1*syntax.txt* For Vim version 7.0aa. Last change: 2004 Sep 13 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 667CH *ch.vim* *ch-syntax* 668 669C/C++ interpreter. Ch has similar syntax highlighting to C and builds upon 670the C syntax file. See |c.vim| for all the settings that are available for C. 671 672By setting a variable you can tell Vim to use Ch syntax for *.h files, instead 673of C or C++: > 674 :let ch_syntax_for_h = 1 675 676 677CHILL *chill.vim* *chill-syntax* 678 679Chill syntax highlighting is similar to C. See |c.vim| for all the settings 680that are available. Additionally there is: 681 682chill_space_errors like c_space_errors 683chill_comment_string like c_comment_strings 684chill_minlines like c_minlines 685 686 687CHANGELOG *changelog.vim* *changelog-syntax* 688 689ChangeLog supports highlighting spaces at the start of a line. 690If you do not like this, add following line to your .vimrc: > 691 let g:changelog_spacing_errors = 0 692This works the next time you edit a changelog file. You can also use 693"b:changelog_spacing_errors" to set this per buffer (before loading the syntax 694file). 695 696You can change the highlighting used, e.g., to flag the spaces as an error: > 697 :hi link ChangelogError Error 698Or to avoid the highlighting: > 699 :hi link ChangelogError NONE 700This works immediately. 701 702 703COBOL *cobol.vim* *cobol-syntax* 704 705COBOL highlighting has different needs for legacy code than it does for fresh 706development. This is due to differences in what is being done (maintenance 707versus development) and other factors. To enable legacy code highlighting, 708add this line to your .vimrc: > 709 :let cobol_legacy_code = 1 710To disable it again, use this: > 711 :unlet cobol_legacy_code 712 713 714COLD FUSION *coldfusion.vim* *coldfusion-syntax* 715 716The ColdFusion has its own version of HTML comments. To turn on ColdFusion 717comment highlighting, add the following line to your startup file: > 718 719 :let html_wrong_comments = 1 720 721The ColdFusion syntax file is based on the HTML syntax file. 722 723 724CSH *csh.vim* *csh-syntax* 725 726This covers the shell named "csh". Note that on some systems tcsh is actually 727used. 728 729Detecting whether a file is csh or tcsh is notoriously hard. Some systems 730symlink /bin/csh to /bin/tcsh, making it almost impossible to distinguish 731between csh and tcsh. In case VIM guesses wrong you can set the 732"filetype_csh" variable. For using csh: > 733 734 :let filetype_csh = "csh" 735 736For using tcsh: > 737 738 :let filetype_csh = "tcsh" 739 740Any script with a tcsh extension or a standard tcsh filename (.tcshrc, 741tcsh.tcshrc, tcsh.login) will have filetype tcsh. All other tcsh/csh scripts 742will be classified as tcsh, UNLESS the "filetype_csh" variable exists. If the 743"filetype_csh" variable exists, the filetype will be set to the value of the 744variable. 745 746 747CYNLIB *cynlib.vim* *cynlib-syntax* 748 749Cynlib files are C++ files that use the Cynlib class library to enable 750hardware modelling and simulation using C++. Typically Cynlib files have a .cc 751or a .cpp extension, which makes it very difficult to distinguish them from a 752normal C++ file. Thus, to enable Cynlib highlighting for .cc files, add this 753line to your .vimrc file: > 754 755 :let cynlib_cyntax_for_cc=1 756 757Similarly for cpp files (this extension is only usually used in Windows) > 758 759 :let cynlib_cyntax_for_cpp=1 760 761To disable these again, use this: > 762 763 :unlet cynlib_cyntax_for_cc 764 :unlet cynlib_cyntax_for_cpp 765< 766 767CWEB *cweb.vim* *cweb-syntax* 768 769Files matching "*.w" could be Progress or cweb. If the automatic detection 770doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your 771startup vimrc: > 772 :let filetype_w = "cweb" 773 774 775DESKTOP *desktop.vim* *desktop-syntax* 776 777Primary goal of this syntax file is to highlight .desktop and .directory files 778according to freedesktop.org standard: http://pdx.freedesktop.org/Standards/ 779But actually almost none implements this standard fully. Thus it will 780highlight all Unix ini files. But you can force strict highlighting according 781to standard by placing this in your vimrc file: > 782 :let enforce_freedesktop_standard = 1 783 784 785DIRCOLORS *dircolors.vim* *dircolors-syntax* 786 787The dircolors utility highlighting definition has one option. It exists to 788provide compatibility with the Slackware GNU/Linux distributions version of 789the command. It adds a few keywords that are generally ignored by most 790versions. On Slackware systems, however, the utility accepts the keywords and 791uses them for processing. To enable the Slackware keywords add the following 792line to your startup file: > 793 let dircolors_is_slackware = 1 794 795 796DOCBOOK *docbk.vim* *docbk-syntax* *docbook* 797DOCBOOK XML *docbkxml.vim* *docbkxml-syntax* 798DOCBOOK SGML *docbksgml.vim* *docbksgml-syntax* 799 800There are two types of DocBook files: SGML and XML. To specify what type you 801are using the "b:docbk_type" variable should be set. Vim does this for you 802automatically if it can recognize the type. When Vim can't guess it the type 803defaults to XML. 804You can set the type manually: > 805 :let docbk_type = "sgml" 806or: > 807 :let docbk_type = "xml" 808You need to do this before loading the syntax file, which is complicated. 809Simpler is setting the filetype to "docbkxml" or "docbksgml": > 810 :set filetype=docbksgml 811or: > 812 :set filetype=docbkxml 813 814 815DOSBATCH *dosbatch.vim* *dosbatch-syntax* 816 817There is one option with highlighting DOS batch files. This covers new 818extensions to the Command Interpreter introduced with Windows 2000 and 819is controlled by the variable dosbatch_cmdextversion. For Windows NT 820this should have the value 1, and for Windows 2000 it should be 2. 821Select the version you want with the following line: > 822 823 :let dosbatch_cmdextversion = 1 824 825If this variable is not defined it defaults to a value of 2 to support 826Windows 2000. 827 828A second option covers whether *.btm files should be detected as type 829"dosbatch" (MS-DOS batch files) or type "btm" (4DOS batch files). The latter 830is used by default. You may select the former with the following line: > 831 832 :let g:dosbatch_syntax_for_btm = 1 833 834If this variable is undefined or zero, btm syntax is selected. 835 836 837 838DTD *dtd.vim* *dtd-syntax* 839 840The DTD syntax highlighting is case sensitive by default. To disable 841case-sensitive highlighting, add the following line to your startup file: > 842 843 :let dtd_ignore_case=1 844 845The DTD syntax file will highlight unknown tags as errors. If 846this is annoying, it can be turned off by setting: > 847 848 :let dtd_no_tag_errors=1 849 850before sourcing the dtd.vim syntax file. 851Parameter entity names are highlighted in the definition using the 852'Type' highlighting group and 'Comment' for punctuation and '%'. 853Parameter entity instances are highlighted using the 'Constant' 854highlighting group and the 'Type' highlighting group for the 855delimiters % and ;. This can be turned off by setting: > 856 857 :let dtd_no_param_entities=1 858 859The DTD syntax file is also included by xml.vim to highlight included dtd's. 860 861 862EIFFEL *eiffel.vim* *eiffel-syntax* 863 864While Eiffel is not case-sensitive, its style guidelines are, and the 865syntax highlighting file encourages their use. This also allows to 866highlight class names differently. If you want to disable case-sensitive 867highlighting, add the following line to your startup file: > 868 869 :let eiffel_ignore_case=1 870 871Case still matters for class names and TODO marks in comments. 872 873Conversely, for even stricter checks, add one of the following lines: > 874 875 :let eiffel_strict=1 876 :let eiffel_pedantic=1 877 878Setting eiffel_strict will only catch improper capitalization for the 879five predefined words "Current", "Void", "Result", "Precursor", and 880"NONE", to warn against their accidental use as feature or class names. 881 882Setting eiffel_pedantic will enforce adherence to the Eiffel style 883guidelines fairly rigorously (like arbitrary mixes of upper- and 884lowercase letters as well as outdated ways to capitalize keywords). 885 886If you want to use the lower-case version of "Current", "Void", 887"Result", and "Precursor", you can use > 888 889 :let eiffel_lower_case_predef=1 890 891instead of completely turning case-sensitive highlighting off. 892 893Support for ISE's proposed new creation syntax that is already 894experimentally handled by some compilers can be enabled by: > 895 896 :let eiffel_ise=1 897 898Finally, some vendors support hexadecimal constants. To handle them, add > 899 900 :let eiffel_hex_constants=1 901 902to your startup file. 903 904 905ERLANG *erlang.vim* *erlang-syntax* 906 907The erlang highlighting supports Erlang (ERicsson LANGuage). 908Erlang is case sensitive and default extension is ".erl". 909 910If you want to disable keywords highlighting, put in your .vimrc: > 911 :let erlang_keywords = 1 912If you want to disable built-in-functions highlighting, put in your 913.vimrc file: > 914 :let erlang_functions = 1 915If you want to disable special characters highlighting, put in 916your .vimrc: > 917 :let erlang_characters = 1 918 919 920FORM *form.vim* *form-syntax* 921 922The coloring scheme for syntax elements in the FORM file uses the default 923modes Conditional, Number, Statement, Comment, PreProc, Type, and String, 924following the language specifications in 'Symbolic Manipulation with FORM'' by 925J.A.M. Vermaseren, CAN, Netherlands, 1991. 926 927If you want include your own changes to the default colors, you have to 928redefine the following syntax groups: 929 930 - formConditional 931 - formNumber 932 - formStatement 933 - formHeaderStatement 934 - formComment 935 - formPreProc 936 - formDirective 937 - formType 938 - formString 939 940Note that the form.vim syntax file implements FORM preprocessor commands and 941directives per default in the same syntax group. 942 943A predefined enhanced color mode for FORM is available to distinguish between 944header statements and statements in the body of a FORM program. To activate 945this mode define the following variable in your vimrc file > 946 947 :let form_enhanced_color=1 948 949The enhanced mode also takes advantage of additional color features for a dark 950gvim display. Here, statements are colored LightYellow instead of Yellow, and 951conditionals are LightBlue for better distinction. 952 953 954FORTRAN *fortran.vim* *fortran-syntax* 955 956Default highlighting and dialect ~ 957Highlighting appropriate for f95 (Fortran 95) is used by default. This choice 958should be appropriate for most users most of the time because Fortran 95 is a 959superset of Fortran 90 and almost a superset of Fortran 77. 960 961Fortran source code form ~ 962Fortran 9x code can be in either fixed or free source form. Note that the 963syntax highlighting will not be correct if the form is incorrectly set. 964 965When you create a new fortran file, the syntax script assumes fixed source 966form. If you always use free source form, then > 967 :let fortran_free_source=1 968in your .vimrc prior to the :syntax on command. If you always use fixed source 969form, then > 970 :let fortran_fixed_source=1 971in your .vimrc prior to the :syntax on command. 