1935character encodings are not highlighted by default. Unless you are working 1936explicitly with either of these this should be ok. If you want them to be 1937highlighted you should set one or both of the following variables: > 1938 1939 :let postscr_fonts=1 1940 :let postscr_encodings=1 1941 1942There is a stylistic option to the highlighting of and, or, and not. In 1943PostScript the function of these operators depends on the types of their 1944operands - if the operands are booleans then they are the logical operators, 1945if they are integers then they are binary operators. As binary and logical 1946operators can be highlighted differently they have to be highlighted one way 1947or the other. By default they are treated as logical operators. They can be 1948highlighted as binary operators by defining the variable 1949postscr_andornot_binary as follows: > 1950 1951 :let postscr_andornot_binary=1 1952< 1953 1954 *ptcap.vim* 1955PRINTCAP + TERMCAP *ptcap-syntax* *termcap-syntax* *printcap-syntax* 1956 1957This syntax file applies to the printcap and termcap databases. 1958 1959In order for Vim to recognize printcap/termcap files that do not match 1960the patterns *printcap*, or *termcap*, you must put additional patterns 1961appropriate to your system in your |myfiletypefile| file. For these 1962patterns, you must set the variable "b:ptcap_type" to either "print" or 1963"term", and then the 'filetype' option to ptcap. 1964 1965For example, to make Vim identify all files in /etc/termcaps/ as termcap 1966files, add the following: > 1967 1968 :au BufNewFile,BufRead /etc/termcaps/* let b:ptcap_type = "term" | 1969 \ set filetype=ptcap 1970 1971If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which 1972are fixed when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "ptcap_minlines" 1973internal variable to a larger number: > 1974 1975 :let ptcap_minlines = 50 1976 1977(The default is 20 lines.) 1978 1979 1980PROGRESS *progress.vim* *progress-syntax* 1981 1982Files matching "*.w" could be Progress or cweb. If the automatic detection 1983doesn't work for you, or you don't edit cweb at all, use this in your 1984startup vimrc: > 1985 :let filetype_w = "progress" 1986The same happens for "*.i", which could be assembly, and "*.p", which could be 1987Pascal. Use this if you don't use assembly and Pascal: > 1988 :let filetype_i = "progress" 1989 :let filetype_p = "progress" 1990 1991 1992PYTHON *python.vim* *python-syntax* 1993 1994There are four options to control Python syntax highlighting. 1995 1996For highlighted numbers: > 1997 :let python_highlight_numbers = 1 1998 1999For highlighted builtin functions: > 2000 :let python_highlight_builtins = 1 2001 2002For highlighted standard exceptions: > 2003 :let python_highlight_exceptions = 1 2004 2005For highlighted trailing whitespace and mix of spaces and tabs: 2006 :let python_highlight_space_errors = 1 2007 2008If you want all possible Python highlighting (the same as setting the 2009preceding three options): > 2010 :let python_highlight_all = 1 2011 2012 2013QUAKE *quake.vim* *quake-syntax* 2014 2015The Quake syntax definition should work for most any FPS (First Person 2016Shooter) based on one of the Quake engines. However, the command names vary 2017a bit between the three games (Quake, Quake 2, and Quake 3 Arena) so the 2018syntax definition checks for the existence of three global variables to allow 2019users to specify what commands are legal in their files. The three variables 2020can be set for the following effects: 2021 2022set to highlight commands only available in Quake: > 2023 :let quake_is_quake1 = 1 2024 2025set to highlight commands only available in Quake 2: > 2026 :let quake_is_quake2 = 1 2027 2028set to highlight commands only available in Quake 3 Arena: > 2029 :let quake_is_quake3 = 1 2030 2031Any combination of these three variables is legal, but might highlight more 2032commands than are actually available to you by the game. 2033 2034 2035READLINE *readline.vim* *readline-syntax* 2036 2037The readline library is primarily used by the BASH shell, which adds quite a 2038few commands and options to the ones already available. To highlight these 2039items as well you can add the following to your |vimrc| or just type it in the 2040command line before loading a file with the readline syntax: > 2041 let readline_has_bash = 1 2042 2043This will add highlighting for the commands that BASH (version 2.05a and 2044later, and part earlier) adds. 2045 2046 2047REXX *rexx.vim* *rexx-syntax* 2048 2049If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 2050when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "rexx_minlines" internal variable 2051to a larger number: > 2052 :let rexx_minlines = 50 2053This will make the syntax synchronization start 50 lines before the first 2054displayed line. The default value is 10. The disadvantage of using a larger 2055number is that redrawing can become slow. 2056 2057 2058RUBY *ruby.vim* *ruby-syntax* 2059 2060There are a few options to the Ruby syntax highlighting. 2061 2062By default, the "end" keyword is colorized according to the opening statement 2063of the block it closes. While useful, this feature can be expensive: if you 2064experience slow redrawing (or you are on a terminal with poor color support) 2065you may want to turn it off by defining the "ruby_no_expensive" variable: > 2066 :let ruby_no_expensive = 1 2067In this case the same color will be used for all control keywords. 2068 2069If you do want this feature enabled, but notice highlighting errors while 2070scrolling backwards, which are fixed when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting 2071the "ruby_minlines" variable to a value larger than 50: > 2072 :let ruby_minlines = 100 2073Ideally, this value should be a number of lines large enough to embrace your 2074largest class or module. 2075 2076Finally, if you do not like to see too many color items around, you can define 2077"ruby_no_identifiers": > 2078 :let ruby_no_identifiers = 1 2079This will prevent highlighting of special identifiers like "ConstantName", 2080"$global_var", "@instance_var", "| iterator |", and ":symbol". 2081 2082 2083SDL *sdl.vim* *sdl-syntax* 2084 2085The SDL highlighting probably misses a few keywords, but SDL has so many 2086of them it's almost impossibly to cope. 2087 2088The new standard, SDL-2000, specifies that all identifiers are 2089case-sensitive (which was not so before), and that all keywords can be 2090used either completely lowercase or completely uppercase. To have the 2091highlighting reflect this, you can set the following variable: > 2092 :let sdl_2000=1 2093 2094This also sets many new keywords. If you want to disable the old 2095keywords, which is probably a good idea, use: > 2096 :let SDL_no_96=1 2097 2098 2099The indentation is probably also incomplete, but right now I am very 2100satisfied with it for my own projects. 2101 2102 2103SED *sed.vim* *sed-syntax* 2104 2105To make tabs stand out from regular blanks (accomplished by using Todo 2106highlighting on the tabs), define "highlight_sedtabs" by putting > 2107 2108 :let highlight_sedtabs = 1 2109 2110in the vimrc file. (This special highlighting only applies for tabs 2111inside search patterns, replacement texts, addresses or text included 2112by an Append/Change/Insert command.) If you enable this option, it is 2113also a good idea to set the tab width to one character; by doing that, 2114you can easily count the number of tabs in a string. 2115 2116Bugs: 2117 2118 The transform command (y) is treated exactly like the substitute 2119 command. This means that, as far as this syntax file is concerned, 2120 transform accepts the same flags as substitute, which is wrong. 2121 (Transform accepts no flags.) I tolerate this bug because the 2122 involved commands need very complex treatment (95 patterns, one for 2123 each plausible pattern delimiter). 2124 2125 2126SGML *sgml.vim* *sgml-syntax* 2127 2128The coloring scheme for tags in the SGML file works as follows. 2129 2130The <> of opening tags are colored differently than the </> of a closing tag. 2131This is on purpose! For opening tags the 'Function' color is used, while for 2132closing tags the 'Type' color is used (See syntax.vim to check how those are 2133defined for you) 2134 2135Known tag names are colored the same way as statements in C. Unknown tag 2136names are not colored which makes it easy to spot errors. 2137 2138Note that the same is true for argument (or attribute) names. Known attribute 2139names are colored differently than unknown ones. 2140 2141Some SGML tags are used to change the rendering of text. The following tags 2142are recognized by the sgml.vim syntax coloring file and change the way normal 2143text is shown: <varname> <emphasis> <command> <function> <literal> 2144<replaceable> <ulink> and <link>. 2145 2146If you want to change how such text is rendered, you must redefine the 2147following syntax groups: 2148 2149 - sgmlBold 2150 - sgmlBoldItalic 2151 - sgmlUnderline 2152 - sgmlItalic 2153 - sgmlLink for links 2154 2155To make this redefinition work you must redefine them all and define the 2156following variable in your vimrc (this is due to the order in which the files 2157are read during initialization) > 2158 let sgml_my_rendering=1 2159 2160You can also disable this rendering by adding the following line to your 2161vimrc file: > 2162 let sgml_no_rendering=1 2163 2164(Adapted from the html.vim help text by Claudio Fleiner <[email protected]>) 2165 2166 2167SH *sh.vim* *sh-syntax* 2168 2169This covers the "normal" Unix (Bourne) sh, bash and the Korn shell. 2170 2171Vim attempts to determine which shell type is in use by specifying that 2172various filenames are of specific types: > 2173 2174 ksh : .kshrc* *.ksh 2175 bash: .bashrc* bashrc bash.bashrc .bash_profile* *.bash 2176< 2177If none of these cases pertain, then the first line of the file is examined 2178(ex. /bin/sh /bin/ksh /bin/bash). If the first line specifies a shelltype, 2179then that shelltype is used. However some files (ex. .profile) are known to 2180be shell files but the type is not apparent. Furthermore, on many systems 2181sh is symbolically linked to "bash" (linux) or "ksh" (posix). 2182 2183One may specify a global default by instantiating one of the following three 2184variables in your <.vimrc>: 2185 2186 ksh: > 2187 let is_kornshell = 1 2188< bash: > 2189 let is_bash = 1 2190< sh: > 2191 let is_sh = 1 2192 2193If, in your <.vimrc>, you set > 2194 let g:sh_fold_enabled= 1 2195> 2196then various syntax items (HereDocuments and function bodies) become 2197syntax-foldable (see |:syn-fold|). 2198 2199If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 2200when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "sh_minlines" internal variable 2201to a larger number. Example: > 2202 2203 let sh_minlines = 500 2204 2205This will make syntax synchronization start 500 lines before the first 2206displayed line. The default value is 200. The disadvantage of using a larger 2207number is that redrawing can become slow. 2208 2209If you don't have much to synchronize on, displaying can be very slow. To 2210reduce this, the "sh_maxlines" internal variable can be set. Example: > 2211 2212 let sh_maxlines = 100 2213< 2214The default is to use the twice sh_minlines. Set it to a smaller number to 2215speed up displaying. The disadvantage is that highlight errors may appear. 2216 2217 2218SPEEDUP (AspenTech plant simulator) *spup.vim* *spup-syntax* 2219 2220The Speedup syntax file has some options: 2221 2222- strict_subsections : If this variable is defined, only keywords for 2223 sections and subsections will be highlighted as statements but not 2224 other keywords (like WITHIN in the OPERATION section). 2225 2226- highlight_types : Definition of this variable causes stream types 2227 like temperature or pressure to be highlighted as Type, not as a 2228 plain Identifier. Included are the types that are usually found in 2229 the DECLARE section; if you defined own types, you have to include 2230 them in the syntax file. 2231 2232- oneline_comments : this value ranges from 1 to 3 and determines the 2233 highlighting of # style comments. 