972 973If the form of the source code depends upon the file extension, then it is 974most convenient to set fortran_free_source in a ftplugin file. For more 975information on ftplugin files, see |ftplugin|. For example, if all your 976fortran files with an .f90 extension are written in free source form and the 977rest in fixed source form, add the following code to your ftplugin file > 978 let s:extfname = expand("%:e") 979 if s:extfname ==? "f90" 980 let fortran_free_source=1 981 unlet! fortran_fixed_source 982 else 983 let fortran_fixed_source=1 984 unlet! fortran_free_source 985 endif 986Note that this will work only if the "filetype plugin indent on" command 987precedes the "syntax on" command in your .vimrc file. 988 989When you edit an existing fortran file, the syntax script will assume free 990source form if the fortran_free_source variable has been set, and assumes 991fixed source form if the fortran_fixed_source variable has been set. If 992neither of these variables have been set, the syntax script attempts to 993determine which source form has been used by examining the first five columns 994of the first 25 lines of your file. If no signs of free source form are 995detected, then the file is assumed to be in fixed source form. The algorithm 996should work in the vast majority of cases. In some cases, such as a file that 997begins with 25 or more full-line comments, the script may incorrectly decide 998that the fortran code is in fixed form. If that happens, just add a 999non-comment statement beginning anywhere in the first five columns of the 1000first twenty five lines, save (:w) and then reload (:e!) the file. 1001 1002Tabs in fortran files ~ 1003Tabs are not recognized by the Fortran standards. Tabs are not a good idea in 1004fixed format fortran source code which requires fixed column boundaries. 1005Therefore, tabs are marked as errors. Nevertheless, some programmers like 1006using tabs. If your fortran files contain tabs, then you should set the 1007variable fortran_have_tabs in your .vimrc with a command such as > 1008 :let fortran_have_tabs=1 1009placed prior to the :syntax on command. Unfortunately, the use of tabs will 1010mean that the syntax file will not be able to detect incorrect margins. 1011 1012Syntax folding of fortran files ~ 1013If you wish to use foldmethod=syntax, then you must first set the variable 1014fortran_fold with a command such as > 1015 :let fortran_fold=1 1016to instruct the syntax script to define fold regions for program units, that 1017is main programs starting with a program statement, subroutines, function 1018subprograms, block data subprograms, interface blocks, and modules. If you 1019also set the variable fortran_fold_conditionals with a command such as > 1020 :let fortran_fold_conditionals=1 1021then fold regions will also be defined for do loops, if blocks, and select 1022case constructs. If you also set the variable 1023fortran_fold_multilinecomments with a command such as > 1024 :let fortran_fold_multilinecomments=1 1025then fold regions will also be defined for three or more consecutive comment 1026lines. Note that defining fold regions can be slow for large files. 1027 1028If fortran_fold, and possibly fortran_fold_conditionals and/or 1029fortran_fold_multilinecomments, have been set, then vim will fold your file if 1030you set foldmethod=syntax. Comments or blank lines placed between two program 1031units are not folded because they are seen as not belonging to any program 1032unit. 1033 1034More precise fortran syntax ~ 1035If you set the variable fortran_more_precise with a command such as > 1036 :let fortran_more_precise=1 1037then the syntax coloring will be more precise but slower. In particular, 1038statement labels used in do, goto and arithmetic if statements will be 1039recognized, as will construct names at the end of a do, if, select or forall 1040construct. 1041 1042Non-default fortran dialects ~ 1043The syntax script supports five Fortran dialects: f95, f90, f77, the Lahey 1044subset elf90, and the Imagine1 subset F. 1045 1046If you use f77 with extensions, even common ones like do/enddo loops, do/while 1047loops and free source form that are supported by most f77 compilers including 1048g77 (GNU Fortran), then you will probably find the default highlighting 1049satisfactory. However, if you use strict f77 with no extensions, not even free 1050source form or the MIL STD 1753 extensions, then the advantages of setting the 1051dialect to f77 are that names such as SUM are recognized as user variable 1052names and not highlighted as f9x intrinsic functions, that obsolete constructs 1053such as ASSIGN statements are not highlighted as todo items, and that fixed 1054source form will be assumed. 1055 1056If you use elf90 or F, the advantage of setting the dialect appropriately is 1057that f90 features excluded from these dialects will be highlighted as todo 1058items and that free source form will be assumed as required for these 1059dialects. 1060 1061The dialect can be selected by setting the variable fortran_dialect. The 1062permissible values of fortran_dialect are case-sensitive and must be "f95", 1063"f90", "f77", "elf" or "F". Invalid values of fortran_dialect are ignored. 1064 1065If all your fortran files use the same dialect, set fortran_dialect in your 1066.vimrc prior to your syntax on statement. If the dialect depends upon the file 1067extension, then it is most convenient to set it in a ftplugin file. For more 1068information on ftplugin files, see |ftplugin|. For example, if all your 1069fortran files with an .f90 extension are written in the elf subset, your 1070ftplugin file should contain the code > 1071 let s:extfname = expand("%:e") 1072 if s:extfname ==? "f90" 1073 let fortran_dialect="elf" 1074 else 1075 unlet! fortran_dialect 1076 endif 1077Note that this will work only if the "filetype plugin indent on" command 1078precedes the "syntax on" command in your .vimrc file. 1079 1080Finer control is necessary if the file extension does not uniquely identify 1081the dialect. You can override the default dialect, on a file-by-file basis, by 1082including a comment with the directive "fortran_dialect=xx" (where xx=f77 or 1083elf or F or f90 or f95) in one of the first three lines in your file. For 1084example, your older .f files may be written in extended f77 but your newer 1085ones may be F codes, and you would identify the latter by including in the 1086first three lines of those files a Fortran comment of the form > 1087 ! fortran_dialect=F 1088F overrides elf if both directives are present. 1089 1090Limitations ~ 1091Parenthesis checking does not catch too few closing parentheses. Hollerith 1092strings are not recognized. Some keywords may be highlighted incorrectly 1093because Fortran90 has no reserved words. 1094 1095For further information related to fortran, see |fortran-indent| and 1096|fortran-plugin|. 1097 1098 1099FVWM CONFIGURATION FILES *fvwm.vim* *fvwm-syntax* 1100 1101In order for Vim to recognize Fvwm configuration files that do not match 1102the patterns *fvwmrc* or *fvwm2rc* , you must put additional patterns 1103appropriate to your system in your myfiletypes.vim file. For these 1104patterns, you must set the variable "b:fvwm_version" to the major version 1105number of Fvwm, and the 'filetype' option to fvwm. 1106 1107For example, to make Vim identify all files in /etc/X11/fvwm2/ 1108as Fvwm2 configuration files, add the following: > 1109 1110 :au! BufNewFile,BufRead /etc/X11/fvwm2/* let b:fvwm_version = 2 | 1111 \ set filetype=fvwm 1112 1113If you'd like Vim to highlight all valid color names, tell it where to 1114find the color database (rgb.txt) on your system. Do this by setting 1115"rgb_file" to its location. Assuming your color database is located 1116in /usr/X11/lib/X11/, you should add the line > 1117 1118 :let rgb_file = "/usr/X11/lib/X11/rgb.txt" 1119 1120to your .vimrc file. 1121 1122 1123GSP *gsp.vim* 1124 1125The default coloring style for GSP pages is defined by |html.vim|, and 1126the coloring for java code (within java tags or inline between backticks) 1127is defined by |java.vim|. The following HTML groups defined in |html.vim| 1128are redefined to incorporate and highlight inline java code: 1129 1130 htmlString 1131 htmlValue 1132 htmlEndTag 1133 htmlTag 1134 htmlTagN 1135 1136Highlighting should look fine most of the places where you'd see inline 1137java code, but in some special cases it may not. To add another HTML 1138group where you will have inline java code where it does not highlight 1139correctly, just copy the line you want from |html.vim| and add gspJava 1140to the contains clause. 1141 1142The backticks for inline java are highlighted according to the htmlError 1143group to make them easier to see. 1144 1145 1146GROFF *groff.vim* *groff-syntax* 1147 1148The groff syntax file is a wrapper for |nroff.vim|, see the notes 1149under that heading for examples of use and configuration. The purpose 1150of this wrapper is to set up groff syntax extensions by setting the 1151filetype from a |modeline| or in a personal filetype definitions file 1152(see |filetype.txt|). 1153 1154 1155HASKELL *haskell.vim* *lhaskell.vim* *haskell-syntax* 1156 1157The Haskell syntax files support plain Haskell code as well as literate 1158Haskell code, the latter in both Bird style and TeX style. The Haskell 1159syntax highlighting will also highlight C preprocessor directives. 1160 1161If you want to highlight delimiter characters (useful if you have a 1162light-coloured background), add to your .vimrc: > 1163 :let hs_highlight_delimiters = 1 1164To treat True and False as keywords as opposed to ordinary identifiers, 1165add: > 1166 :let hs_highlight_boolean = 1 1167To also treat the names of primitive types as keywords: > 1168 :let hs_highlight_types = 1 1169And to treat the names of even more relatively common types as keywords: > 1170 :let hs_highlight_more_types = 1 1171If you want to highlight the names of debugging functions, put in 1172your .vimrc: > 1173 :let hs_highlight_debug = 1 1174 1175The Haskell syntax highlighting also highlights C preprocessor 1176directives, and flags lines that start with # but are not valid 1177directives as erroneous. This interferes with Haskell's syntax for 1178operators, as they may start with #. If you want to highlight those 1179as operators as opposed to errors, put in your .vimrc: > 1180 :let hs_allow_hash_operator = 1 1181 1182The syntax highlighting for literate Haskell code will try to 1183automatically guess whether your literate Haskell code contains 1184TeX markup or not, and correspondingly highlight TeX constructs 1185or nothing at all. You can override this globally by putting 1186in your .vimrc > 1187 :let lhs_markup = none 1188for no highlighting at all, or > 1189 :let lhs_markup = tex 1190to force the highlighting to always try to highlight TeX markup. 1191For more flexibility, you may also use buffer local versions of 1192this variable, so e.g. > 1193 :let b:lhs_markup = tex 1194will force TeX highlighting for a particular buffer. It has to be 1195set before turning syntax highlighting on for the buffer or 1196loading a file. 1197 1198 1199HTML *html.vim* *html-syntax* 1200 1201The coloring scheme for tags in the HTML file works as follows. 1202 1203The <> of opening tags are colored differently than the </> of a closing tag. 1204This is on purpose! For opening tags the 'Function' color is used, while for 1205closing tags the 'Type' color is used (See syntax.vim to check how those are 1206defined for you) 1207 1208Known tag names are colored the same way as statements in C. Unknown tag 1209names are colored with the same color as the <> or </> respectively which 1210makes it easy to spot errors 1211 1212Note that the same is true for argument (or attribute) names. Known attribute 1213names are colored differently than unknown ones. 1214 1215Some HTML tags are used to change the rendering of text. The following tags 1216are recognized by the html.vim syntax coloring file and change the way normal 1217text is shown: <B> <I> <U> <EM> <STRONG> (<EM> is used as an alias for <I>, 1218while <STRONG> as an alias for <B>), <H1> - <H6>, <HEAD>, <TITLE> and <A>, but 1219only if used as a link that is, it must include a href as in 1220<A href="somfile.html">). 1221 1222If you want to change how such text is rendered, you must redefine the 1223following syntax groups: 1224 1225 - htmlBold 1226 - htmlBoldUnderline 1227 - htmlBoldUnderlineItalic 1228 - htmlUnderline 1229 - htmlUnderlineItalic 1230 - htmlItalic 1231 - htmlTitle for titles 1232 - htmlH1 - htmlH6 for headings 1233 1234To make this redefinition work you must redefine them all with the exception 1235of the last two (htmlTitle and htmlH[1-6], which are optional) and define the 1236following variable in your vimrc (this is due to the order in which the files 1237are read during initialization) > 1238 :let html_my_rendering=1 1239 1240If you'd like to see an example download mysyntax.vim at 1241http://www.fleiner.com/vim/download.html 1242 1243You can also disable this rendering by adding the following line to your 1244vimrc file: > 1245 :let html_no_rendering=1 1246 1247HTML comments are rather special (see an HTML reference document for the 1248details), and the syntax coloring scheme will highlight all errors. 