2234 2235 oneline_comments = 1 : allow normal Speedup code after an even 2236 number of #s. 2237 2238 oneline_comments = 2 : show code starting with the second # as 2239 error. This is the default setting. 2240 2241 oneline_comments = 3 : show the whole line as error if it contains 2242 more than one #. 2243 2244Since especially OPERATION sections tend to become very large due to 2245PRESETting variables, syncing may be critical. If your computer is 2246fast enough, you can increase minlines and/or maxlines near the end of 2247the syntax file. 2248 2249 2250TCSH *tcsh.vim* *tcsh-syntax* 2251 2252This covers the shell named "tcsh". It is a superset of csh. See |csh.vim| 2253for how the filetype is detected. 2254 2255Tcsh does not allow \" in strings unless the "backslash_quote" shell variable 2256is set. If you want VIM to assume that no backslash quote constructs exist add 2257this line to your .vimrc: > 2258 2259 :let tcsh_backslash_quote = 0 2260 2261If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 2262when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "tcsh_minlines" internal variable 2263to a larger number: > 2264 2265 :let tcsh_minlines = 100 2266 2267This will make the syntax synchronization start 100 lines before the first 2268displayed line. The default value is 15. The disadvantage of using a larger 2269number is that redrawing can become slow. 2270 2271 2272TEX *tex.vim* *tex-syntax* 2273 2274Run-on Comments/Math? ~ 2275 2276The tex highlighting supports TeX, LaTeX, and some AmsTeX. The 2277highlighting supports three primary zones: normal, texZone, and texMathZone. 2278Although a considerable effort has been made to have these zones terminate 2279properly, zones delineated by $..$ and $$..$$ cannot be synchronized as 2280there's no difference between start and end patterns. Consequently, a 2281special "TeX comment" has been provided > 2282 %stopzone 2283which will forcibly terminate the highlighting of either a texZone or a 2284texMathZone. 2285 2286Slow Syntax Highlighting? ~ 2287 2288If you have a slow computer, you may wish to reduce the values for > 2289 :syn sync maxlines=200 2290 :syn sync minlines=50 2291(especially the latter). If your computer is fast, you may wish to 2292increase them. This primarily affects synchronizing (ie. just what group, 2293if any, is the text at the top of the screen supposed to be in?). 2294 2295Excessive Error Highlighting? ~ 2296 2297The <tex.vim> supports lexical error checking of various sorts. Thus, 2298although the error checking is ofttimes very useful, it can indicate 2299errors where none actually are. If this proves to be a problem for you, 2300you may put in your <.vimrc> the following statement: > 2301 let tex_no_error=1 2302and all error checking by <tex.vim> will be suppressed. 2303 2304Need a new Math Group? ~ 2305 2306If you want to include a new math group in your LaTeX, the following 2307code shows you an example as to how you might do so: > 2308 2309 syn cluster texMathZones add=texMathZoneLOCAL 2310 syn region texMathZoneLOCAL start="\\begin\s*{\s*LOCALMATH\s*}" 2311 \ end="\\end\s*{\s*LOCALMATH\s*}" keepend 2312 \ contains=@texMathZoneGroup 2313 if !exists("tex_no_math") 2314 syn sync match texSyncMathZoneLOCAL grouphere texMathZoneLOCAL 2315 \ "\\begin\s*{\s*LOCALMATH\*\s*}" 2316 syn sync match texSyncMathZoneLOCAL groupthere NONE 2317 \ "\\end\s*{\s*LOCALMATH\*\s*}" 2318 endif 2319 hi link texMathZoneLOCAL texMath 2320< 2321You'll need to change LOCALMATH to the name of your new math group, 2322and then to put it into .vim/after/syntax/tex.vim. 2323 2324Starting a New Style? ~ 2325 2326One may use "\makeatletter" in *.tex files, thereby making the use of "@" in 2327commands available. However, since the *.tex file doesn't have one of the 2328following suffices: sty cls clo dtx ltx, the syntax highlighting will flag 2329such use of @ as an error. To solve this: > 2330 2331 :let b:tex_stylish = 1 2332 :set ft=tex 2333 2334Putting "let g:tex_stylish=1" into your <.vimrc> will make <syntax/tex.vim> 2335always accept such use of @. 2336 2337 2338TF *tf.vim* *tf-syntax* 2339 2340There is one option for the tf syntax highlighting. 2341 2342For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 2343set "tf_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 2344 2345 :let tf_minlines = your choice 2346 2347 2348VIM *vim.vim* *vim-syntax* 2349 2350There is a tradeoff between more accurate syntax highlighting versus 2351screen updating speed. To improve accuracy, you may wish to increase 2352the g:vim_minlines variable. The g:vim_maxlines variable may be used 2353to improve screen updating rates (see |:syn-sync| for more on this). 2354 2355 g:vim_minlines : used to set synchronization minlines 2356 g:vim_maxlines : used to set synchronization maxlines 2357 2358The g:vimembedscript option allows for somewhat faster loading of syntax 2359highlighting for vim scripts at the expense of supporting syntax highlighting 2360for external scripting languages (currently perl, python, ruby, and tcl). 2361 2362 g:vimembedscript == 1 (default) <vim.vim> will allow highlighting 2363 g:vimembedscript doesn't exist of supported embedded scripting 2364 languages: perl, python, ruby and 2365 tcl. 2366 2367 g:vimembedscript == 0 Syntax highlighting for embedded 2368 scripting languages will not be 2369 loaded. 2370 2371 2372XF86CONFIG *xf86conf.vim* *xf86conf-syntax* 2373 2374The syntax of XF86Config file differs in XFree86 v3.x and v4.x. Both 2375variants are supported. Automatic detection is used, but is far from perfect. 2376You may need to specify the version manually. Set the variable 2377xf86conf_xfree86_version to 3 or 4 according to your XFree86 version in 2378your .vimrc. Example: > 2379 :let xf86conf_xfree86_version=3 2380When using a mix of versions, set the b:xf86conf_xfree86_version variable. 2381 2382Note that spaces and underscores in option names are not supported. Use 2383"SyncOnGreen" instead of "__s yn con gr_e_e_n" if you want the option name 2384highlighted. 2385 2386 2387XML *xml.vim* *xml-syntax* 2388 2389Xml namespaces are highlighted by default. This can be inhibited by 2390setting a global variable: > 2391 2392 :let g:xml_namespace_transparent=1 2393< 2394 *xml-folding* 2395The xml syntax file provides syntax |folding| (see |:syn-fold|) between 2396start and end tags. This can be turned on by > 2397 2398 :let g:xml_syntax_folding = 1 2399 :set foldmethod=syntax 2400 2401Note: syntax folding might slow down syntax highlighting significantly, 2402especially for large files. 2403 2404 2405X Pixmaps (XPM) *xpm.vim* *xpm-syntax* 2406 2407xpm.vim creates its syntax items dynamically based upon the contents of the 2408XPM file. Thus if you make changes e.g. in the color specification strings, 2409you have to source it again e.g. with ":set syn=xpm". 2410 2411To copy a pixel with one of the colors, yank a "pixel" with "yl" and insert it 2412somewhere else with "P". 2413 2414Do you want to draw with the mouse? Try the following: > 2415 :function! GetPixel() 2416 : let c = getline(line("."))[col(".") - 1] 2417 : echo c 2418 : exe "noremap <LeftMouse> <LeftMouse>r".c 2419 : exe "noremap <LeftDrag> <LeftMouse>r".c 2420 :endfunction 2421 :noremap <RightMouse> <LeftMouse>:call GetPixel()<CR> 2422 :set guicursor=n:hor20 " to see the color beneath the cursor 2423This turns the right button into a pipette and the left button into a pen. 2424It will work with XPM files that have one character per pixel only and you 2425must not click outside of the pixel strings, but feel free to improve it. 2426 2427It will look much better with a font in a quadratic cell size, e.g. for X: > 2428 :set guifont=-*-clean-medium-r-*-*-8-*-*-*-*-80-* 2429 2430============================================================================== 24315. Defining a syntax *:syn-define* *E410* 2432 2433Vim understands three types of syntax items: 2434 24351. Keyword. 2436 It can only contain keyword characters, according to the 'iskeyword' 2437 option. It cannot contain other syntax items. It will only match with a 2438 complete word (there are no keyword characters before or after the match). 2439 The keyword "if" would match in "if(a=b)", but not in "ifdef x", because 2440 "(" is not a keyword character and "d" is. 2441 24422. Match. 2443 This is a match with a single regexp pattern. 2444 24453. Region. 2446 This starts at a match of the "start" regexp pattern and ends with a match 2447 with the "end" regexp pattern. Any other text can appear in between. A 2448 "skip" regexp pattern can be used to avoid matching the "end" pattern. 2449 2450Several syntax ITEMs can be put into one syntax GROUP. For a syntax group 2451you can give highlighting attributes. For example, you could have an item 2452to define a "/* .. */" comment and another one that defines a "// .." comment, 2453and put them both in the "Comment" group. You can then specify that a 2454"Comment" will be in bold font and have a blue color. You are free to make 2455one highlight group for one syntax item, or put all items into one group. 2456This depends on how you want to specify your highlighting attributes. Putting 2457each item in its own group results in having to specify the highlighting 2458for a lot of groups. 2459 2460Note that a syntax group and a highlight group are similar. For a highlight 2461group you will have given highlight attributes. These attributes will be used 2462for the syntax group with the same name. 2463 2464In case more than one item matches at the same position, the one that was 2465defined LAST wins. Thus you can override previously defined syntax items by 2466using an item that matches the same text. But a keyword always goes before a 2467match or region. And a keyword with matching case always goes before a 2468keyword with ignoring case. 2469 2470 2471PRIORITY *:syn-priority* 2472 2473When several syntax items may match, these rules are used: 2474 24751. When multiple Match or Region items start in the same position, the item 2476 defined last has priority. 24772. A Keyword has priority over Match and Region items. 24783. An item that starts in an earlier position has priority over items that 2479 start in later positions. 2480 2481 2482DEFINING CASE *:syn-case* *E390* 2483 2484:sy[ntax] case [match|ignore] 2485 This defines if the following ":syntax" commands will work with 2486 matching case, when using "match", or with ignoring case, when using 2487 "ignore". Note that any items before this are not affected, and all 2488 items until the next ":syntax case" command are affected. 2489 2490 2491DEFINING KEYWORDS *:syn-keyword* 2492 2493:sy[ntax] keyword {group-name} [{options}] {keyword} .. [{options}] 2494 2495 This defines a number of keywords. 2496 2497 {group-name} Is a syntax group name such as "Comment". 2498 [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. 2499 {keyword} .. Is a list of keywords which are part of this group. 2500 2501 Example: > 2502 :syntax keyword Type int long char 2503< 2504 The {options} can be given anywhere in the line. They will apply to 2505 all keywords given, also for options that come after a keyword. 2506 These examples do exactly the same: > 2507 :syntax keyword Type contained int long char 2508 :syntax keyword Type int long contained char 2509 :syntax keyword Type int long char contained 2510< 2511 When you have a keyword with an optional tail, like Ex commands in 2512 Vim, you can put the optional characters inside [], to define all the 2513 variations at once: > 2514 :syntax keyword vimCommand ab[breviate] n[ext] 2515< 2516 Don't forget that a keyword can only be recognized if all the 2517 characters are included in the 'iskeyword' option. If one character 2518 isn't, the keyword will never be recognized. 2519 Multi-byte characters can also be used. These do not have to be in 2520 'iskeyword'. 2521 2522 A keyword always has higher priority than a match or region, the 2523 keyword is used if more than one item matches. Keywords do not nest 2524 and a keyword can't contain anything else. 2525 2526 Note that when you have a keyword that is the same as an option (even 2527 one that isn't allowed here), you can not use it. Use a match 2528 instead. 2529 2530 The maximum length of a keyword is 80 characters. 