1249However, if you prefer to use the wrong style (starts with <!-- and 1250ends with --!>) you can define > 1251 :let html_wrong_comments=1 1252 1253JavaScript and Visual Basic embedded inside HTML documents are highlighted as 1254'Special' with statements, comments, strings and so on colored as in standard 1255programming languages. Note that only JavaScript and Visual Basic are currently 1256supported, no other scripting language has been added yet. 1257 1258Embedded and inlined cascading style sheets (CSS) are highlighted too. 1259 1260There are several html preprocessor languages out there. html.vim has been 1261written such that it should be trivial to include it. To do so add the 1262following two lines to the syntax coloring file for that language 1263(the example comes from the asp.vim file): 1264 1265 runtime! syntax/html.vim 1266 syn cluster htmlPreproc add=asp 1267 1268Now you just need to make sure that you add all regions that contain 1269the preprocessor language to the cluster htmlPreproc. 1270 1271 1272HTML/OS (by Aestiva) *htmlos.vim* *htmlos-syntax* 1273 1274The coloring scheme for HTML/OS works as follows: 1275 1276Functions and variable names are the same color by default, because VIM 1277doesn't specify different colors for Functions and Identifiers. To change 1278this (which is recommended if you want function names to be recognizable in a 1279different color) you need to add the following line to either your ~/.vimrc: > 1280 :hi Function term=underline cterm=bold ctermfg=LightGray 1281 1282Of course, the ctermfg can be a different color if you choose. 1283 1284Another issues that HTML/OS runs into is that there is no special filetype to 1285signify that it is a file with HTML/OS coding. You can change this by opening 1286a file and turning on HTML/OS syntax by doing the following: > 1287 :set syntax=htmlos 1288 1289Lastly, it should be noted that the opening and closing characters to begin a 1290block of HTML/OS code can either be << or [[ and >> or ]], respectively. 1291 1292 1293IA64 *ia64.vim* *intel-itanium* *ia64-syntax* 1294 1295Highlighting for the Intel Itanium 64 assembly language. See |asm.vim| for 1296how to recognize this filetype. 1297 1298To have *.inc files be recognized as IA64, add this to your .vimrc file: > 1299 :let g:filetype_inc = "ia64" 1300 1301 1302INFORM *inform.vim* *inform-syntax* 1303 1304Inform highlighting includes symbols provided by the Inform Library, as 1305most programs make extensive use of it. If do not wish Library symbols 1306to be highlighted add this to your vim startup: > 1307 :let inform_highlight_simple=1 1308 1309By default it is assumed that Inform programs are Z-machine targeted, 1310and highlights Z-machine assembly language symbols appropriately. If 1311you intend your program to be targeted to a Glulx/Glk environment you 1312need to add this to your startup sequence: > 1313 :let inform_highlight_glulx=1 1314 1315This will highlight Glulx opcodes instead, and also adds glk() to the 1316set of highlighted system functions. 1317 1318The Inform compiler will flag certain obsolete keywords as errors when 1319it encounters them. These keywords are normally highlighted as errors 1320by Vim. To prevent such error highlighting, you must add this to your 1321startup sequence: > 1322 :let inform_suppress_obsolete=1 1323 1324By default, the language features highlighted conform to Compiler 1325version 6.30 and Library version 6.11. If you are using an older 1326Inform development environment, you may with to add this to your 1327startup sequence: > 1328 :let inform_highlight_old=1 1329 1330 1331JAVA *java.vim* *java-syntax* 1332 1333The java.vim syntax highlighting file offers several options: 1334 1335In Java 1.0.2 it was never possible to have braces inside parens, so this was 1336flagged as an error. Since Java 1.1 this is possible (with anonymous 1337classes), and therefore is no longer marked as an error. If you prefer the old 1338way, put the following line into your vim startup file: > 1339 :let java_mark_braces_in_parens_as_errors=1 1340 1341All identifiers in java.lang.* are always visible in all classes. To 1342highlight them use: > 1343 :let java_highlight_java_lang_ids=1 1344 1345You can also highlight identifiers of most standard java packages if you 1346download the javaid.vim script at http://www.fleiner.com/vim/download.html. 1347If you prefer to only highlight identifiers of a certain package, say java.io 1348use the following: > 1349 :let java_highlight_java_io=1 1350Check the javaid.vim file for a list of all the packages that are supported. 1351 1352Function names are not highlighted, as the way to find functions depends on 1353how you write java code. The syntax file knows two possible ways to highlight 1354functions: 1355 1356If you write function declarations that are always indented by either 1357a tab, 8 spaces or 2 spaces you may want to set > 1358 :let java_highlight_functions="indent" 1359However, if you follow the Java guidelines about how functions and classes are 1360supposed to be named (with respect to upper and lowercase), use > 1361 :let java_highlight_functions="style" 1362If both options do not work for you, but you would still want function 1363declarations to be highlighted create your own definitions by changing the 1364definitions in java.vim or by creating your own java.vim which includes the 1365original one and then adds the code to highlight functions. 1366 1367In java 1.1 the functions System.out.println() and System.err.println() should 1368only be used for debugging. Therefore it is possible to highlight debugging 1369statements differently. To do this you must add the following definition in 1370your startup file: > 1371 :let java_highlight_debug=1 1372The result will be that those statements are highlighted as 'Special' 1373characters. If you prefer to have them highlighted differently you must define 1374new highlightings for the following groups.: 1375 Debug, DebugSpecial, DebugString, DebugBoolean, DebugType 1376which are used for the statement itself, special characters used in debug 1377strings, strings, boolean constants and types (this, super) respectively. I 1378have opted to chose another background for those statements. 1379 1380In order to help you to write code that can be easily ported between 1381java and C++, all C++ keywords are marked as error in a java program. 1382However, if you use them regularly, you may want to define the following 1383variable in your .vimrc file: > 1384 :let java_allow_cpp_keywords=1 1385 1386Javadoc is a program that takes special comments out of java program files and 1387creates HTML pages. The standard configuration will highlight this HTML code 1388similarly to HTML files (see |html.vim|). You can even add javascript 1389and CSS inside this code (see below). There are four differences however: 1390 1. The title (all characters up to the first '.' which is followed by 1391 some white space or up to the first '@') is colored differently (to change 1392 the color change the group CommentTitle). 1393 2. The text is colored as 'Comment'. 1394 3. HTML comments are colored as 'Special' 1395 4. The special javadoc tags (@see, @param, ...) are highlighted as specials 1396 and the argument (for @see, @param, @exception) as Function. 1397To turn this feature off add the following line to your startup file: > 1398 :let java_ignore_javadoc=1 1399 1400If you use the special javadoc comment highlighting described above you 1401can also turn on special highlighting for javascript, visual basic 1402scripts and embedded CSS (stylesheets). This makes only sense if you 1403actually have javadoc comments that include either javascript or embedded 1404CSS. The options to use are > 1405 :let java_javascript=1 1406 :let java_css=1 1407 :let java_vb=1 1408 1409In order to highlight nested parens with different colors define colors 1410for javaParen, javaParen1 and javaParen2, for example with > 1411 :hi link javaParen Comment 1412or > 1413 :hi javaParen ctermfg=blue guifg=#0000ff 1414 1415If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 1416when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "java_minlines" internal variable 1417to a larger number: > 1418 :let java_minlines = 50 1419This will make the syntax synchronization start 50 lines before the first 1420displayed line. The default value is 10. The disadvantage of using a larger 1421number is that redrawing can become slow. 1422 1423 1424LACE *lace.vim* *lace-syntax* 1425 1426Lace (Language for Assembly of Classes in Eiffel) is case insensitive, but the 1427style guide lines are not. If you prefer case insensitive highlighting, just 1428define the vim variable 'lace_case_insensitive' in your startup file: > 1429 :let lace_case_insensitive=1 1430 1431 1432LEX *lex.vim* *lex-syntax* 1433 1434Lex uses brute-force synchronizing as the "^%%$" section delimiter 1435gives no clue as to what section follows. Consequently, the value for > 1436 :syn sync minlines=300 1437may be changed by the user if s/he is experiencing synchronization 1438difficulties (such as may happen with large lex files). 1439 1440 1441LITE *lite.vim* *lite-syntax* 1442 1443There are two options for the lite syntax highlighting. 1444 1445If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this: > 1446 1447 :let lite_sql_query = 1 1448 1449For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 1450set "lite_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 1451 1452 :let lite_minlines = 200 1453 1454 1455LPC *lpc.vim* *lpc-syntax* 1456 1457LPC stands for a simple, memory-efficient language: Lars Pensj| C. The 1458file name of LPC is usually *.c. Recognizing these files as LPC would bother 1459users writing only C programs. If you want to use LPC syntax in Vim, you 1460should set a variable in your .vimrc file: > 1461 1462 :let lpc_syntax_for_c = 1 1463 1464If it doesn't work properly for some particular C or LPC files, use a 1465modeline. For a LPC file: 1466 1467 // vim:set ft=lpc: 1468 1469For a C file that is recognized as LPC: 1470 1471 // vim:set ft=c: 1472 1473If you don't want to set the variable, use the modeline in EVERY LPC file. 1474 1475There are several implementations for LPC, we intend to support most widely 1476used ones. Here the default LPC syntax is for MudOS series, for MudOS v22 1477and before, you should turn off the sensible modifiers, and this will also 1478asserts the new efuns after v22 to be invalid, don't set this variable when 1479you are using the latest version of MudOS: > 1480 1481 :let lpc_pre_v22 = 1 1482 1483For LpMud 3.2 series of LPC: > 1484 1485 :let lpc_compat_32 = 1 1486 1487For LPC4 series of LPC: > 1488 1489 :let lpc_use_lpc4_syntax = 1 1490 1491For uLPC series of LPC: 1492uLPC has been developed to Pike, so you should use Pike syntax 1493instead, and the name of your source file should be *.pike 1494 1495 1496LUA *lua.vim* *lua-syntax* 1497 1498This syntax file may be used for Lua 4.0 and Lua 5.0 (default). If you are 1499programming in Lua 4.0, use this: > 1500 1501 :let lua_version = 4 1502 1503If lua_version variable doesn't exist, it is set to 5. 1504 1505 1506MAIL *mail.vim* 1507 1508Vim highlights all the standard elements of an email (headers, signatures, 1509quoted text and URLs / email addresses). In keeping with standard conventions, 1510signatures begin in a line containing only "--" followed optionally by 1511whitespaces and end with a newline. 1512 1513Vim treats lines beginning with ']', '}', '|', '>' or a word followed by '>' 1514as quoted text. However Vim highlights headers and signatures in quoted text 1515only if the text is quoted with '>' (optionally followed by one space). 1516 1517By default mail.vim synchronises syntax to 100 lines before the first 1518displayed line. If you have a slow machine, and generally deal with emails 1519with short headers, you can change this to a smaller value: > 1520 1521 :let mail_minlines = 30 1522 1523 1524MAKE *make.vim* *make-syntax* 1525 1526In makefiles, commands are usually highlighted to make it easy for you to spot 1527errors. However, this may be too much coloring for you. You can turn this 1528feature off by using: > 1529 1530 :let make_no_commands = 1 1531 1532 1533MAPLE *maple.vim* *maple-syntax* 1534 1535Maple V, by Waterloo Maple Inc, supports symbolic algebra. The language 1536supports many packages of functions which are selectively loaded by the user. 1537The standard set of packages' functions as supplied in Maple V release 4 may be 1538highlighted at the user's discretion. Users may place in their .vimrc file: > 1539 1540 :let mvpkg_all= 1 1541 1542to get all package functions highlighted, or users may select any subset by 1543choosing a variable/package from the table below and setting that variable to 15441, also in their .vimrc file (prior to sourcing 1545$VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim). 1546 1547 Table of Maple V Package Function Selectors > 1548 mv_DEtools mv_genfunc mv_networks mv_process 1549 mv_Galois mv_geometry mv_numapprox mv_simplex 1550 mv_GaussInt mv_grobner mv_numtheory mv_stats 1551 mv_LREtools mv_group mv_orthopoly mv_student 1552 mv_combinat mv_inttrans mv_padic mv_sumtools 1553 mv_combstruct mv_liesymm mv_plots mv_tensor 1554 mv_difforms mv_linalg mv_plottools mv_totorder 1555 mv_finance mv_logic mv_powseries 1556 1557 1558MOO *moo.vim* *moo-syntax* 1559 1560If you use C-style comments inside expressions and find it mangles your 1561highlighting, you may want to use extended (slow!) matches for C-style 1562comments: > 1563 1564 :let moo_extended_cstyle_comments = 1 1565 1566To disable highlighting of pronoun substitution patterns inside strings: > 1567 1568 :let moo_no_pronoun_sub = 1 1569 1570To disable highlighting of the regular expression operator '%|', and matching 1571'%(' and '%)' inside strings: > 1572 1573 :let moo_no_regexp = 1 1574 1575Unmatched double quotes can be recognized and highlighted as errors: > 1576 1577 :let moo_unmatched_quotes = 1 1578 1579To highlight builtin properties (.name, .location, .programmer etc.): > 1580 1581 :let moo_builtin_properties = 1 1582 1583Unknown builtin functions can be recognized and highlighted as errors. If you 1584use this option, add your own extensions to the mooKnownBuiltinFunction group. 1585To enable this option: > 1586 1587 :let moo_unknown_builtin_functions = 1 1588 1589An example of adding sprintf() to the list of known builtin functions: > 1590 1591 :syn keyword mooKnownBuiltinFunction sprintf contained 1592 1593 1594MSQL *msql.vim* *msql-syntax* 1595 1596There are two options for the msql syntax highlighting. 1597 1598If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this: > 1599 1600 :let msql_sql_query = 1 1601 1602For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 1603set "msql_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 1604 1605 :let msql_minlines = 200 1606 1607 1608NCF *ncf.vim* *ncf-syntax* 1609 1610There is one option for NCF syntax highlighting. 1611 1612If you want to have unrecognized (by ncf.vim) statements highlighted as 1613errors, use this: > 1614 1615 :let ncf_highlight_unknowns = 1 1616 1617If you don't want to highlight these errors, leave it unset. 1618 1619 1620NROFF *nroff.vim* *nroff-syntax* 1621 1622The nroff syntax file works with AT&T n/troff out of the box. You need to 1623activate the GNU groff extra features included in the syntax file before you 1624can use them. 1625 1626For example, Linux and BSD distributions use groff as their default text 1627processing package. In order to activate the extra syntax highlighting 1628features for groff, add the following option to your start-up files: > 1629 1630 :let b:nroff_is_groff = 1 1631 1632Groff is different from the old AT&T n/troff that you may still find in 1633Solaris. Groff macro and request names can be longer than 2 characters and 1634there are extensions to the language primitives. For example, in AT&T troff 1635you access the year as a 2-digit number with the request \(yr. In groff you 1636can use the same request, recognized for compatibility, or you can use groff's 1637native syntax, \[yr]. Furthermore, you can use a 4-digit year directly: 1638\[year]. Macro requests can be longer than 2 characters, for example, GNU mm 1639accepts the requests ".VERBON" and ".VERBOFF" for creating verbatim 1640environments. 1641 1642In order to obtain the best formatted output g/troff can give you, you should 1643follow a few simple rules about spacing and punctuation. 1644 16451. Do not leave empty spaces at the end of lines. 1646 16472. Leave one space and one space only after an end-of-sentence period, 1648 exclamation mark, etc. 1649 16503. For reasons stated below, it is best to follow all period marks with a 1651 carriage return. 1652 1653The reason behind these unusual tips is that g/n/troff have a line breaking 1654algorithm that can be easily upset if you don't follow the rules given above. 1655 1656Unlike TeX, troff fills text line-by-line, not paragraph-by-paragraph and, 1657furthermore, it does not have a concept of glue or stretch, all horizontal and 1658vertical space input will be output as is. 1659 1660Therefore, you should be careful about not using more space between sentences 1661than you intend to have in your final document. For this reason, the common 1662practice is to insert a carriage return immediately after all punctuation 1663marks. If you want to have "even" text in your final processed output, you 1664need to maintaining regular spacing in the input text. To mark both trailing 1665spaces and two or more spaces after a punctuation as an error, use: > 1666 1667 :let nroff_space_errors = 1 1668 1669Another technique to detect extra spacing and other errors that will interfere 1670with the correct typesetting of your file, is to define an eye-catching 1671highlighting definition for the syntax groups "nroffDefinition" and 1672"nroffDefSpecial" in your configuration files. For example: > 1673 1674 hi def nroffDefinition term=italic cterm=italic gui=reverse 1675 hi def nroffDefSpecial term=italic,bold cterm=italic,bold 1676 \ gui=reverse,bold 1677 1678If you want to navigate preprocessor entries in your source file as easily as 1679with section markers, you can activate the following option in your .vimrc 1680file: > 1681 1682 let b:preprocs_as_sections = 1 1683 1684As well, the syntax file adds an extra paragraph marker for the extended 1685paragraph macro (.XP) in the ms package. 1686 1687Finally, there is a |groff.vim| syntax file that can be used for enabling 1688groff syntax highlighting either on a file basis or globally by default. 1689 1690 1691OCAML *ocaml.vim* *ocaml-syntax* 1692 1693The OCaml syntax file handles files having the following prefixes: .ml, 1694.mli, .mll and .mly. By setting the following variable > 1695 1696 :let ocaml_revised = 1 1697 1698you can switch from standard OCaml-syntax to revised syntax as supported 1699by the camlp4 preprocessor. Setting the variable > 1700 1701 :let ocaml_noend_error = 1 1702 1703prevents highlighting of "end" as error, which is useful when sources 1704contain very long structures that Vim does not synchronize anymore. 1705 1706 1707PAPP *papp.vim* *papp-syntax* 1708 1709The PApp syntax file handles .papp files and, to a lesser extend, .pxml 1710and .pxsl files which are all a mixture of perl/xml/html/other using xml 1711as the top-level file format. By default everything inside phtml or pxml 1712sections is treated as a string with embedded preprocessor commands. If 1713you set the variable: > 1714 1715 :let papp_include_html=1 1716 1717in your startup file it will try to syntax-hilight html code inside phtml 1718sections, but this is relatively slow and much too colourful to be able to 1719edit sensibly ;) 1720 1721The newest version of the papp.vim syntax file can usually be found at 1722http://papp.plan9.de. 1723 1724 1725PASCAL *pascal.vim* *pascal-syntax* 1726 1727Files matching "*.p" could be Progress or Pascal. If the automatic detection 1728doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your 1729startup vimrc: > 1730 1731 :let filetype_p = "pascal" 1732 1733The Pascal syntax file has been extended to take into account some extensions 1734provided by Turbo Pascal, Free Pascal Compiler and GNU Pascal Compiler. 1735Delphi keywords are also supported. By default, Turbo Pascal 7.0 features are 1736enabled. If you prefer to stick with the standard Pascal keywords, add the 1737following line to your startup file: > 1738 1739 :let pascal_traditional=1 1740 1741To switch on Delphi specific constructions (such as one-line comments, 1742keywords, etc): > 1743 1744 :let pascal_delphi=1 1745 1746 1747The option pascal_symbol_operator controls whether symbol operators such as +, 1748*, .., etc. are displayed using the Operator color or not. To colorize symbol 1749operators, add the following line to your startup file: > 1750 1751 :let pascal_symbol_operator=1 1752 1753Some functions are highlighted by default. To switch it off: > 1754 1755 :let pascal_no_functions=1 1756 1757Furthermore, there are specific variable for some compiler. Besides 1758pascal_delphi, there are pascal_gpc and pascal_fpc. Default extensions try to 1759match Turbo Pascal. > 1760 1761 :let pascal_gpc=1 1762 1763or > 1764 1765 :let pascal_fpc=1 1766 1767To ensure that strings are defined on a single line, you can define the 1768pascal_one_line_string variable. > 1769 1770 :let pascal_one_line_string=1 1771 1772If you dislike <Tab> chars, you can set the pascal_no_tabs variable. Tabs 1773will be highlighted as Error. > 1774 1775 :let pascal_no_tabs=1 1776 1777 1778 1779PERL *perl.vim* *perl-syntax* 1780 1781There are a number of possible options to the perl syntax highlighting. 1782 1783If you use POD files or POD segments, you might: > 1784 1785 :let perl_include_pod = 1 1786 1787The reduce the complexity of parsing (and increase performance) you can switch 1788off two elements in the parsing of variable names and contents. > 1789 1790To handle package references in variable and function names not differently 1791from the rest of the name (like 'PkgName::' in '$PkgName::VarName'): > 1792 1793 :let perl_no_scope_in_variables = 1 1794 1795(In Vim 6.x it was the other way around: "perl_want_scope_in_variables" 1796enabled it.) 1797 1798If you do not want complex things like '@{${"foo"}}' to be parsed: > 1799 1800 :let perl_no_extended_vars = 1 1801 1802{In Vim 6.x it was the other way around: "perl_extended_vars" enabled it.) 1803 1804The coloring strings can be changed. By default strings and qq friends will be 1805highlighted like the first line. If you set the variable 1806perl_string_as_statement, it will be highlighted as in the second line. 1807 1808 "hello world!"; qq|hello world|; 1809 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^NN^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^N (unlet perl_string_as_statement) 1810 S^^^^^^^^^^^^SNNSSS^^^^^^^^^^^SN (let perl_string_as_statement) 1811 1812(^ = perlString, S = perlStatement, N = None at all) 1813 1814The syncing has 3 options. The first two switch off some triggering of 1815synchronization and should only be needed in case it fails to work properly. 1816If while scrolling all of a sudden the whole screen changes color completely 1817then you should try and switch off one of those. Let me know if you can figure 1818out the line that causes the mistake. 