2531 2532 The same keyword can be defined multiple times, when its containment 2533 differs. For example, you can define the keyword once not contained 2534 and use one highlight group, and once contained, and use a different 2535 highlight group. Example: > 2536 :syn keyword vimCommand tag 2537 :syn keyword vimSetting contained tag 2538< When finding "tag" outside of any syntax item, the "vimCommand" 2539 highlight group is used. When finding "tag" in a syntax item that 2540 contains "vimSetting", the "vimSetting" group is used. 2541 2542 2543DEFINING MATCHES *:syn-match* 2544 2545:sy[ntax] match {group-name} [{options}] [excludenl] {pattern} [{options}] 2546 2547 This defines one match. 2548 2549 {group-name} A syntax group name such as "Comment". 2550 [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. 2551 [excludenl] Don't make a pattern with the end-of-line "$" 2552 extend a containing match or region. Must be 2553 given before the pattern. |:syn-excludenl| 2554 {pattern} The search pattern that defines the match. 2555 See |:syn-pattern| below. 2556 Note that the pattern may match more than one 2557 line, which makes the match depend on where 2558 Vim starts searching for the pattern. You 2559 need to make sure syncing takes care of this. 2560 2561 Example (match a character constant): > 2562 :syntax match Character /'.'/hs=s+1,he=e-1 2563< 2564 2565DEFINING REGIONS *:syn-region* *:syn-start* *:syn-skip* *:syn-end* 2566 *E398* *E399* 2567:sy[ntax] region {group-name} [{options}] 2568 [matchgroup={group-name}] 2569 [keepend] 2570 [extend] 2571 [excludenl] 2572 start={start_pattern} .. 2573 [skip={skip_pattern}] 2574 end={end_pattern} .. 2575 [{options}] 2576 2577 This defines one region. It may span several lines. 2578 2579 {group-name} A syntax group name such as "Comment". 2580 [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. 2581 [matchgroup={group-name}] The syntax group to use for the following 2582 start or end pattern matches only. Not used 2583 for the text in between the matched start and 2584 end patterns. Use NONE to reset to not using 2585 a different group for the start or end match. 2586 See |:syn-matchgroup|. 2587 keepend Don't allow contained matches to go past a 2588 match with the end pattern. See 2589 |:syn-keepend|. 2590 extend Override a "keepend" for an item this region 2591 is contained in. See |:syn-extend|. 2592 excludenl Don't make a pattern with the end-of-line "$" 2593 extend a containing match or item. Only 2594 useful for end patterns. Must be given before 2595 the patterns it applies to. |:syn-excludenl| 2596 start={start_pattern} The search pattern that defines the start of 2597 the region. See |:syn-pattern| below. 2598 skip={skip_pattern} The search pattern that defines text inside 2599 the region where not to look for the end 2600 pattern. See |:syn-pattern| below. 2601 end={end_pattern} The search pattern that defines the end of 2602 the region. See |:syn-pattern| below. 2603 2604 Example: > 2605 :syntax region String start=+"+ skip=+\\"+ end=+"+ 2606< 2607 The start/skip/end patterns and the options can be given in any order. 2608 There can be zero or one skip pattern. There must be one or more 2609 start and end patterns. This means that you can omit the skip 2610 pattern, but you must give at least one start and one end pattern. It 2611 is allowed to have white space before and after the equal sign 2612 (although it mostly looks better without white space). 2613 2614 When more than one start pattern is given, a match with one of these 2615 is sufficient. This means there is an OR relation between the start 2616 patterns. The last one that matches is used. The same is true for 2617 the end patterns. 2618 2619 The search for the end pattern starts right after the start pattern. 2620 Offsets are not used for this. This implies that the match for the 2621 end pattern will never overlap with the start pattern. 2622 2623 The skip and end pattern can match across line breaks, but since the 2624 search for the pattern can start in any line it often does not do what 2625 you want. The skip pattern doesn't avoid a match of an end pattern in 2626 the next line. Use single-line patterns to avoid trouble. 2627 2628 Note: The decision to start a region is only based on a matching start 2629 pattern. There is no check for a matching end pattern. This does NOT 2630 work: > 2631 :syn region First start="(" end=":" 2632 :syn region Second start="(" end=";" 2633< The Second always matches before the First (last defined pattern has 2634 higher priority). The Second region then continues until the next 2635 ';', no matter if there is a ':' before it. Using a match does work: > 2636 :syn match First "(\_.\{-}:" 2637 :syn match Second "(\_.\{-};" 2638< This pattern matches any character or line break with "\_." and 2639 repeats that with "\{-}" (repeat as few as possible). 2640 2641 *:syn-keepend* 2642 By default, a contained match can obscure a match for the end pattern. 2643 This is useful for nesting. For example, a region that starts with 2644 "{" and ends with "}", can contain another region. An encountered "}" 2645 will then end the contained region, but not the outer region: 2646 { starts outer "{}" region 2647 { starts contained "{}" region 2648 } ends contained "{}" region 2649 } ends outer "{} region 2650 If you don't want this, the "keepend" argument will make the matching 2651 of an end pattern of the outer region also end any contained item. 2652 This makes it impossible to nest the same region, but allows for 2653 contained items to highlight parts of the end pattern, without causing 2654 that to skip the match with the end pattern. Example: > 2655 :syn match vimComment +"[^"]\+$+ 2656 :syn region vimCommand start="set" end="$" contains=vimComment keepend 2657< The "keepend" makes the vimCommand always end at the end of the line, 2658 even though the contained vimComment includes a match with the <EOL>. 2659 2660 When "keepend" is not used, a match with an end pattern is retried 2661 after each contained match. When "keepend" is included, the first 2662 encountered match with an end pattern is used, truncating any 2663 contained matches. 2664 *:syn-extend* 2665 The "keepend" behavior can be changed by using the "extend" argument. 2666 When an item with "extend" is contained in an item that uses 2667 "keepend", the "keepend" is ignored and the containing region will be 2668 extended. 2669 This can be used to have some contained items extend a region while 2670 others don't. Example: > 2671 2672 :syn region htmlRef start=+<a>+ end=+</a>+ keepend contains=htmlItem,htmlScript 2673 :syn match htmlItem +<[^>]*>+ contained 2674 :syn region htmlScript start=+<script+ end=+</script[^>]*>+ contained extend 2675 2676< Here the htmlItem item does not make the htmlRef item continue 2677 further, it is only used to highlight the <> items. The htmlScript 2678 item does extend the htmlRef item. 2679 2680 Another example: > 2681 :syn region xmlFold start="<a>" end="</a>" fold transparent keepend extend 2682< This defines a region with "keepend", so that its end cannot be 2683 changed by contained items, like when the "</a>" is matched to 2684 highlight it differently. But when the xmlFold region is nested (it 2685 includes itself), the "extend" applies, so that the "</a>" of a nested 2686 region only ends that region, and not the one it is contained in. 2687 2688 *:syn-excludenl* 2689 When a pattern for a match or end pattern of a region includes a '$' 2690 to match the end-of-line, it will make a region item that it is 2691 contained in continue on the next line. For example, a match with 2692 "\\$" (backslash at the end of the line) can make a region continue 2693 that would normally stop at the end of the line. This is the default 2694 behavior. If this is not wanted, there are two ways to avoid it: 2695 1. Use "keepend" for the containing item. This will keep all 2696 contained matches from extending the match or region. It can be 2697 used when all contained items must not extend the containing item. 2698 2. Use "excludenl" in the contained item. This will keep that match 2699 from extending the containing match or region. It can be used if 2700 only some contained items must not extend the containing item. 2701 "excludenl" must be given before the pattern it applies to. 2702 2703 *:syn-matchgroup* 2704 "matchgroup" can be used to highlight the start and/or end pattern 2705 differently than the body of the region. Example: > 2706 :syntax region String matchgroup=Quote start=+"+ skip=+\\"+ end=+"+ 2707< This will highlight the quotes with the "Quote" group, and the text in 2708 between with the "String" group. 2709 The "matchgroup" is used for all start and end patterns that follow, 2710 until the next "matchgroup". Use "matchgroup=NONE" to go back to not 2711 using a matchgroup. 2712 2713 In a start or end pattern that is highlighted with "matchgroup" the 2714 contained items of the region are not used. This can be used to avoid 2715 that a contained item matches in the start or end pattern match. When 2716 using "transparent", this does not apply to a start or end pattern 2717 match that is highlighted with "matchgroup". 2718 2719 Here is an example, which highlights three levels of parentheses in 2720 different colors: > 2721 :sy region par1 matchgroup=par1 start=/(/ end=/)/ contains=par2 2722 :sy region par2 matchgroup=par2 start=/(/ end=/)/ contains=par3 contained 2723 :sy region par3 matchgroup=par3 start=/(/ end=/)/ contains=par1 contained 2724 :hi par1 ctermfg=red guifg=red 2725 :hi par2 ctermfg=blue guifg=blue 2726 :hi par3 ctermfg=darkgreen guifg=darkgreen 2727 2728============================================================================== 27296. :syntax arguments *:syn-arguments* 2730 2731The :syntax commands that define syntax items take a number of arguments. 2732The common ones are explained here. The arguments may be given in any order 2733and may be mixed with patterns. 2734 2735Not all commands accept all arguments. This table shows which arguments 2736can not be used for all commands: 2737 *E395* *E396* 2738 contains oneline fold display extend ~ 2739:syntax keyword - - - - - 2740:syntax match yes - yes yes yes 2741:syntax region yes yes yes yes yes 2742 2743These arguments can be used for all three commands: 2744 contained 2745 containedin 2746 nextgroup 2747 transparent 2748 skipwhite 2749 skipnl 2750 skipempty 2751 2752 2753contained *:syn-contained* 2754 2755When the "contained" argument is given, this item will not be recognized at 2756the top level, but only when it is mentioned in the "contains" field of 2757another match. Example: > 2758 :syntax keyword Todo TODO contained 2759 :syntax match Comment "//.*" contains=Todo 2760 2761 2762display *:syn-display* 2763 2764If the "display" argument is given, this item will be skipped when the 2765detected highlighting will not be displayed. This will speed up highlighting, 2766by skipping this item when only finding the syntax state for the text that is 2767to be displayed. 2768 2769Generally, you can use "display" for match and region items that meet these 2770conditions: 2771- The item does not continue past the end of a line. Example for C: A region 2772 for a "/*" comment can't contain "display", because it continues on the next 2773 line. 2774- The item does not contain items that continue past the end of the line or 2775 make it continue on the next line. 2776- The item does not change the size of any item it is contained in. Example 2777 for C: A match with "\\$" in a preprocessor match can't have "display", 2778 because it may make that preprocessor match shorter. 