1819 1820One triggers on "^\s*sub\s*" and the other on "^[$@%]" more or less. > 1821 1822 :let perl_no_sync_on_sub 1823 :let perl_no_sync_on_global_var 1824 1825Below you can set the maximum distance VIM should look for starting points for 1826its attempts in syntax highlighting. > 1827 1828 :let perl_sync_dist = 100 1829 1830If you want to use folding with perl, set perl_fold: > 1831 1832 :let perl_fold = 1 1833 1834If you want to fold blocks in if statements, etc. as well set the following: > 1835 1836 :let perl_fold_blocks = 1 1837 1838 1839PHP3 and PHP4 *php.vim* *php3.vim* *php-syntax* *php3-syntax* 1840 1841[note: previously this was called "php3", but since it now also supports php4 1842it has been renamed to "php"] 1843 1844There are the following options for the php syntax highlighting. 1845 1846If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings: > 1847 1848 let php_sql_query = 1 1849 1850For highlighting the Baselib methods: > 1851 1852 let php_baselib = 1 1853 1854Enable HTML syntax highlighting inside strings: > 1855 1856 let php_htmlInStrings = 1 1857 1858Using the old colorstyle: > 1859 1860 let php_oldStyle = 1 1861 1862Enable highlighting ASP-style short tags: > 1863 1864 let php_asp_tags = 1 1865 1866Disable short tags: > 1867 1868 let php_noShortTags = 1 1869 1870For highlighting parent error ] or ): > 1871 1872 let php_parent_error_close = 1 1873 1874For skipping an php end tag, if there exists an open ( or [ without a closing 1875one: > 1876 1877 let php_parent_error_open = 1 1878 1879Enable folding for classes and functions: > 1880 1881 let php_folding = 1 1882 1883Selecting syncing method: > 1884 1885 let php_sync_method = x 1886 1887x = -1 to sync by search (default), 1888x > 0 to sync at least x lines backwards, 1889x = 0 to sync from start. 1890 1891 1892PPWIZARD *ppwiz.vim* *ppwiz-syntax* 1893 1894PPWizard is a preprocessor for HTML and OS/2 INF files 1895 1896This syntax file has the options: 1897 1898- ppwiz_highlight_defs : determines highlighting mode for PPWizard's 1899 definitions. Possible values are 1900 1901 ppwiz_highlight_defs = 1 : PPWizard #define statements retain the 1902 colors of their contents (e. g. PPWizard macros and variables) 1903 1904 ppwiz_highlight_defs = 2 : preprocessor #define and #evaluate 1905 statements are shown in a single color with the exception of line 1906 continuation symbols 1907 1908 The default setting for ppwiz_highlight_defs is 1. 1909 1910- ppwiz_with_html : If the value is 1 (the default), highlight literal 1911 HTML code; if 0, treat HTML code like ordinary text. 1912 1913 1914PHTML *phtml.vim* *phtml-syntax* 1915 1916There are two options for the phtml syntax highlighting. 1917 1918If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this: > 1919 1920 :let phtml_sql_query = 1 1921 1922For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 1923set "phtml_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 1924 1925 :let phtml_minlines = 200 1926 1927 1928POSTSCRIPT *postscr.vim* *postscr-syntax* 1929 1930There are several options when it comes to highlighting PostScript. 1931 1932First which version of the PostScript language to highlight. There are 1933currently three defined language versions, or levels. Level 1 is the original 1934and base version, and includes all extensions prior to the release of level 2. 1935Level 2 is the most common version around, and includes its own set of 1936extensions prior to the release of level 3. Level 3 is currently the highest 1937level supported. You select which level of the PostScript language you want 1938highlighted by defining the postscr_level variable as follows: > 1939 1940 :let postscr_level=2 1941 1942If this variable is not defined it defaults to 2 (level 2) since this is 1943the most prevalent version currently. 1944 1945Note, not all PS interpreters will support all language features for a 1946particular language level. In particular the %!PS-Adobe-3.0 at the start of 1947PS files does NOT mean the PostScript present is level 3 PostScript! 1948 1949If you are working with Display PostScript, you can include highlighting of 1950Display PS language features by defining the postscr_display variable as 1951follows: > 1952 1953 :let postscr_display=1 1954 1955If you are working with Ghostscript, you can include highlighting of 1956Ghostscript specific language features by defining the variable 1957postscr_ghostscript as follows: > 1958 1959 :let postscr_ghostscript=1 1960 1961PostScript is a large language, with many predefined elements. While it 1962useful to have all these elements highlighted, on slower machines this can 1963cause Vim to slow down. In an attempt to be machine friendly font names and 1964character encodings are not highlighted by default. Unless you are working 1965explicitly with either of these this should be ok. If you want them to be 1966highlighted you should set one or both of the following variables: > 1967 1968 :let postscr_fonts=1 1969 :let postscr_encodings=1 1970 1971There is a stylistic option to the highlighting of and, or, and not. In 1972PostScript the function of these operators depends on the types of their 1973operands - if the operands are booleans then they are the logical operators, 1974if they are integers then they are binary operators. As binary and logical 1975operators can be highlighted differently they have to be highlighted one way 1976or the other. By default they are treated as logical operators. They can be 1977highlighted as binary operators by defining the variable 1978postscr_andornot_binary as follows: > 1979 1980 :let postscr_andornot_binary=1 1981< 1982 1983 *ptcap.vim* 1984PRINTCAP + TERMCAP *ptcap-syntax* *termcap-syntax* *printcap-syntax* 1985 1986This syntax file applies to the printcap and termcap databases. 1987 1988In order for Vim to recognize printcap/termcap files that do not match 1989the patterns *printcap*, or *termcap*, you must put additional patterns 1990appropriate to your system in your |myfiletypefile| file. For these 1991patterns, you must set the variable "b:ptcap_type" to either "print" or 1992"term", and then the 'filetype' option to ptcap. 1993 1994For example, to make Vim identify all files in /etc/termcaps/ as termcap 1995files, add the following: > 1996 1997 :au BufNewFile,BufRead /etc/termcaps/* let b:ptcap_type = "term" | 1998 \ set filetype=ptcap 1999 2000If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which 2001are fixed when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "ptcap_minlines" 2002internal variable to a larger number: > 2003 2004 :let ptcap_minlines = 50 2005 2006(The default is 20 lines.) 2007 2008 2009PROGRESS *progress.vim* *progress-syntax* 2010 2011Files matching "*.w" could be Progress or cweb. If the automatic detection 2012doesn't work for you, or you don't edit cweb at all, use this in your 2013startup vimrc: > 2014 :let filetype_w = "progress" 2015The same happens for "*.i", which could be assembly, and "*.p", which could be 2016Pascal. Use this if you don't use assembly and Pascal: > 2017 :let filetype_i = "progress" 2018 :let filetype_p = "progress" 2019 2020 2021PYTHON *python.vim* *python-syntax* 2022 2023There are four options to control Python syntax highlighting. 2024 2025For highlighted numbers: > 2026 :let python_highlight_numbers = 1 2027 2028For highlighted builtin functions: > 2029 :let python_highlight_builtins = 1 2030 2031For highlighted standard exceptions: > 2032 :let python_highlight_exceptions = 1 2033 2034For highlighted trailing whitespace and mix of spaces and tabs: 2035 :let python_highlight_space_errors = 1 2036 2037If you want all possible Python highlighting (the same as setting the 2038preceding three options): > 2039 :let python_highlight_all = 1 2040 2041 2042QUAKE *quake.vim* *quake-syntax* 2043 2044The Quake syntax definition should work for most any FPS (First Person 2045Shooter) based on one of the Quake engines. However, the command names vary 2046a bit between the three games (Quake, Quake 2, and Quake 3 Arena) so the 2047syntax definition checks for the existence of three global variables to allow 2048users to specify what commands are legal in their files. The three variables 2049can be set for the following effects: 2050 2051set to highlight commands only available in Quake: > 2052 :let quake_is_quake1 = 1 2053 2054set to highlight commands only available in Quake 2: > 2055 :let quake_is_quake2 = 1 2056 2057set to highlight commands only available in Quake 3 Arena: > 2058 :let quake_is_quake3 = 1 2059 2060Any combination of these three variables is legal, but might highlight more 2061commands than are actually available to you by the game. 2062 2063 2064READLINE *readline.vim* *readline-syntax* 2065 2066The readline library is primarily used by the BASH shell, which adds quite a 2067few commands and options to the ones already available. To highlight these 2068items as well you can add the following to your |vimrc| or just type it in the 2069command line before loading a file with the readline syntax: > 2070 let readline_has_bash = 1 2071 2072This will add highlighting for the commands that BASH (version 2.05a and 2073later, and part earlier) adds. 2074 2075 2076REXX *rexx.vim* *rexx-syntax* 2077 2078If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 2079when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "rexx_minlines" internal variable 2080to a larger number: > 2081 :let rexx_minlines = 50 2082This will make the syntax synchronization start 50 lines before the first 2083displayed line. The default value is 10. The disadvantage of using a larger 2084number is that redrawing can become slow. 2085 2086 2087RUBY *ruby.vim* *ruby-syntax* 2088 2089There are a few options to the Ruby syntax highlighting. 2090 2091By default, the "end" keyword is colorized according to the opening statement 2092of the block it closes. While useful, this feature can be expensive: if you 2093experience slow redrawing (or you are on a terminal with poor color support) 2094you may want to turn it off by defining the "ruby_no_expensive" variable: > 2095 :let ruby_no_expensive = 1 2096In this case the same color will be used for all control keywords. 2097 2098If you do want this feature enabled, but notice highlighting errors while 2099scrolling backwards, which are fixed when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting 2100the "ruby_minlines" variable to a value larger than 50: > 2101 :let ruby_minlines = 100 2102Ideally, this value should be a number of lines large enough to embrace your 2103largest class or module. 2104 2105Finally, if you do not like to see too many color items around, you can define 2106"ruby_no_identifiers": > 2107 :let ruby_no_identifiers = 1 2108This will prevent highlighting of special identifiers like "ConstantName", 2109"$global_var", "@instance_var", "| iterator |", and ":symbol". 2110 2111 2112SCHEME *scheme.vim* *scheme-syntax* 2113 2114By default only R5RS keywords are highlighted and properly indented. 2115 2116MzScheme-specific stuff will be used if b:is_mzscheme or g:is_mzscheme 2117variables are defined. 2118 2119 2120SDL *sdl.vim* *sdl-syntax* 2121 2122The SDL highlighting probably misses a few keywords, but SDL has so many 2123of them it's almost impossibly to cope. 2124 2125The new standard, SDL-2000, specifies that all identifiers are 2126case-sensitive (which was not so before), and that all keywords can be 2127used either completely lowercase or completely uppercase. To have the 2128highlighting reflect this, you can set the following variable: > 2129 :let sdl_2000=1 2130 2131This also sets many new keywords. If you want to disable the old 2132keywords, which is probably a good idea, use: > 2133 :let SDL_no_96=1 2134 2135 2136The indentation is probably also incomplete, but right now I am very 2137satisfied with it for my own projects. 2138 2139 2140SED *sed.vim* *sed-syntax* 2141 2142To make tabs stand out from regular blanks (accomplished by using Todo 2143highlighting on the tabs), define "highlight_sedtabs" by putting > 2144 2145 :let highlight_sedtabs = 1 2146 2147in the vimrc file. (This special highlighting only applies for tabs 2148inside search patterns, replacement texts, addresses or text included 2149by an Append/Change/Insert command.) If you enable this option, it is 2150also a good idea to set the tab width to one character; by doing that, 2151you can easily count the number of tabs in a string. 