2779- The item does not allow other items to match that didn't match otherwise, 2780 and that item may extend the match too far. Example for C: A match for a 2781 "//" comment can't use "display", because a "/*" inside that comment would 2782 match then and start a comment which extends past the end of the line. 2783 2784Examples, for the C language, where "display" can be used: 2785- match with a number 2786- match with a label 2787 2788 2789transparent *:syn-transparent* 2790 2791If the "transparent" argument is given, this item will not be highlighted 2792itself, but will take the highlighting of the item it is contained in. This 2793is useful for syntax items that don't need any highlighting but are used 2794only to skip over a part of the text. 2795 2796The "contains=" argument is also inherited from the item it is contained in, 2797unless a "contains" argument is given for the transparent item itself. To 2798avoid that unwanted items are contained, use "contains=NONE". Example, which 2799highlights words in strings, but makes an exception for "vim": > 2800 :syn match myString /'[^']*'/ contains=myWord,myVim 2801 :syn match myWord /\<[a-z]*\>/ contained 2802 :syn match myVim /\<vim\>/ transparent contained contains=NONE 2803 :hi link myString String 2804 :hi link myWord Comment 2805Since the "myVim" match comes after "myWord" it is the preferred match (last 2806match in the same position overrules an earlier one). The "transparent" 2807argument makes the "myVim" match use the same highlighting as "myString". But 2808it does not contain anything. If the "contains=NONE" argument would be left 2809out, then "myVim" would use the contains argument from myString and allow 2810"myWord" to be contained, which will be highlighted as a Constant. This 2811happens because a contained match doesn't match inside itself in the same 2812position, thus the "myVim" match doesn't overrule the "myWord" match here. 2813 2814When you look at the colored text, it is like looking at layers of contained 2815items. The contained item is on top of the item it is contained in, thus you 2816see the contained item. When a contained item is transparent, you can look 2817through, thus you see the item it is contained in. In a picture: 2818 2819 look from here 2820 2821 | | | | | | 2822 V V V V V V 2823 2824 xxxx yyy more contained items 2825 .................... contained item (transparent) 2826 ============================= first item 2827 2828The 'x', 'y' and '=' represent a highlighted syntax item. The '.' represent a 2829transparent group. 2830 2831What you see is: 2832 2833 =======xxxx=======yyy======== 2834 2835Thus you look through the transparent "....". 2836 2837 2838oneline *:syn-oneline* 2839 2840The "oneline" argument indicates that the region does not cross a line 2841boundary. It must match completely in the current line. However, when the 2842region has a contained item that does cross a line boundary, it continues on 2843the next line anyway. A contained item can be used to recognize a line 2844continuation pattern. But the "end" pattern must still match in the first 2845line, otherwise the region doesn't even start. 2846 2847When the start pattern includes a "\n" to match an end-of-line, the end 2848pattern must be found in the same line as where the start pattern ends. The 2849end pattern may also include an end-of-line. Thus the "oneline" argument 2850means that the end of the start pattern and the start of the end pattern must 2851be within one line. This can't be changed by a skip pattern that matches a 2852line break. 2853 2854 2855fold *:syn-fold* 2856 2857The "fold" argument makes the fold level increased by one for this item. 2858Example: > 2859 :syn region myFold start="{" end="}" transparent fold 2860 :syn sync fromstart 2861 :set foldmethod=syntax 2862This will make each {} block form one fold. 2863 2864The fold will start on the line where the item starts, and end where the item 2865ends. If the start and end are within the same line, there is no fold. 2866The 'foldnestmax' option limits the nesting of syntax folds. 2867{not available when Vim was compiled without |+folding| feature} 2868 2869 2870 *:syn-contains* *E405* *E406* *E407* *E408* *E409* 2871contains={groupname},.. 2872 2873The "contains" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names. These 2874groups will be allowed to begin inside the item (they may extend past the 2875containing group's end). This allows for recursive nesting of matches and 2876regions. If there is no "contains" argument, no groups will be contained in 2877this item. The group names do not need to be defined before they can be used 2878here. 2879 2880contains=ALL 2881 If the only item in the contains list is "ALL", then all 2882 groups will be accepted inside the item. 2883 2884contains=ALLBUT,{group-name},.. 2885 If the first item in the contains list is "ALLBUT", then all 2886 groups will be accepted inside the item, except the ones that 2887 are listed. Example: > 2888 :syntax region Block start="{" end="}" ... contains=ALLBUT,Function 2889 2890contains=TOP 2891 If the first item in the contains list is "TOP", then all 2892 groups will be accepted that don't have the "contained" 2893 argument. 2894contains=TOP,{group-name},.. 2895 Like "TOP", but excluding the groups that are listed. 2896 2897contains=CONTAINED 2898 If the first item in the contains list is "CONTAINED", then 2899 all groups will be accepted that have the "contained" 2900 argument. 2901contains=CONTAINED,{group-name},.. 2902 Like "CONTAINED", but excluding the groups that are 2903 listed. 2904 2905 2906The {group-name} in the "contains" list can be a pattern. All group names 2907that match the pattern will be included (or excluded, if "ALLBUT" is used). 2908The pattern cannot contain white space or a ','. Example: > 2909 ... contains=Comment.*,Keyw[0-3] 2910The matching will be done at moment the syntax command is executed. Groups 2911that are defined later will not be matched. Also, if the current syntax 2912command defines a new group, it is not matched. Be careful: When putting 2913syntax commands in a file you can't rely on groups NOT being defined, because 2914the file may have been sourced before, and ":syn clear" doesn't remove the 2915group names. 2916 2917The contained groups will also match in the start and end patterns of a 2918region. If this is not wanted, the "matchgroup" argument can be used 2919|:syn-matchgroup|. The "ms=" and "me=" offsets can be used to change the 2920region where contained items do match. Note that this may also limit the 2921area that is highlighted 2922 2923 2924containedin={groupname}... *:syn-containedin* 2925 2926The "containedin" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names. The 2927item will be allowed to begin inside these groups. This works as if the 2928containing item has a "contains=" argument that includes this item. 2929 2930The {groupname}... can be used just like for "contains", as explained above. 2931 2932This is useful when adding a syntax item afterwards. An item can be told to 2933be included inside an already existing item, without changing the definition 2934of that item. For example, to highlight a word in a C comment after loading 2935the C syntax: > 2936 :syn keyword myword HELP containedin=cComment contained 2937Note that "contained" is also used, to avoid that the item matches at the top 2938level. 2939 2940Matches for "containedin" are added to the other places where the item can 2941appear. A "contains" argument may also be added as usual. Don't forget that 2942keywords never contain another item, thus adding them to "containedin" won't 2943work. 2944 2945 2946nextgroup={groupname},.. *:syn-nextgroup* 2947 2948The "nextgroup" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names, 2949separated by commas (just like with "contains", so you can also use patterns). 2950 2951If the "nextgroup" argument is given, the mentioned syntax groups will be 2952tried for a match, after the match or region ends. If none of the groups have 2953a match, highlighting continues normally. If there is a match, this group 2954will be used, even when it is not mentioned in the "contains" field of the 2955current group. This is like giving the mentioned group priority over all 2956other groups. Example: > 2957 :syntax match ccFoobar "Foo.\{-}Bar" contains=ccFoo 2958 :syntax match ccFoo "Foo" contained nextgroup=ccFiller 2959 :syntax region ccFiller start="." matchgroup=ccBar end="Bar" contained 2960 2961This will highlight "Foo" and "Bar" differently, and only when there is a 2962"Bar" after "Foo". In the text line below, "f" shows where ccFoo is used for 2963highlighting, and "bbb" where ccBar is used. > 2964 2965 Foo asdfasd Bar asdf Foo asdf Bar asdf 2966 fff bbb fff bbb 2967 2968Note the use of ".\{-}" to skip as little as possible until the next Bar. 2969when ".*" would be used, the "asdf" in between "Bar" and "Foo" would be 2970highlighted according to the "ccFoobar" group, because the ccFooBar match 2971would include the first "Foo" and the last "Bar" in the line (see |pattern|). 2972 2973 2974skipwhite *:syn-skipwhite* 2975skipnl *:syn-skipnl* 2976skipempty *:syn-skipempty* 2977 2978These arguments are only used in combination with "nextgroup". They can be 2979used to allow the next group to match after skipping some text: 2980 skipwhite skip over space and Tab characters 2981 skipnl skip over the end of a line 2982 skipempty skip over empty lines (implies a "skipnl") 2983 2984When "skipwhite" is present, the white space is only skipped if there is no 2985next group that matches the white space. 2986 2987When "skipnl" is present, the match with nextgroup may be found in the next 2988line. This only happens when the current item ends at the end of the current 2989line! When "skipnl" is not present, the nextgroup will only be found after 2990the current item in the same line. 2991 2992When skipping text while looking for a next group, the matches for other 2993groups are ignored. Only when no next group matches, other items are tried 2994for a match again. This means that matching a next group and skipping white 2995space and <EOL>s has a higher priority than other items. 2996 2997Example: > 2998 :syn match ifstart "\<if.*" nextgroup=ifline skipwhite skipempty 2999 :syn match ifline "[^ \t].*" nextgroup=ifline skipwhite skipempty contained 3000 :syn match ifline "endif" contained 3001Note that the "[^ \t].*" match matches all non-white text. Thus it would also 3002match "endif". Therefore the "endif" match is put last, so that it takes 3003precedence. 3004Note that this example doesn't work for nested "if"s. You need to add 3005"contains" arguments to make that work (omitted for simplicity of the 3006example). 3007 3008============================================================================== 30097. Syntax patterns *:syn-pattern* *E401* *E402* 3010 3011In the syntax commands, a pattern must be surrounded by two identical 3012characters. This is like it works for the ":s" command. The most common to 3013use is the double quote. But if the pattern contains a double quote, you can 3014use another character that is not used in the pattern. Examples: > 3015 :syntax region Comment start="/\*" end="\*/" 3016 :syntax region String start=+"+ end=+"+ skip=+\\"+ 3017 3018See |pattern| for the explanation of what a pattern is. Syntax patterns are 3019always interpreted like the 'magic' options is set, no matter what the actual 3020value of 'magic' is. And the patterns are interpreted like the 'l' flag is 3021not included in 'cpoptions'. This was done to make syntax files portable and 3022independent of 'compatible' and 'magic' settings. 3023 3024Try to avoid patterns that can match an empty string, such as "[a-z]*". 3025This slows down the highlighting a lot, because it matches everywhere. 3026 3027 *:syn-pattern-offset* 3028The pattern can be followed by a character offset. This can be used to 3029change the highlighted part, and to change the text area included in the 3030match or region (which only matters when trying to match other items). Both 3031are relative to the matched pattern. The character offset for a skip 3032pattern can be used to tell where to continue looking for an end pattern. 3033 3034The offset takes the form of "{what}={offset}" 3035The {what} can be one of seven strings: 3036 3037ms Match Start offset for the start of the matched text 3038me Match End offset for the end of the matched text 3039hs Highlight Start offset for where the highlighting starts 3040he Highlight End offset for where the highlighting ends 3041rs Region Start offset for where the body of a region starts 3042re Region End offset for where the body of a region ends 3043lc Leading Context offset past "leading context" of pattern 3044 3045The {offset} can be: 3046 3047s start of the matched pattern 3048s+{nr} start of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the right 3049s-{nr} start of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the left 3050e end of the matched pattern 3051e+{nr} end of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the right 3052e-{nr} end of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the left 3053{nr} (for "lc" only): start matching {nr} chars to the left 3054 3055Examples: "ms=s+1", "hs=e-2", "lc=3". 3056 3057Although all offsets are accepted after any pattern, they are not always 3058meaningful. This table shows which offsets are actually used: 3059 3060 ms me hs he rs re lc ~ 3061match item yes yes yes yes - - yes 3062region item start yes - yes - yes - yes 3063region item skip - yes - - - - yes 3064region item end - yes - yes - yes yes 3065 3066Offsets can be concatenated, with a ',' in between. Example: > 3067 :syn match String /"[^"]*"/hs=s+1,he=e-1 3068< 3069 some "string" text 3070 ^^^^^^ highlighted 3071 3072Notes: 3073- There must be no white space between the pattern and the character 3074 offset(s). 3075- The highlighted area will never be outside of the matched text. 3076- A negative offset for an end pattern may not always work, because the end 3077 pattern may be detected when the highlighting should already have stopped. 3078- The start of a match cannot be in a line other than where the pattern 3079 matched. This doesn't work: "a\nb"ms=e. You can make the highlighting 3080 start in another line, this does work: "a\nb"hs=e. 3081 3082Example (match a comment but don't highlight the /* and */): > 3083 :syntax region Comment start="/\*"hs=e+1 end="\*/"he=s-1 3084< 3085 /* this is a comment */ 3086 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ highlighted 3087 3088A more complicated Example: > 3089 :syn region Exa matchgroup=Foo start="foo"hs=s+2,rs=e+2 matchgroup=Bar end="bar"me=e-1,he=e-1,re=s-1 3090< 3091 abcfoostringbarabc 3092 mmmmmmmmmmm match 3093 ssrrrreee highlight start/region/end ("Foo", "Exa" and "Bar") 3094 3095Leading context *:syn-lc* *:syn-leading* *:syn-context* 3096 3097Note: This is an obsolete feature, only included for backwards compatibility 3098with previous Vim versions. It's now recommended to use the |/\@<=| construct 3099in the pattern. 3100 3101The "lc" offset specifies leading context -- a part of the pattern that must 3102be present, but is not considered part of the match. An offset of "lc=n" will 3103cause Vim to step back n columns before attempting the pattern match, allowing 3104characters which have already been matched in previous patterns to also be 3105used as leading context for this match. This can be used, for instance, to 3106specify that an "escaping" character must not precede the match: > 3107 3108 :syn match ZNoBackslash "[^\\]z"ms=s+1 3109 :syn match WNoBackslash "[^\\]w"lc=1 3110 :syn match Underline "_\+" 3111< 3112 ___zzzz ___wwww 3113 ^^^ ^^^ matches Underline 3114 ^ ^ matches ZNoBackslash 3115 ^^^^ matches WNoBackslash 3116 3117The "ms" offset is automatically set to the same value as the "lc" offset, 3118unless you set "ms" explicitly. 3119 3120 3121Multi-line patterns *:syn-multi-line* 3122 3123The patterns can include "\n" to match an end-of-line. Mostly this works as 3124expected, but there are a few exceptions. 3125 3126When using a start pattern with an offset, the start of the match is not 3127allowed to start in a following line. The highlighting can start in a 3128following line though. 3129 3130The skip pattern can include the "\n", but the search for an end pattern will 3131continue in the first character of the next line, also when that character is 3132matched by the skip pattern. This is because redrawing may start in any line 3133halfway a region and there is no check if the skip pattern started in a 3134previous line. For example, if the skip pattern is "a\nb" and an end pattern 3135is "b", the end pattern does match in the second line of this: > 3136 x x a 3137 b x x 3138Generally this means that the skip pattern should not match any characters 3139after the "\n". 3140 3141 3142External matches *:syn-ext-match* 3143 3144These extra regular expression items are available in region patterns: 3145 3146 */\z(* */\z(\)* *E50* *E52* 3147 \z(\) Marks the sub-expression as "external", meaning that it is can 3148 be accessed from another pattern match. Currently only usable 3149 in defining a syntax region start pattern. 3150 3151 */\z1* */\z2* */\z3* */\z4* */\z5* 3152 \z1 ... \z9 */\z6* */\z7* */\z8* */\z9* *E66* *E67* 3153 Matches the same string that was matched by the corresponding 3154 sub-expression in a previous start pattern match. 3155 3156Sometimes the start and end patterns of a region need to share a common 3157sub-expression. A common example is the "here" document in Perl and many Unix 3158shells. This effect can be achieved with the "\z" special regular expression 3159items, which marks a sub-expression as "external", in the sense that it can be 3160referenced from outside the pattern in which it is defined. The here-document 3161example, for instance, can be done like this: > 3162 :syn region hereDoc start="<<\z(\I\i*\)" end="^\z1$" 3163 3164As can be seen here, the \z actually does double duty. In the start pattern, 3165it marks the "\(\I\i*\)" sub-expression as external; in the end pattern, it 3166changes the \1 back-reference into an external reference referring to the 3167first external sub-expression in the start pattern. External references can 3168also be used in skip patterns: > 3169 :syn region foo start="start \(\I\i*\)" skip="not end \z1" end="end \z1" 3170 3171Note that normal and external sub-expressions are completely orthogonal and 3172indexed separately; for instance, if the pattern "\z(..\)\(..\)" is applied 3173to the string "aabb", then \1 will refer to "bb" and \z1 will refer to "aa". 3174Note also that external sub-expressions cannot be accessed as back-references 3175within the same pattern like normal sub-expressions. If you want to use one 3176sub-expression as both a normal and an external sub-expression, you can nest 3177the two, as in "\(\z(...\)\)". 3178 3179Note that only matches within a single line can be used. Multi-line matches 3180cannot be referred to. 3181 3182============================================================================== 31838. Syntax clusters *:syn-cluster* *E400* 3184 3185:sy[ntax] cluster {cluster-name} [contains={group-name}..] 3186 [add={group-name}..] 3187 [remove={group-name}..] 3188 3189This command allows you to cluster a list of syntax groups together under a 3190single name. 3191 3192 contains={group-name}.. 3193 The cluster is set to the specified list of groups. 3194 add={group-name}.. 3195 The specified groups are added to the cluster. 3196 remove={group-name}.. 3197 The specified groups are removed from the cluster. 3198 3199A cluster so defined may be referred to in a contains=.., nextgroup=.., add=.. 3200or remove=.. list with a "@" prefix. You can also use this notation to 3201implicitly declare a cluster before specifying its contents. 3202 3203Example: > 3204 :syntax match Thing "# [^#]\+ #" contains=@ThingMembers 3205 :syntax cluster ThingMembers contains=ThingMember1,ThingMember2 3206 3207As the previous example suggests, modifications to a cluster are effectively 3208retroactive; the membership of the cluster is checked at the last minute, so 3209to speak: > 3210 :syntax keyword A aaa 3211 :syntax keyword B bbb 3212 :syntax cluster AandB contains=A 3213 :syntax match Stuff "( aaa bbb )" contains=@AandB 3214 :syntax cluster AandB add=B " now both keywords are matched in Stuff 3215 3216This also has implications for nested clusters: > 3217 :syntax keyword A aaa 3218 :syntax keyword B bbb 3219 :syntax cluster SmallGroup contains=B 3220 :syntax cluster BigGroup contains=A,@SmallGroup 3221 :syntax match Stuff "( aaa bbb )" contains=@BigGroup 3222 :syntax cluster BigGroup remove=B " no effect, since B isn't in BigGroup 3223 :syntax cluster SmallGroup remove=B " now bbb isn't matched within Stuff 3224 3225============================================================================== 32269. Including syntax files *:syn-include* *E397* 3227 3228It is often useful for one language's syntax file to include a syntax file for 3229a related language. Depending on the exact relationship, this can be done in 3230two different ways: 3231 3232 - If top-level syntax items in the included syntax file are to be 3233 allowed at the top level in the including syntax, you can simply use 3234 the |:runtime| command: > 3235 3236 " In cpp.vim: 3237 :runtime! syntax/c.vim 3238 :unlet b:current_syntax 3239 3240< - If top-level syntax items in the included syntax file are to be 3241 contained within a region in the including syntax, you can use the 3242 ":syntax include" command: 3243 3244:sy[ntax] include [@{grouplist-name}] {file-name} 3245 3246 All syntax items declared in the included file will have the 3247 "contained" flag added. In addition, if a group list is specified, 3248 all top-level syntax items in the included file will be added to 3249 that list. > 3250 3251 " In perl.vim: 3252 :syntax include @Pod <sfile>:p:h/pod.vim 3253 :syntax region perlPOD start="^=head" end="^=cut" contains=@Pod 3254< 3255 When {file-name} is an absolute path (starts with "/", "c:", "$VAR" 3256 or "<sfile>") that file is sourced. When it is a relative path 3257 (e.g., "syntax/pod.vim") the file is searched for in 'runtimepath'. 3258 All matching files are loaded. Using a relative path is 3259 recommended, because it allows a user to replace the included file 3260 with his own version, without replacing the file that does the ":syn 3261 include". 3262 3263============================================================================== 326410. Synchronizing *:syn-sync* *E403* *E404* 3265 3266Vim wants to be able to start redrawing in any position in the document. To 3267make this possible it needs to know the syntax state at the position where 3268redrawing starts. 3269 3270:sy[ntax] sync [ccomment [group-name] | minlines={N} | ...] 3271 3272There are four ways to synchronize: 32731. Always parse from the start of the file. 3274 |:syn-sync-first| 32752. Based on C-style comments. Vim understands how C-comments work and can 3276 figure out if the current line starts inside or outside a comment. 3277 |:syn-sync-second| 32783. Jumping back a certain number of lines and start parsing there. 3279 |:syn-sync-third| 32804. Searching backwards in the text for a pattern to sync on. 3281 |:syn-sync-fourth| 3282 3283 *:syn-sync-maxlines* *:syn-sync-minlines* 3284For the last three methods, the line range where the parsing can start is 3285limited by "minlines" and "maxlines". 3286 3287If the "minlines={N}" argument is given, the parsing always starts at least 3288that many lines backwards. This can be used if the parsing may take a few 3289lines before it's correct, or when it's not possible to use syncing. 3290 3291If the "maxlines={N}" argument is given, the number of lines that are searched 3292for a comment or syncing pattern is restricted to N lines backwards (after 3293adding "minlines"). This is useful if you have few things to sync on and a 3294slow machine. Example: > 3295 :syntax sync ccomment maxlines=500 3296< 3297 *:syn-sync-linebreaks* 3298When using a pattern that matches multiple lines, a change in one line may 3299cause a pattern to no longer match in a previous line. This means has to 3300start above where the change was made. How many lines can be specified with 3301the "linebreaks" argument. For example, when a pattern may include one line 3302break use this: > 3303 :syntax sync linebreaks=1 3304The result is that redrawing always starts at least one line before where a 3305change was made. The default value for "linebreaks" is zero. Usually the 3306value for "minlines" is bigger than "linebreaks". 3307 3308 3309First syncing method: *:syn-sync-first* 3310> 3311 :syntax sync fromstart 3312 3313The file will be parsed from the start. This makes syntax highlighting 3314accurate, but can be slow for long files. Vim caches previously parsed text, 3315so that it's only slow when parsing the text for the first time. However, 3316when making changes some part of the next needs to be parsed again (worst 3317case: to the end of the file). 3318 3319Using "fromstart" is equivalent to using "minlines" with a very large number. 