2152 2153Bugs: 2154 2155 The transform command (y) is treated exactly like the substitute 2156 command. This means that, as far as this syntax file is concerned, 2157 transform accepts the same flags as substitute, which is wrong. 2158 (Transform accepts no flags.) I tolerate this bug because the 2159 involved commands need very complex treatment (95 patterns, one for 2160 each plausible pattern delimiter). 2161 2162 2163SGML *sgml.vim* *sgml-syntax* 2164 2165The coloring scheme for tags in the SGML file works as follows. 2166 2167The <> of opening tags are colored differently than the </> of a closing tag. 2168This is on purpose! For opening tags the 'Function' color is used, while for 2169closing tags the 'Type' color is used (See syntax.vim to check how those are 2170defined for you) 2171 2172Known tag names are colored the same way as statements in C. Unknown tag 2173names are not colored which makes it easy to spot errors. 2174 2175Note that the same is true for argument (or attribute) names. Known attribute 2176names are colored differently than unknown ones. 2177 2178Some SGML tags are used to change the rendering of text. The following tags 2179are recognized by the sgml.vim syntax coloring file and change the way normal 2180text is shown: <varname> <emphasis> <command> <function> <literal> 2181<replaceable> <ulink> and <link>. 2182 2183If you want to change how such text is rendered, you must redefine the 2184following syntax groups: 2185 2186 - sgmlBold 2187 - sgmlBoldItalic 2188 - sgmlUnderline 2189 - sgmlItalic 2190 - sgmlLink for links 2191 2192To make this redefinition work you must redefine them all and define the 2193following variable in your vimrc (this is due to the order in which the files 2194are read during initialization) > 2195 let sgml_my_rendering=1 2196 2197You can also disable this rendering by adding the following line to your 2198vimrc file: > 2199 let sgml_no_rendering=1 2200 2201(Adapted from the html.vim help text by Claudio Fleiner <[email protected]>) 2202 2203 2204SH *sh.vim* *sh-syntax* 2205 2206This covers the "normal" Unix (Bourne) sh, bash and the Korn shell. 2207 2208Vim attempts to determine which shell type is in use by specifying that 2209various filenames are of specific types: > 2210 2211 ksh : .kshrc* *.ksh 2212 bash: .bashrc* bashrc bash.bashrc .bash_profile* *.bash 2213< 2214If none of these cases pertain, then the first line of the file is examined 2215(ex. /bin/sh /bin/ksh /bin/bash). If the first line specifies a shelltype, 2216then that shelltype is used. However some files (ex. .profile) are known to 2217be shell files but the type is not apparent. Furthermore, on many systems 2218sh is symbolically linked to "bash" (linux) or "ksh" (posix). 2219 2220One may specify a global default by instantiating one of the following three 2221variables in your <.vimrc>: 2222 2223 ksh: > 2224 let is_kornshell = 1 2225< bash: > 2226 let is_bash = 1 2227< sh: > 2228 let is_sh = 1 2229 2230If, in your <.vimrc>, you set > 2231 let g:sh_fold_enabled= 1 2232> 2233then various syntax items (HereDocuments and function bodies) become 2234syntax-foldable (see |:syn-fold|). 2235 2236If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 2237when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "sh_minlines" internal variable 2238to a larger number. Example: > 2239 2240 let sh_minlines = 500 2241 2242This will make syntax synchronization start 500 lines before the first 2243displayed line. The default value is 200. The disadvantage of using a larger 2244number is that redrawing can become slow. 2245 2246If you don't have much to synchronize on, displaying can be very slow. To 2247reduce this, the "sh_maxlines" internal variable can be set. Example: > 2248 2249 let sh_maxlines = 100 2250< 2251The default is to use the twice sh_minlines. Set it to a smaller number to 2252speed up displaying. The disadvantage is that highlight errors may appear. 2253 2254 2255SPEEDUP (AspenTech plant simulator) *spup.vim* *spup-syntax* 2256 2257The Speedup syntax file has some options: 2258 2259- strict_subsections : If this variable is defined, only keywords for 2260 sections and subsections will be highlighted as statements but not 2261 other keywords (like WITHIN in the OPERATION section). 2262 2263- highlight_types : Definition of this variable causes stream types 2264 like temperature or pressure to be highlighted as Type, not as a 2265 plain Identifier. Included are the types that are usually found in 2266 the DECLARE section; if you defined own types, you have to include 2267 them in the syntax file. 2268 2269- oneline_comments : this value ranges from 1 to 3 and determines the 2270 highlighting of # style comments. 2271 2272 oneline_comments = 1 : allow normal Speedup code after an even 2273 number of #s. 2274 2275 oneline_comments = 2 : show code starting with the second # as 2276 error. This is the default setting. 2277 2278 oneline_comments = 3 : show the whole line as error if it contains 2279 more than one #. 2280 2281Since especially OPERATION sections tend to become very large due to 2282PRESETting variables, syncing may be critical. If your computer is 2283fast enough, you can increase minlines and/or maxlines near the end of 2284the syntax file. 2285 2286 2287SQL *sql.vim* *sql-syntax* 2288 *sqlinformix.vim* *sqlinformix-syntax* 2289 2290While there is an ANSI standard for SQL, most database engines add their 2291own custom extensions. Vim currently supports the Oracle and Informix 2292dialects of SQL. Vim assumes "*.sql" files are Oracle SQL by default. 2293 2294If you want to use the Informix dialect, put this in your startup vimrc: > 2295 :let g:filetype_sql = "sqlinformix" 2296 2297 2298TCSH *tcsh.vim* *tcsh-syntax* 2299 2300This covers the shell named "tcsh". It is a superset of csh. See |csh.vim| 2301for how the filetype is detected. 2302 2303Tcsh does not allow \" in strings unless the "backslash_quote" shell variable 2304is set. If you want VIM to assume that no backslash quote constructs exist add 2305this line to your .vimrc: > 2306 2307 :let tcsh_backslash_quote = 0 2308 2309If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 2310when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "tcsh_minlines" internal variable 2311to a larger number: > 2312 2313 :let tcsh_minlines = 100 2314 2315This will make the syntax synchronization start 100 lines before the first 2316displayed line. The default value is 15. The disadvantage of using a larger 2317number is that redrawing can become slow. 2318 2319 2320TEX *tex.vim* *tex-syntax* 2321 2322Run-on Comments/Math? ~ 2323 2324The tex highlighting supports TeX, LaTeX, and some AmsTeX. The 2325highlighting supports three primary zones: normal, texZone, and texMathZone. 2326Although a considerable effort has been made to have these zones terminate 2327properly, zones delineated by $..$ and $$..$$ cannot be synchronized as 2328there's no difference between start and end patterns. Consequently, a 2329special "TeX comment" has been provided > 2330 %stopzone 2331which will forcibly terminate the highlighting of either a texZone or a 2332texMathZone. 2333 2334Slow Syntax Highlighting? ~ 2335 2336If you have a slow computer, you may wish to reduce the values for > 2337 :syn sync maxlines=200 2338 :syn sync minlines=50 2339(especially the latter). If your computer is fast, you may wish to 2340increase them. This primarily affects synchronizing (ie. just what group, 2341if any, is the text at the top of the screen supposed to be in?). 2342 2343Excessive Error Highlighting? ~ 2344 2345The <tex.vim> supports lexical error checking of various sorts. Thus, 2346although the error checking is ofttimes very useful, it can indicate 2347errors where none actually are. If this proves to be a problem for you, 2348you may put in your <.vimrc> the following statement: > 2349 let tex_no_error=1 2350and all error checking by <tex.vim> will be suppressed. 2351 2352Need a new Math Group? ~ 2353 2354If you want to include a new math group in your LaTeX, the following 2355code shows you an example as to how you might do so: > 2356 2357 syn cluster texMathZones add=texMathZoneLOCAL 2358 syn region texMathZoneLOCAL start="\\begin\s*{\s*LOCALMATH\s*}" 2359 \ end="\\end\s*{\s*LOCALMATH\s*}" keepend 2360 \ contains=@texMathZoneGroup 2361 if !exists("tex_no_math") 2362 syn sync match texSyncMathZoneLOCAL grouphere texMathZoneLOCAL 2363 \ "\\begin\s*{\s*LOCALMATH\*\s*}" 2364 syn sync match texSyncMathZoneLOCAL groupthere NONE 2365 \ "\\end\s*{\s*LOCALMATH\*\s*}" 2366 endif 2367 hi link texMathZoneLOCAL texMath 2368< 2369You'll need to change LOCALMATH to the name of your new math group, 2370and then to put it into .vim/after/syntax/tex.vim. 2371 2372Starting a New Style? ~ 2373 2374One may use "\makeatletter" in *.tex files, thereby making the use of "@" in 2375commands available. However, since the *.tex file doesn't have one of the 2376following suffices: sty cls clo dtx ltx, the syntax highlighting will flag 2377such use of @ as an error. To solve this: > 2378 2379 :let b:tex_stylish = 1 2380 :set ft=tex 2381 2382Putting "let g:tex_stylish=1" into your <.vimrc> will make <syntax/tex.vim> 2383always accept such use of @. 2384 2385 2386TF *tf.vim* *tf-syntax* 2387 2388There is one option for the tf syntax highlighting. 2389 2390For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 2391set "tf_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 2392 2393 :let tf_minlines = your choice 2394 2395 2396VIM *vim.vim* *vim-syntax* 2397 2398There is a tradeoff between more accurate syntax highlighting versus 2399screen updating speed. To improve accuracy, you may wish to increase 2400the g:vim_minlines variable. The g:vim_maxlines variable may be used 2401to improve screen updating rates (see |:syn-sync| for more on this). 2402 2403 g:vim_minlines : used to set synchronization minlines 2404 g:vim_maxlines : used to set synchronization maxlines 2405 2406The g:vimembedscript option allows for somewhat faster loading of syntax 2407highlighting for vim scripts at the expense of supporting syntax highlighting 2408for external scripting languages (currently perl, python, ruby, and tcl). 2409 2410 g:vimembedscript == 1 (default) <vim.vim> will allow highlighting 2411 g:vimembedscript doesn't exist of supported embedded scripting 2412 languages: perl, python, ruby and 2413 tcl. 2414 2415 g:vimembedscript == 0 Syntax highlighting for embedded 2416 scripting languages will not be 2417 loaded. 2418 2419 2420XF86CONFIG *xf86conf.vim* *xf86conf-syntax* 2421 2422The syntax of XF86Config file differs in XFree86 v3.x and v4.x. Both 2423variants are supported. Automatic detection is used, but is far from perfect. 2424You may need to specify the version manually. Set the variable 2425xf86conf_xfree86_version to 3 or 4 according to your XFree86 version in 2426your .vimrc. Example: > 2427 :let xf86conf_xfree86_version=3 2428When using a mix of versions, set the b:xf86conf_xfree86_version variable. 2429 2430Note that spaces and underscores in option names are not supported. Use 2431"SyncOnGreen" instead of "__s yn con gr_e_e_n" if you want the option name 2432highlighted. 2433 2434 2435XML *xml.vim* *xml-syntax* 2436 2437Xml namespaces are highlighted by default. This can be inhibited by 2438setting a global variable: > 2439 2440 :let g:xml_namespace_transparent=1 2441< 2442 *xml-folding* 2443The xml syntax file provides syntax |folding| (see |:syn-fold|) between 2444start and end tags. This can be turned on by > 2445 2446 :let g:xml_syntax_folding = 1 2447 :set foldmethod=syntax 2448 2449Note: syntax folding might slow down syntax highlighting significantly, 2450especially for large files. 2451 2452 2453X Pixmaps (XPM) *xpm.vim* *xpm-syntax* 2454 2455xpm.vim creates its syntax items dynamically based upon the contents of the 2456XPM file. Thus if you make changes e.g. in the color specification strings, 2457you have to source it again e.g. with ":set syn=xpm". 2458 2459To copy a pixel with one of the colors, yank a "pixel" with "yl" and insert it 2460somewhere else with "P". 2461 2462Do you want to draw with the mouse? Try the following: > 2463 :function! GetPixel() 2464 : let c = getline(line("."))