3320 3321 3322Second syncing method: *:syn-sync-second* *:syn-sync-ccomment* 3323 3324For the second method, only the "ccomment" argument needs to be given. 3325Example: > 3326 :syntax sync ccomment 3327 3328When Vim finds that the line where displaying starts is inside a C-style 3329comment, the last region syntax item with the group-name "Comment" will be 3330used. This requires that there is a region with the group-name "Comment"! 3331An alternate group name can be specified, for example: > 3332 :syntax sync ccomment javaComment 3333This means that the last item specified with "syn region javaComment" will be 3334used for the detected C comment region. This only works properly if that 3335region does have a start pattern "\/*" and an end pattern "*\/". 3336 3337The "maxlines" argument can be used to restrict the search to a number of 3338lines. The "minlines" argument can be used to at least start a number of 3339lines back (e.g., for when there is some construct that only takes a few 3340lines, but it hard to sync on). 3341 3342Note: Syncing on a C comment doesn't work properly when strings are used 3343that cross a line and contain a "*/". Since letting strings cross a line 3344is a bad programming habit (many compilers give a warning message), and the 3345chance of a "*/" appearing inside a comment is very small, this restriction 3346is hardly ever noticed. 3347 3348 3349Third syncing method: *:syn-sync-third* 3350 3351For the third method, only the "minlines={N}" argument needs to be given. 3352Vim will subtract {N} from the line number and start parsing there. This 3353means {N} extra lines need to be parsed, which makes this method a bit slower. 3354Example: > 3355 :syntax sync minlines=50 3356 3357"lines" is equivalent to "minlines" (used by older versions). 3358 3359 3360Fourth syncing method: *:syn-sync-fourth* 3361 3362The idea is to synchronize on the end of a few specific regions, called a 3363sync pattern. Only regions can cross lines, so when we find the end of some 3364region, we might be able to know in which syntax item we are. The search 3365starts in the line just above the one where redrawing starts. From there 3366the search continues backwards in the file. 3367 3368This works just like the non-syncing syntax items. You can use contained 3369matches, nextgroup, etc. But there are a few differences: 3370- Keywords cannot be used. 3371- The syntax items with the "sync" keyword form a completely separated group 3372 of syntax items. You can't mix syncing groups and non-syncing groups. 3373- The matching works backwards in the buffer (line by line), instead of 3374 forwards. 3375- A line continuation pattern can be given. It is used to decide which group 3376 of lines need to be searched like they were one line. This means that the 3377 search for a match with the specified items starts in the first of the 3378 consecutive that contain the continuation pattern. 3379- When using "nextgroup" or "contains", this only works within one line (or 3380 group of continued lines). 3381- When using a region, it must start and end in the same line (or group of 3382 continued lines). Otherwise the end is assumed to be at the end of the 3383 line (or group of continued lines). 3384- When a match with a sync pattern is found, the rest of the line (or group of 3385 continued lines) is searched for another match. The last match is used. 3386 This is used when a line can contain both the start end the end of a region 3387 (e.g., in a C-comment like /* this */, the last "*/" is used). 3388 3389There are two ways how a match with a sync pattern can be used: 33901. Parsing for highlighting starts where redrawing starts (and where the 3391 search for the sync pattern started). The syntax group that is expected 3392 to be valid there must be specified. This works well when the regions 3393 that cross lines cannot contain other regions. 33942. Parsing for highlighting continues just after the match. The syntax group 3395 that is expected to be present just after the match must be specified. 3396 This can be used when the previous method doesn't work well. It's much 3397 slower, because more text needs to be parsed. 3398Both types of sync patterns can be used at the same time. 3399 3400Besides the sync patterns, other matches and regions can be specified, to 3401avoid finding unwanted matches. 3402 3403[The reason that the sync patterns are given separately, is that mostly the 3404search for the sync point can be much simpler than figuring out the 3405highlighting. The reduced number of patterns means it will go (much) 3406faster.] 3407 3408 *syn-sync-grouphere* *E393* *E394* 3409 :syntax sync match {sync-group-name} grouphere {group-name} "pattern" .. 3410 3411 Define a match that is used for syncing. {group-name} is the 3412 name of a syntax group that follows just after the match. Parsing 3413 of the text for highlighting starts just after the match. A region 3414 must exist for this {group-name}. The first one defined will be used. 3415 "NONE" can be used for when there is no syntax group after the match. 3416 3417 *syn-sync-groupthere* 3418 :syntax sync match {sync-group-name} groupthere {group-name} "pattern" .. 3419 3420 Like "grouphere", but {group-name} is the name of a syntax group that 3421 is to be used at the start of the line where searching for the sync 3422 point started. The text between the match and the start of the sync 3423 pattern searching is assumed not to change the syntax highlighting. 3424 For example, in C you could search backwards for "/*" and "*/". If 3425 "/*" is found first, you know that you are inside a comment, so the 3426 "groupthere" is "cComment". If "*/" is found first, you know that you 3427 are not in a comment, so the "groupthere" is "NONE". (in practice 3428 it's a bit more complicated, because the "/*" and "*/" could appear 3429 inside a string. That's left as an exercise to the reader...). 3430 3431 :syntax sync match .. 3432 :syntax sync region .. 3433 3434 Without a "groupthere" argument. Define a region or match that is 3435 skipped while searching for a sync point. 3436 3437 :syntax sync linecont {pattern} 3438 3439 When {pattern} matches in a line, it is considered to continue in 3440 the next line. This means that the search for a sync point will 3441 consider the lines to be concatenated. 3442 3443If the "maxlines={N}" argument is given too, the number of lines that are 3444searched for a match is restricted to N. This is useful if you have very 3445few things to sync on and a slow machine. Example: > 3446 :syntax sync maxlines=100 3447 3448You can clear all sync settings with: > 3449 :syntax sync clear 3450 3451You can clear specific sync patterns with: > 3452 :syntax sync clear {sync-group-name} .. 3453 3454============================================================================== 345511. Listing syntax items *:syntax* *:sy* *:syn* *:syn-list* 3456 3457This commands lists all the syntax items: > 3458 3459 :sy[ntax] [list] 3460 3461To show the syntax items for one syntax group: > 3462 3463 :sy[ntax] list {group-name} 3464 3465To list the syntax groups in one cluster: *E392* > 3466 3467 :sy[ntax] list @{cluster-name} 3468 3469See above for other arguments for the ":syntax" command. 3470 3471Note that the ":syntax" command can be abbreviated to ":sy", although ":syn" 3472is mostly used, because it looks better. 3473 3474============================================================================== 347512. Highlight command *:highlight* *:hi* *E28* *E411* *E415* 3476 3477There are three types of highlight groups: 3478- The ones used for specific languages. For these the name starts with the 3479 name of the language. Many of these don't have any attributes, but are 3480 linked to a group of the second type. 3481- The ones used for all syntax languages. 3482- The ones used for the 'highlight' option. 3483 *hitest.vim* 3484You can see all the groups currently active with this command: > 3485 :so $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/hitest.vim 3486This will open a new window containing all highlight group names, displayed 3487in their own color. 3488 3489 *:colo* *:colorscheme* *E185* 3490:colo[rscheme] {name} Load color scheme {name}. This searches 'runtimepath' 3491 for the file "colors/{name}.vim. The first one that 3492 is found is loaded. 3493 To see the name of the currently active color scheme 3494 (if there is one): > 3495 :echo g:colors_name 3496< Doesn't work recursively, thus you can't use 3497 ":colorscheme" in a color scheme script. 3498 3499:hi[ghlight] List all the current highlight groups that have 3500 attributes set. 3501 3502:hi[ghlight] {group-name} 3503 List one highlight group. 3504 3505:hi[ghlight] clear Reset all highlighting to the defaults. Removes all 3506 highlighting for groups added by the user! 3507 Uses the current value of 'background' to decide which 3508 default colors to use. 3509 3510:hi[ghlight] clear {group-name} 3511:hi[ghlight] {group-name} NONE 3512 Disable the highlighting for one highlight group. It 3513 is _not_ set back to the default colors. 3514 3515:hi[ghlight] [default] {group-name} {key}={arg} .. 3516 Add a highlight group, or change the highlighting for 3517 an existing group. 3518 See |highlight-args| for the {key}={arg} arguments. 3519 See |:highlight-default| for the optional [default] 3520 argument. 3521 3522Normally a highlight group is added once when starting up. This sets the 3523default values for the highlighting. After that, you can use additional 3524highlight commands to change the arguments that you want to set to non-default 3525values. The value "NONE" can be used to switch the value off or go back to 3526the default value. 3527 3528A simple way to change colors is with the |:colorscheme| command. This loads 3529a file with ":highlight" commands such as this: > 3530 3531 :hi Comment gui=bold 3532 3533Note that all settings that are not included remain the same, only the 3534specified field is used, and settings are merged with previous ones. So, the 3535result is like this single command has been used: > 3536 :hi Comment term=bold ctermfg=Cyan guifg=#80a0ff gui=bold 3537< 3538 *highlight-args* *E416* *E417* *E423* 3539There are three types of terminals for highlighting: 3540term a normal terminal (vt100, xterm) 3541cterm a color terminal (MS-DOS console, color-xterm, these have the "Co" 3542 termcap entry) 3543gui the GUI 3544 3545For each type the highlighting can be given. This makes it possible to use 3546the same syntax file on all terminals, and use the optimal highlighting. 3547 35481. highlight arguments for normal terminals 3549 3550term={attr-list} *attr-list* *highlight-term* *E418* 3551 attr-list is a comma separated list (without spaces) of the 3552 following items (in any order): 3553 bold 3554 underline 3555 reverse 3556 inverse same as reverse 3557 italic 3558 standout 3559 NONE no attributes used (used to reset it) 3560 3561 Note that "bold" can be used here and by using a bold font. They 3562 have the same effect. 3563 3564start={term-list} *highlight-start* *E422* 3565stop={term-list} *term-list* *highlight-stop* 3566 These lists of terminal codes can be used to get 3567 non-standard attributes on a terminal. 3568 3569 The escape sequence specified with the "start" argument 3570 is written before the characters in the highlighted 3571 area. It can be anything that you want to send to the 3572 terminal to highlight this area. The escape sequence 3573 specified with the "stop" argument is written after the 3574 highlighted area. This should undo the "start" argument. 3575 Otherwise the screen will look messed up. 3576 3577 The {term-list} can have two forms: 3578 3579 1. A string with escape sequences. 3580 This is any string of characters, except that it can't start with 3581 "t_" and blanks are not allowed. The <> notation is recognized 3582 here, so you can use things like "<Esc>" and "<Space>". Example: 3583 start=<Esc>[27h;<Esc>[<Space>r; 3584 3585 2. A list of terminal codes. 3586 Each terminal code has the form "t_xx", where "xx" is the name of 3587 the termcap entry. The codes have to be separated with commas. 3588 White space is not allowed. Example: 3589 start=t_C1,t_BL 3590 The terminal codes must exist for this to work. 3591 3592 35932. highlight arguments for color terminals 3594 3595cterm={attr-list} *highlight-cterm* 3596 See above for the description of {attr-list} |attr-list|. 3597 The "cterm" argument is likely to be different from "term", when 3598 colors are used. For example, in a normal terminal comments could 3599 be underlined, in a color terminal they can be made Blue. 3600 Note: Many terminals (e.g., DOS console) can't mix these attributes 3601 with coloring. Use only one of "cterm=" OR "ctermfg=" OR "ctermbg=". 3602 3603ctermfg={color-nr} *highlight-ctermfg* *E421* 3604ctermbg={color-nr} *highlight-ctermbg* 3605 The {color-nr} argument is a color number. Its range is zero to 3606 (not including) the number given by the termcap entry "Co". 3607 The actual color with this number depends on the type of terminal 3608 and its settings. Sometimes the color also depends on the settings of 3609 "cterm". For example, on some systems "cterm=bold ctermfg=3" gives 3610 another color, on others you just get color 3. 3611 3612 For an xterm this depends on your resources, and is a bit 3613 unpredictable. See your xterm documentation for the defaults. The 3614 colors for a color-xterm can be changed from the .Xdefaults file. 3615 Unfortunately this means that it's not possible to get the same colors 3616 for each user. See |xterm-color| for info about color xterms. 3617 3618 The MSDOS standard colors are fixed (in a console window), so these 3619 have been used for the names. But the meaning of color names in X11 3620 are fixed, so these color settings have been used, to make the 3621 highlighting settings portable (complicated, isn't it?). The 3622 following names are recognized, with the color number used: 3623 3624 *cterm-colors* 3625 NR-16 NR-8 COLOR NAME ~ 3626 0 0 Black 3627 1 4 DarkBlue 3628 2 2 DarkGreen 3629 3 6 DarkCyan 3630 4 1 DarkRed 3631 5 5 DarkMagenta 3632 6 3 Brown, DarkYellow 3633 7 7 LightGray, LightGrey, Gray, Grey 3634 8 0* DarkGray, DarkGrey 3635 9 4* Blue, LightBlue 3636 10 2* Green, LightGreen 3637 11 6* Cyan, LightCyan 3638 12 1* Red, LightRed 3639 13 5* Magenta, LightMagenta 3640 14 3* Yellow, LightYellow 3641 15 7* White 3642 3643 The number under "NR-16" is used for 16-color terminals ('t_Co' 3644 greater than or equal to 16). The number under "NR-8" is used for 3645 8-color terminals ('t_Co' less than 16). The '*' indicates that the 3646 bold attribute is set for ctermfg. In many 8-color terminals (e.g., 3647 "linux"), this causes the bright colors to appear. This doesn't work 3648 for background colors! Without the '*' the bold attribute is removed. 3649 If you want to set the bold attribute in a different way, put a 3650 "cterm=" argument AFTER the "ctermfg=" or "ctermbg=" argument. Or use 3651 a number instead of a color name. 3652 3653 The case of the color names is ignored. 3654 Note that for 16 color ansi style terminals (including xterms), the 3655 numbers in the NR-8 column is used. Here '*' means 'add 8' so that Blue 3656 is 12, DarkGray is 8 etc. 3657 3658 Note that for some color terminals these names may result in the wrong 3659 colors! 3660 3661 *:hi-normal-cterm* 3662 When setting the "ctermfg" or "ctermbg" colors for the Normal group, 3663 these will become the colors used for the non-highlighted text. 3664 Example: > 3665 :highlight Normal ctermfg=grey ctermbg=darkblue 3666< When setting the "ctermbg" color for the Normal group, the 3667 'background' option will be adjusted automatically. This causes the 3668 highlight groups that depend on 'background' to change! This means 3669 you should set the colors for Normal first, before setting other 3670 colors. 3671 When a colorscheme is being used, changing 'background' causes it to 3672 be reloaded, which may reset all colors (including Normal). First 3673 delete the "colors_name" variable when you don't want this. 3674 3675 When you have set "ctermfg" or "ctermbg" for the Normal group, Vim 3676 needs to reset the color when exiting. This is done with the "op" 3677 termcap entry |t_op|. If this doesn't work correctly, try setting the 3678 't_op' option in your .vimrc. 3679 *E419* *E420* 3680 When Vim knows the normal foreground and background colors, "fg" and 3681 "bg" can be used as color names. This only works after setting the 3682 colors for the Normal group and for the MS-DOS console. Example, for 3683 reverse video: > 3684 :highlight Visual ctermfg=bg ctermbg=fg 3685< Note that the colors are used that are valid at the moment this 3686 command are given. If the Normal group colors are changed later, the 3687 "fg" and "bg" colors will not be adjusted. 3688 3689 36903. highlight arguments for the GUI 3691 3692gui={attr-list} *highlight-gui* 3693 These give the attributes to use in the GUI mode. 3694 See |attr-list| for a description. 3695 Note that "bold" can be used here and by using a bold font. They 3696 have the same effect. 3697 Note that the attributes are ignored for the "Normal" group. 3698 3699font={font-name} *highlight-font* 3700 font-name is the name of a font, as it is used on the system Vim 3701 runs on. For X11 this is a complicated name, for example: > 3702 font=-misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--14-130-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1 3703< 3704 The font-name "NONE" can be used to revert to the default font. 3705 When setting the font for the "Normal" group, this becomes the default 3706 font (until the 'guifont' option is changed; the last one set is 3707 used). 3708 The following only works with Motif and Athena, not with other GUIs: 3709 When setting the font for the "Menu" group, the menus will be changed. 3710 When setting the font for the "Tooltip" group, the tooltips will be 3711 changed. 3712 All fonts used, except for Menu and Tooltip, should be of the same 3713 character size as the default font! Otherwise redrawing problems will 3714 occur. 3715 3716guifg={color-name} *highlight-guifg* 3717guibg={color-name} *highlight-guibg* 3718 These give the foreground (guifg) and background (guibg) color to 3719 use in the GUI. There are a few special names: 3720 NONE no color (transparent) 3721 bg use normal background color 3722 background use normal background color 3723 fg use normal foreground color 3724 foreground use normal foreground color 3725 To use a color name with an embedded space or other special character, 3726 put it in single quotes. The single quote cannot be used then. 3727 Example: > 3728 :hi comment guifg='salmon pink' 3729< 3730 *gui-colors* 3731 Suggested color names (these are available on most systems): 3732 Red LightRed DarkRed 3733 Green LightGreen DarkGreen SeaGreen 3734 Blue LightBlue DarkBlue SlateBlue 3735 Cyan LightCyan DarkCyan 3736 Magenta LightMagenta DarkMagenta 3737 Yellow LightYellow Brown DarkYellow 3738 Gray LightGray DarkGray 3739 Black White 3740 Orange Purple Violet 3741 3742 In the Win32 GUI version, additional system colors are available. See 3743 |win32-colors|. 3744 3745 You can also specify a color by its Red, Green and Blue values. 3746 The format is "#rrggbb", where 3747 "rr" is the Red value 3748 "bb" is the Blue value 3749 "gg" is the Green value 3750 All values are hexadecimal, range from "00" to "ff". Examples: > 3751 :highlight Comment guifg=#11f0c3 guibg=#ff00ff 3752< 3753 *highlight-groups* *highlight-default* 3754These are the default highlighting groups. These groups are used by the 3755'highlight' option default. Note that the highlighting depends on the value 3756of 'background'. You can see the current settings with the ":highlight" 3757command. 3758 *hl-Cursor* 3759Cursor the character under the cursor 3760 *hl-CursorIM* 3761CursorIM like Cursor, but used when in IME mode |CursorIM| 3762 *hl-Directory* 3763Directory directory names (and other special names in listings) 3764 *hl-DiffAdd* 3765DiffAdd diff mode: Added line |diff.txt| 3766 *hl-DiffChange* 3767DiffChange diff mode: Changed line |diff.txt| 3768 *hl-DiffDelete* 3769DiffDelete diff mode: Deleted line |diff.txt| 3770 *hl-DiffText* 3771DiffText diff mode: Changed text within a changed line |diff.txt| 3772 *hl-ErrorMsg* 3773ErrorMsg error messages on the command line 3774 *hl-VertSplit* 3775VertSplit the column separating vertically split windows 3776 *hl-Folded* 3777Folded line used for closed folds 3778 *hl-FoldColumn* 3779FoldColumn 'foldcolumn' 3780 *hl-SignColumn* 3781SignColumn column where |signs| are displayed 3782 *hl-IncSearch* 3783IncSearch 'incsearch' highlighting; also used for the text replaced with 3784 ":s///c" 3785 *hl-LineNr* 3786LineNr line number for ":number" and ":#" commands, and when 'number' 3787 option is set. 3788 *hl-ModeMsg* 3789ModeMsg 'showmode' message (e.g., "-- INSERT --") 3790 *hl-MoreMsg* 3791MoreMsg |more-prompt| 3792 *hl-NonText* 3793NonText '~' and '@' at the end of the window, characters from 3794 'showbreak' and other characters that do not really exist in 3795 the text (e.g., ">" displayed when a double-wide character 3796 doesn't fit at the end of the line). 3797 *hl-Normal* 3798Normal normal text 3799 *hl-Question* 3800Question |hit-enter| prompt and yes/no questions 3801 *hl-Search* 3802Search Last search pattern highlighting (see 'hlsearch'). 3803 Also used for highlighting the current line in the quickfix 3804 window and similar items that need to stand out. 3805 *hl-SpecialKey* 3806SpecialKey Meta and special keys listed with ":map", also for text used 3807 to show unprintable characters in the text, 'listchars'. 3808 Generally: text that is displayed differently from what it 3809 really is. 3810 *hl-StatusLine* 3811StatusLine status line of current window 3812 *hl-StatusLineNC* 3813StatusLineNC status lines of not-current windows 3814 Note: if this is equal to "StatusLine" Vim will use "^^^" in 3815 the status line of the current window. 3816 *hl-Title* 3817Title titles for output from ":set all", ":autocmd" etc. 3818 *hl-Visual* 3819Visual Visual mode selection 3820 *hl-VisualNOS* 3821VisualNOS Visual mode selection when vim is "Not Owning the Selection". 3822 Only X11 Gui's |gui-x11| and |xterm-clipboard| supports this. 3823 *hl-WarningMsg* 3824WarningMsg warning messages 3825 *hl-WildMenu* 3826WildMenu current match in 'wildmenu' completion 3827 3828 *hl-User1* *hl-User1..9* 3829The 'statusline' syntax allows the use of 9 different highlights in the 3830statusline and ruler (via 'rulerformat'). The names are User1 to User9. 3831 3832For the GUI you can use these groups to set the colors for the menu, 3833scrollbars and tooltips. They don't have defaults. This doesn't work for the 3834Win32 GUI. Only three highlight arguments have any effect here: font, guibg, 3835and guifg. 3836 3837 *hl-Menu* 3838Menu Current font, background and foreground colors of the menus. 3839 Also used for the toolbar. 3840 Applicable highlight arguments: font, guibg, guifg. 3841 3842 NOTE: For Motif and Athena the font argument actually 3843 specifies a fontset at all times, no matter if 'guifontset' is 3844 empty, and as such it is tied to the current |:language| when 3845 set. 3846 3847 *hl-Scrollbar* 3848Scrollbar Current background and foreground of the main window's 3849 scrollbars. 3850 Applicable highlight arguments: guibg, guifg. 3851 3852 *hl-Tooltip* 3853Tooltip Current font, background and foreground of the tooltips. 3854 Applicable highlight arguments: font, guibg, guifg. 3855 3856 NOTE: For Motif and Athena the font argument actually 3857 specifies a fontset at all times, no matter if 'guifontset' is 3858 empty, and as such it is tied to the current |:language| when 3859 set. 3860 3861============================================================================== 386213. Linking groups *:hi-link* *:highlight-link* *E412* *E413* 3863 3864When you want to use the same highlighting for several syntax groups, you 3865can do this more easily by linking the groups into one common highlight 3866group, and give the color attributes only for that group. 3867 3868To set a link: 3869 3870 :hi[ghlight][!] [default] link {from-group} {to-group} 3871 3872To remove a link: 3873 3874 :hi[ghlight][!] [default] link {from-group} NONE 3875 3876Notes: *E414* 3877- If the {from-group} and/or {to-group} doesn't exist, it is created. You 3878 don't get an error message for a non-existing group. 3879- As soon as you use a ":highlight" command for a linked group, the link is 3880 removed. 