[col(".") - 1] 2465 : echo c 2466 : exe "noremap <LeftMouse> <LeftMouse>r".c 2467 : exe "noremap <LeftDrag> <LeftMouse>r".c 2468 :endfunction 2469 :noremap <RightMouse> <LeftMouse>:call GetPixel()<CR> 2470 :set guicursor=n:hor20 " to see the color beneath the cursor 2471This turns the right button into a pipette and the left button into a pen. 2472It will work with XPM files that have one character per pixel only and you 2473must not click outside of the pixel strings, but feel free to improve it. 2474 2475It will look much better with a font in a quadratic cell size, e.g. for X: > 2476 :set guifont=-*-clean-medium-r-*-*-8-*-*-*-*-80-* 2477 2478============================================================================== 24795. Defining a syntax *:syn-define* *E410* 2480 2481Vim understands three types of syntax items: 2482 24831. Keyword. 2484 It can only contain keyword characters, according to the 'iskeyword' 2485 option. It cannot contain other syntax items. It will only match with a 2486 complete word (there are no keyword characters before or after the match). 2487 The keyword "if" would match in "if(a=b)", but not in "ifdef x", because 2488 "(" is not a keyword character and "d" is. 2489 24902. Match. 2491 This is a match with a single regexp pattern. 2492 24933. Region. 2494 This starts at a match of the "start" regexp pattern and ends with a match 2495 with the "end" regexp pattern. Any other text can appear in between. A 2496 "skip" regexp pattern can be used to avoid matching the "end" pattern. 2497 2498Several syntax ITEMs can be put into one syntax GROUP. For a syntax group 2499you can give highlighting attributes. For example, you could have an item 2500to define a "/* .. */" comment and another one that defines a "// .." comment, 2501and put them both in the "Comment" group. You can then specify that a 2502"Comment" will be in bold font and have a blue color. You are free to make 2503one highlight group for one syntax item, or put all items into one group. 2504This depends on how you want to specify your highlighting attributes. Putting 2505each item in its own group results in having to specify the highlighting 2506for a lot of groups. 2507 2508Note that a syntax group and a highlight group are similar. For a highlight 2509group you will have given highlight attributes. These attributes will be used 2510for the syntax group with the same name. 2511 2512In case more than one item matches at the same position, the one that was 2513defined LAST wins. Thus you can override previously defined syntax items by 2514using an item that matches the same text. But a keyword always goes before a 2515match or region. And a keyword with matching case always goes before a 2516keyword with ignoring case. 2517 2518 2519PRIORITY *:syn-priority* 2520 2521When several syntax items may match, these rules are used: 2522 25231. When multiple Match or Region items start in the same position, the item 2524 defined last has priority. 25252. A Keyword has priority over Match and Region items. 25263. An item that starts in an earlier position has priority over items that 2527 start in later positions. 2528 2529 2530DEFINING CASE *:syn-case* *E390* 2531 2532:sy[ntax] case [match|ignore] 2533 This defines if the following ":syntax" commands will work with 2534 matching case, when using "match", or with ignoring case, when using 2535 "ignore". Note that any items before this are not affected, and all 2536 items until the next ":syntax case" command are affected. 2537 2538 2539DEFINING KEYWORDS *:syn-keyword* 2540 2541:sy[ntax] keyword {group-name} [{options}] {keyword} .. [{options}] 2542 2543 This defines a number of keywords. 2544 2545 {group-name} Is a syntax group name such as "Comment". 2546 [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. 2547 {keyword} .. Is a list of keywords which are part of this group. 2548 2549 Example: > 2550 :syntax keyword Type int long char 2551< 2552 The {options} can be given anywhere in the line. They will apply to 2553 all keywords given, also for options that come after a keyword. 2554 These examples do exactly the same: > 2555 :syntax keyword Type contained int long char 2556 :syntax keyword Type int long contained char 2557 :syntax keyword Type int long char contained 2558< 2559 When you have a keyword with an optional tail, like Ex commands in 2560 Vim, you can put the optional characters inside [], to define all the 2561 variations at once: > 2562 :syntax keyword vimCommand ab[breviate] n[ext] 2563< 2564 Don't forget that a keyword can only be recognized if all the 2565 characters are included in the 'iskeyword' option. If one character 2566 isn't, the keyword will never be recognized. 2567 Multi-byte characters can also be used. These do not have to be in 2568 'iskeyword'. 2569 2570 A keyword always has higher priority than a match or region, the 2571 keyword is used if more than one item matches. Keywords do not nest 2572 and a keyword can't contain anything else. 2573 2574 Note that when you have a keyword that is the same as an option (even 2575 one that isn't allowed here), you can not use it. Use a match 2576 instead. 2577 2578 The maximum length of a keyword is 80 characters. 2579 2580 The same keyword can be defined multiple times, when its containment 2581 differs. For example, you can define the keyword once not contained 2582 and use one highlight group, and once contained, and use a different 2583 highlight group. Example: > 2584 :syn keyword vimCommand tag 2585 :syn keyword vimSetting contained tag 2586< When finding "tag" outside of any syntax item, the "vimCommand" 2587 highlight group is used. When finding "tag" in a syntax item that 2588 contains "vimSetting", the "vimSetting" group is used. 2589 2590 2591DEFINING MATCHES *:syn-match* 2592 2593:sy[ntax] match {group-name} [{options}] [excludenl] {pattern} [{options}] 2594 2595 This defines one match. 2596 2597 {group-name} A syntax group name such as "Comment". 2598 [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. 2599 [excludenl] Don't make a pattern with the end-of-line "$" 2600 extend a containing match or region. Must be 2601 given before the pattern. |:syn-excludenl| 2602 {pattern} The search pattern that defines the match. 2603 See |:syn-pattern| below. 2604 Note that the pattern may match more than one 2605 line, which makes the match depend on where 2606 Vim starts searching for the pattern. You 2607 need to make sure syncing takes care of this. 2608 2609 Example (match a character constant): > 2610 :syntax match Character /'.'/hs=s+1,he=e-1 2611< 2612 2613DEFINING REGIONS *:syn-region* *:syn-start* *:syn-skip* *:syn-end* 2614 *E398* *E399* 2615:sy[ntax] region {group-name} [{options}] 2616 [matchgroup={group-name}] 2617 [keepend] 2618 [extend] 2619 [excludenl] 2620 start={start_pattern} .. 2621 [skip={skip_pattern}] 2622 end={end_pattern} .. 2623 [{options}] 2624 2625 This defines one region. It may span several lines. 2626 2627 {group-name} A syntax group name such as "Comment". 2628 [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. 2629 [matchgroup={group-name}] The syntax group to use for the following 2630 start or end pattern matches only. Not used 2631 for the text in between the matched start and 2632 end patterns. Use NONE to reset to not using 2633 a different group for the start or end match. 2634 See |:syn-matchgroup|. 2635 keepend Don't allow contained matches to go past a 2636 match with the end pattern. See 2637 |:syn-keepend|. 2638 extend Override a "keepend" for an item this region 2639 is contained in. See |:syn-extend|. 2640 excludenl Don't make a pattern with the end-of-line "$" 2641 extend a containing match or item. Only 2642 useful for end patterns. Must be given before 2643 the patterns it applies to. |:syn-excludenl| 2644 start={start_pattern} The search pattern that defines the start of 2645 the region. See |:syn-pattern| below. 2646 skip={skip_pattern} The search pattern that defines text inside 2647 the region where not to look for the end 2648 pattern. See |:syn-pattern| below. 2649 end={end_pattern} The search pattern that defines the end of 2650 the region. See |:syn-pattern| below. 2651 2652 Example: > 2653 :syntax region String start=+"+ skip=+\\"+ end=+"+ 2654< 2655 The start/skip/end patterns and the options can be given in any order. 2656 There can be zero or one skip pattern. There must be one or more 2657 start and end patterns. This means that you can omit the skip 2658 pattern, but you must give at least one start and one end pattern. It 2659 is allowed to have white space before and after the equal sign 2660 (although it mostly looks better without white space). 2661 2662 When more than one start pattern is given, a match with one of these 2663 is sufficient. This means there is an OR relation between the start 2664 patterns. The last one that matches is used. The same is true for 2665 the end patterns. 2666 2667 The search for the end pattern starts right after the start pattern. 2668 Offsets are not used for this. This implies that the match for the 2669 end pattern will never overlap with the start pattern. 2670 2671 The skip and end pattern can match across line breaks, but since the 2672 search for the pattern can start in any line it often does not do what 2673 you want. The skip pattern doesn't avoid a match of an end pattern in 2674 the next line. Use single-line patterns to avoid trouble. 2675 2676 Note: The decision to start a region is only based on a matching start 2677 pattern. There is no check for a matching end pattern. This does NOT 2678 work: > 2679 :syn region First start="(" end=":" 2680 :syn region Second start="(" end=";" 2681< The Second always matches before the First (last defined pattern has 2682 higher priority). The Second region then continues until the next 2683 ';', no matter if there is a ':' before it. Using a match does work: > 2684 :syn match First "(\_.\{-}:" 2685 :syn match Second "(\_.\{-};" 2686< This pattern matches any character or line break with "\_." and 2687 repeats that with "\{-}" (repeat as few as possible). 2688 2689 *:syn-keepend* 2690 By default, a contained match can obscure a match for the end pattern. 2691 This is useful for nesting. For example, a region that starts with 2692 "{" and ends with "}", can contain another region. An encountered "}" 2693 will then end the contained region, but not the outer region: 2694 { starts outer "{}" region 2695 { starts contained "{}" region 2696 } ends contained "{}" region 2697 } ends outer "{} region 2698 If you don't want this, the "keepend" argument will make the matching 2699 of an end pattern of the outer region also end any contained item. 2700 This makes it impossible to nest the same region, but allows for 2701 contained items to highlight parts of the end pattern, without causing 2702 that to skip the match with the end pattern. Example: > 2703 :syn match vimComment +"[^"]\+$+ 2704 :syn region vimCommand start="set" end="$" contains=vimComment keepend 2705< The "keepend" makes the vimCommand always end at the end of the line, 2706 even though the contained vimComment includes a match with the <EOL>. 2707 2708 When "keepend" is not used, a match with an end pattern is retried 2709 after each contained match. When "keepend" is included, the first 2710 encountered match with an end pattern is used, truncating any 2711 contained matches. 2712 *:syn-extend* 2713 The "keepend" behavior can be changed by using the "extend" argument. 2714 When an item with "extend" is contained in an item that uses 2715 "keepend", the "keepend" is ignored and the containing region will be 2716 extended. 