3881- If there are already highlight settings for the {from-group}, the link is 3882 not made, unless the '!' is given. For a ":highlight link" command in a 3883 sourced file, you don't get an error message. This can be used to skip 3884 links for groups that already have settings. 3885 3886 *:hi-default* *:highlight-default* 3887The [default] argument is used for setting the default highlighting for a 3888group. If highlighting has already been specified for the group the command 3889will be ignored. Also when there is an existing link. 3890 3891Using [default] is especially useful to overrule the highlighting of a 3892specific syntax file. For example, the C syntax file contains: > 3893 :highlight default link cComment Comment 3894If you like Question highlighting for C comments, put this in your vimrc file: > 3895 :highlight link cComment Question 3896Without the "default" in the C syntax file, the highlighting would be 3897overruled when the syntax file is loaded. 3898 3899============================================================================== 390014. Cleaning up *:syn-clear* *E391* 3901 3902If you want to clear the syntax stuff for the current buffer, you can use this 3903command: > 3904 :syntax clear 3905 3906This command should be used when you want to switch off syntax highlighting, 3907or when you want to switch to using another syntax. It's normally not needed 3908in a syntax file itself, because syntax is cleared by the autocommands that 3909load the syntax file. 3910The command also deletes the "b:current_syntax" variable, since no syntax is 3911loaded after this command. 3912 3913If you want to disable syntax highlighting for all buffers, you need to remove 3914the autocommands that load the syntax files: > 3915 :syntax off 3916 3917What this command actually does, is executing the command > 3918 :source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim 3919See the "nosyntax.vim" file for details. Note that for this to work 3920$VIMRUNTIME must be valid. See |$VIMRUNTIME|. 3921 3922To clean up specific syntax groups for the current buffer: > 3923 :syntax clear {group-name} .. 3924This removes all patterns and keywords for {group-name}. 3925 3926To clean up specific syntax group lists for the current buffer: > 3927 :syntax clear @{grouplist-name} .. 3928This sets {grouplist-name}'s contents to an empty list. 3929 3930 *:syntax-reset* *:syn-reset* 3931If you have changed the colors and messed them up, use this command to get the 3932defaults back: > 3933 3934 :syntax reset 3935 3936This doesn't change the colors for the 'highlight' option. 3937 3938Note that the syntax colors that you set in your vimrc file will also be reset 3939back to their Vim default. 3940Note that if you are using a color scheme, the colors defined by the color 3941scheme for syntax highlighting will be lost. 3942 3943What this actually does is: > 3944 3945 let g:syntax_cmd = "reset" 3946 runtime! syntax/syncolor.vim 3947 3948Note that this uses the 'runtimepath' option. 3949 3950 *syncolor* 3951If you want to use different colors for syntax highlighting, you can add a Vim 3952script file to set these colors. Put this file in a directory in 3953'runtimepath' which comes after $VIMRUNTIME, so that your settings overrule 3954the default colors. This way these colors will be used after the ":syntax 3955reset" command. 3956 3957For Unix you can use the file ~/.vim/after/syntax/syncolor.vim. Example: > 3958 3959 if &background == "light" 3960 highlight comment ctermfg=darkgreen guifg=darkgreen 3961 else 3962 highlight comment ctermfg=green guifg=green 3963 endif 3964 3965Note that when a color scheme is used, there might be some confusion whether 3966your defined colors are to be used or the colors from the scheme. This 3967depends on the color scheme file. See |:colorscheme|. 3968 3969 *syntax_cmd* 3970The "syntax_cmd" variable is set to one of these values when the 3971syntax/syncolor.vim files are loaded: 3972 "on" ":syntax on" command. Highlight colors are overruled but 3973 links are kept 3974 "enable" ":syntax enable" command. Only define colors for groups that 3975 don't have highlighting yet. Use ":syntax default". 3976 "reset" ":syntax reset" command or loading a color scheme. Define all 3977 the colors. 3978 "skip" Don't define colors. Used to skip the default settings when a 3979 syncolor.vim file earlier in 'runtimepath' has already set 3980 them. 3981 3982============================================================================== 398315. Highlighting tags *tag-highlight* 3984 3985If you want to highlight all the tags in your file, you can use the following 3986mappings. 3987 3988 <F11> -- Generate tags.vim file, and highlight tags. 3989 <F12> -- Just highlight tags based on existing tags.vim file. 3990> 3991 :map <F11> :sp tags<CR>:%s/^\([^ :]*:\)\=\([^ ]*\).*/syntax keyword Tag \2/<CR>:wq! tags.vim<CR>/^<CR><F12> 3992 :map <F12> :so tags.vim<CR> 3993 3994WARNING: The longer the tags file, the slower this will be, and the more 3995memory Vim will consume. 3996 3997Only highlighting typedefs, unions and structs can be done too. For this you 3998must use Exuberant ctags (found at http://ctags.sf.net). 3999 4000Put these lines in your Makefile: 4001 4002# Make a highlight file for types. Requires Exuberant ctags and awk 4003types: types.vim 4004types.vim: *.[ch] 4005 ctags -i=gstuS -o- *.[ch] |\ 4006 awk 'BEGIN{printf("syntax keyword Type\t")}\ 4007 {printf("%s ", $$1)}END{print ""}' > $@ 4008 4009And put these lines in your .vimrc: > 4010 4011 " load the types.vim highlighting file, if it exists 4012 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] let fname = expand('<afile>:p:h') . '/types.vim' 4013 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] if filereadable(fname) 4014 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] exe 'so ' . fname 4015 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] endif 4016 4017============================================================================== 401816. Color xterms *xterm-color* *color-xterm* 4019 4020Most color xterms have only eight colors. If you don't get colors with the 4021default setup, it should work with these lines in your .vimrc: > 4022 :if &term =~ "xterm" 4023 : if has("terminfo") 4024 : set t_Co=8 4025 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%p1%dm 4026 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%p1%dm 4027 : else 4028 : set t_Co=8 4029 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%dm 4030 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%dm 4031 : endif 4032 :endif 4033< [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] 4034 4035You might want to change the first "if" to match the name of your terminal, 4036e.g. "dtterm" instead of "xterm". 4037 4038Note: Do these settings BEFORE doing ":syntax on". Otherwise the colors may 4039be wrong. 4040 *xiterm* *rxvt* 4041The above settings have been mentioned to work for xiterm and rxvt too. 4042But for using 16 colors in an rxvt these should work with terminfo: > 4043 :set t_AB=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t25;%p1%{40}%+%e5;%p1%{32}%+%;%dm 4044 :set t_AF=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t22;%p1%{30}%+%e1;%p1%{22}%+%;%dm 4045< 4046 *colortest.vim* 4047To test your color setup, a file has been included in the Vim distribution. 4048To use it, execute these commands: > 4049 :e $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/colortest.vim 4050 :so % 4051 4052Some versions of xterm (and other terminals, like the linux console) can 4053output lighter foreground colors, even though the number of colors is defined 4054at 8. Therefore Vim sets the "cterm=bold" attribute for light foreground 4055colors, when 't_Co' is 8. 4056 4057 *xfree-xterm* 4058To get 16 colors or more, get the newest xterm version (which should be 4059included with Xfree86 3.3 and later). You can also find the latest version 4060at: > 4061 http://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.html 4062Here is a good way to configure it. This uses 88 colors and enables the 4063termcap-query feature, which allows Vim to ask the xterm how many colors it 4064supports. > 4065 ./configure --disable-bold-color --enable-88-color --enable-tcap-query 4066If you only get 8 colors, check the xterm compilation settings. 4067(Also see |UTF8-xterm| for using this xterm with UTF-8 character encoding). 4068 4069This xterm should work with these lines in your .vimrc (for 16 colors): > 4070 :if has("terminfo") 4071 : set t_Co=16 4072 : set t_AB=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{40}%+%e%p1%{92}%+%;%dm 4073 : set t_AF=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{30}%+%e%p1%{82}%+%;%dm 4074 :else 4075 : set t_Co=16 4076 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%dm 4077 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%dm 4078 :endif 4079< [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] 4080 4081Without |+terminfo|, Vim will recognize these settings, and automatically 4082translate cterm colors of 8 and above to "<Esc>[9%dm" and "<Esc>[10%dm". 4083Colors above 16 are also translated automatically. 4084 4085For 256 colors this has been reported to work: > 4086 4087 :set t_AB=<Esc>[48;5;%dm 4088 :set t_AF=<Esc>[38;5;%dm 4089 4090Or just set the TERM environment variable to "xterm-color" or "xterm-16color" 4091and try if that works. 4092 4093You probably want to use these X resources (in your ~/.Xdefaults file): 4094 XTerm*color0: #000000 4095 XTerm*color1: #c00000 4096 XTerm*color2: #008000 4097 XTerm*color3: #808000 4098 XTerm*color4: #0000c0 4099 XTerm*color5: #c000c0 4100 XTerm*color6: #008080 4101 XTerm*color7: #c0c0c0 4102 XTerm*color8: #808080 4103 XTerm*color9: #ff6060 4104 XTerm*color10: #00ff00 4105 XTerm*color11: #ffff00 4106 XTerm*color12: #8080ff 4107 XTerm*color13: #ff40ff 4108 XTerm*color14: #00ffff 4109 XTerm*color15: #ffffff 4110 Xterm*cursorColor: Black 4111 4112[Note: The cursorColor is required to work around a bug, which changes the 4113cursor color to the color of the last drawn text. This has been fixed by a 4114newer version of xterm, but not everybody is it using yet.] 4115 4116To get these right away, reload the .Xdefaults file to the X Option database 4117Manager (you only need to do this when you just changed the .Xdefaults file): > 4118 xrdb -merge ~/.Xdefaults 4119< 4120 *xterm-blink* *xterm-blinking-cursor* 4121To make the cursor blink in an xterm, see tools/blink.c. Or use Thomas 4122Dickey's xterm above patchlevel 107 (see above for where to get it), with 4123these resources: 4124 XTerm*cursorBlink: on 4125 XTerm*cursorOnTime: 400 4126 XTerm*cursorOffTime: 250 4127 XTerm*cursorColor: White 4128 4129 *hpterm-color* 4130These settings work (more or less) for a hpterm, which only supports 8 4131foreground colors: > 4132 :if has("terminfo") 4133 : set t_Co=8 4134 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[&v%p1%dS 4135 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[&v7S 4136 :else 4137 : set t_Co=8 4138 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[&v%dS 4139 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[&v7S 4140 :endif 4141< [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] 4142 4143 *Eterm* *enlightened-terminal* 4144These settings have been reported to work for the Enlightened terminal 4145emulator, or Eterm. They might work for all xterm-like terminals that use the 4146bold attribute to get bright colors. Add an ":if" like above when needed. > 4147 :set t_Co=16 4148 :set t_AF=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t3%p1%d%e%p1%{22}%+%d;1%;m 4149 :set t_AB=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t4%p1%d%e%p1%{32}%+%d;1%;m 4150< 4151 *TTpro-telnet* 4152These settings should work for TTpro telnet. Tera Term Pro is a freeware / 4153open-source program for MS-Windows. > 4154 set t_Co=16 4155 set t_AB=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{40}%+%e%p1%{32}%+5;%;%dm 4156 set t_AF=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{30}%+%e%p1%{22}%+1;%;%dm 4157Also make sure TTpro's Setup / Window / Full Color is enabled, and make sure 4158that Setup / Font / Enable Bold is NOT enabled. 4159(info provided by John Love-Jensen <[email protected]>) 4160 4161 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 4162