2717 This can be used to have some contained items extend a region while 2718 others don't. Example: > 2719 2720 :syn region htmlRef start=+<a>+ end=+</a>+ keepend contains=htmlItem,htmlScript 2721 :syn match htmlItem +<[^>]*>+ contained 2722 :syn region htmlScript start=+<script+ end=+</script[^>]*>+ contained extend 2723 2724< Here the htmlItem item does not make the htmlRef item continue 2725 further, it is only used to highlight the <> items. The htmlScript 2726 item does extend the htmlRef item. 2727 2728 Another example: > 2729 :syn region xmlFold start="<a>" end="</a>" fold transparent keepend extend 2730< This defines a region with "keepend", so that its end cannot be 2731 changed by contained items, like when the "</a>" is matched to 2732 highlight it differently. But when the xmlFold region is nested (it 2733 includes itself), the "extend" applies, so that the "</a>" of a nested 2734 region only ends that region, and not the one it is contained in. 2735 2736 *:syn-excludenl* 2737 When a pattern for a match or end pattern of a region includes a '$' 2738 to match the end-of-line, it will make a region item that it is 2739 contained in continue on the next line. For example, a match with 2740 "\\$" (backslash at the end of the line) can make a region continue 2741 that would normally stop at the end of the line. This is the default 2742 behavior. If this is not wanted, there are two ways to avoid it: 2743 1. Use "keepend" for the containing item. This will keep all 2744 contained matches from extending the match or region. It can be 2745 used when all contained items must not extend the containing item. 2746 2. Use "excludenl" in the contained item. This will keep that match 2747 from extending the containing match or region. It can be used if 2748 only some contained items must not extend the containing item. 2749 "excludenl" must be given before the pattern it applies to. 2750 2751 *:syn-matchgroup* 2752 "matchgroup" can be used to highlight the start and/or end pattern 2753 differently than the body of the region. Example: > 2754 :syntax region String matchgroup=Quote start=+"+ skip=+\\"+ end=+"+ 2755< This will highlight the quotes with the "Quote" group, and the text in 2756 between with the "String" group. 2757 The "matchgroup" is used for all start and end patterns that follow, 2758 until the next "matchgroup". Use "matchgroup=NONE" to go back to not 2759 using a matchgroup. 2760 2761 In a start or end pattern that is highlighted with "matchgroup" the 2762 contained items of the region are not used. This can be used to avoid 2763 that a contained item matches in the start or end pattern match. When 2764 using "transparent", this does not apply to a start or end pattern 2765 match that is highlighted with "matchgroup". 2766 2767 Here is an example, which highlights three levels of parentheses in 2768 different colors: > 2769 :sy region par1 matchgroup=par1 start=/(/ end=/)/ contains=par2 2770 :sy region par2 matchgroup=par2 start=/(/ end=/)/ contains=par3 contained 2771 :sy region par3 matchgroup=par3 start=/(/ end=/)/ contains=par1 contained 2772 :hi par1 ctermfg=red guifg=red 2773 :hi par2 ctermfg=blue guifg=blue 2774 :hi par3 ctermfg=darkgreen guifg=darkgreen 2775 2776============================================================================== 27776. :syntax arguments *:syn-arguments* 2778 2779The :syntax commands that define syntax items take a number of arguments. 2780The common ones are explained here. The arguments may be given in any order 2781and may be mixed with patterns. 2782 2783Not all commands accept all arguments. This table shows which arguments 2784can not be used for all commands: 2785 *E395* *E396* 2786 contains oneline fold display extend ~ 2787:syntax keyword - - - - - 2788:syntax match yes - yes yes yes 2789:syntax region yes yes yes yes yes 2790 2791These arguments can be used for all three commands: 2792 contained 2793 containedin 2794 nextgroup 2795 transparent 2796 skipwhite 2797 skipnl 2798 skipempty 2799 2800 2801contained *:syn-contained* 2802 2803When the "contained" argument is given, this item will not be recognized at 2804the top level, but only when it is mentioned in the "contains" field of 2805another match. Example: > 2806 :syntax keyword Todo TODO contained 2807 :syntax match Comment "//.*" contains=Todo 2808 2809 2810display *:syn-display* 2811 2812If the "display" argument is given, this item will be skipped when the 2813detected highlighting will not be displayed. This will speed up highlighting, 2814by skipping this item when only finding the syntax state for the text that is 2815to be displayed. 2816 2817Generally, you can use "display" for match and region items that meet these 2818conditions: 2819- The item does not continue past the end of a line. Example for C: A region 2820 for a "/*" comment can't contain "display", because it continues on the next 2821 line. 2822- The item does not contain items that continue past the end of the line or 2823 make it continue on the next line. 2824- The item does not change the size of any item it is contained in. Example 2825 for C: A match with "\\$" in a preprocessor match can't have "display", 2826 because it may make that preprocessor match shorter. 2827- The item does not allow other items to match that didn't match otherwise, 2828 and that item may extend the match too far. Example for C: A match for a 2829 "//" comment can't use "display", because a "/*" inside that comment would 2830 match then and start a comment which extends past the end of the line. 2831 2832Examples, for the C language, where "display" can be used: 2833- match with a number 2834- match with a label 2835 2836 2837transparent *:syn-transparent* 2838 2839If the "transparent" argument is given, this item will not be highlighted 2840itself, but will take the highlighting of the item it is contained in. This 2841is useful for syntax items that don't need any highlighting but are used 2842only to skip over a part of the text. 2843 2844The "contains=" argument is also inherited from the item it is contained in, 2845unless a "contains" argument is given for the transparent item itself. To 2846avoid that unwanted items are contained, use "contains=NONE". Example, which 2847highlights words in strings, but makes an exception for "vim": > 2848 :syn match myString /'[^']*'/ contains=myWord,myVim 2849 :syn match myWord /\<[a-z]*\>/ contained 2850 :syn match myVim /\<vim\>/ transparent contained contains=NONE 2851 :hi link myString String 2852 :hi link myWord Comment 2853Since the "myVim" match comes after "myWord" it is the preferred match (last 2854match in the same position overrules an earlier one). The "transparent" 2855argument makes the "myVim" match use the same highlighting as "myString". But 2856it does not contain anything. If the "contains=NONE" argument would be left 2857out, then "myVim" would use the contains argument from myString and allow 2858"myWord" to be contained, which will be highlighted as a Constant. This 2859happens because a contained match doesn't match inside itself in the same 2860position, thus the "myVim" match doesn't overrule the "myWord" match here. 2861 2862When you look at the colored text, it is like looking at layers of contained 2863items. The contained item is on top of the item it is contained in, thus you 2864see the contained item. When a contained item is transparent, you can look 2865through, thus you see the item it is contained in. In a picture: 2866 2867 look from here 2868 2869 | | | | | | 2870 V V V V V V 2871 2872 xxxx yyy more contained items 2873 .................... contained item (transparent) 2874 ============================= first item 2875 2876The 'x', 'y' and '=' represent a highlighted syntax item. The '.' represent a 2877transparent group. 2878 2879What you see is: 2880 2881 =======xxxx=======yyy======== 2882 2883Thus you look through the transparent "....". 2884 2885 2886oneline *:syn-oneline* 2887 2888The "oneline" argument indicates that the region does not cross a line 2889boundary. It must match completely in the current line. However, when the 2890region has a contained item that does cross a line boundary, it continues on 2891the next line anyway. A contained item can be used to recognize a line 2892continuation pattern. But the "end" pattern must still match in the first 2893line, otherwise the region doesn't even start. 2894 2895When the start pattern includes a "\n" to match an end-of-line, the end 2896pattern must be found in the same line as where the start pattern ends. The 2897end pattern may also include an end-of-line. Thus the "oneline" argument 2898means that the end of the start pattern and the start of the end pattern must 2899be within one line. This can't be changed by a skip pattern that matches a 2900line break. 2901 2902 2903fold *:syn-fold* 2904 2905The "fold" argument makes the fold level increased by one for this item. 2906Example: > 2907 :syn region myFold start="{" end="}" transparent fold 2908 :syn sync fromstart 2909 :set foldmethod=syntax 2910This will make each {} block form one fold. 2911 2912The fold will start on the line where the item starts, and end where the item 2913ends. If the start and end are within the same line, there is no fold. 2914The 'foldnestmax' option limits the nesting of syntax folds. 2915{not available when Vim was compiled without |+folding| feature} 2916 2917 2918 *:syn-contains* *E405* *E406* *E407* *E408* *E409* 2919contains={groupname},.. 2920 2921The "contains" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names. These 2922groups will be allowed to begin inside the item (they may extend past the 2923containing group's end). This allows for recursive nesting of matches and 2924regions. If there is no "contains" argument, no groups will be contained in 2925this item. The group names do not need to be defined before they can be used 2926here. 2927 2928contains=ALL 2929 If the only item in the contains list is "ALL", then all 2930 groups will be accepted inside the item. 2931 2932contains=ALLBUT,{group-name},.. 2933 If the first item in the contains list is "ALLBUT", then all 2934 groups will be accepted inside the item, except the ones that 2935 are listed. Example: > 2936 :syntax region Block start="{" end="}" ... contains=ALLBUT,Function 2937 2938contains=TOP 2939 If the first item in the contains list is "TOP", then all 2940 groups will be accepted that don't have the "contained" 2941 argument. 2942contains=TOP,{group-name},.. 2943 Like "TOP", but excluding the groups that are listed. 2944 2945contains=CONTAINED 2946 If the first item in the contains list is "CONTAINED", then 2947 all groups will be accepted that have the "contained" 2948 argument. 2949contains=CONTAINED,{group-name},.. 2950 Like "CONTAINED", but excluding the groups that are 2951 listed. 2952 2953 2954The {group-name} in the "contains" list can be a pattern. All group names 2955that match the pattern will be included (or excluded, if "ALLBUT" is used). 2956The pattern cannot contain white space or a ','. Example: > 2957 ... contains=Comment.*,Keyw[0-3] 2958The matching will be done at moment the syntax command is executed. Groups 2959that are defined later will not be matched. Also, if the current syntax 2960command defines a new group, it is not matched. Be careful: When putting 2961syntax commands in a file you can't rely on groups NOT being defined, because 2962the file may have been sourced before, and ":syn clear" doesn't remove the 2963group names. 2964 2965The contained groups will also match in the start and end patterns of a 2966region. If this is not wanted, the "matchgroup" argument can be used 2967|:syn-matchgroup|. The "ms=" and "me=" offsets can be used to change the 2968region where contained items do match. Note that this may also limit the 2969area that is highlighted 2970 2971 2972containedin={groupname}... *:syn-containedin* 2973 2974The "containedin" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names. The 2975item will be allowed to begin inside these groups. This works as if the 2976containing item has a "contains=" argument that includes this item. 2977 2978The {groupname}... can be used just like for "contains", as explained above. 2979 2980This is useful when adding a syntax item afterwards. An item can be told to 2981be included inside an already existing item, without changing the definition 2982of that item. For example, to highlight a word in a C comment after loading 2983the C syntax: > 2984 :syn keyword myword HELP containedin=cComment contained 2985Note that "contained" is also used, to avoid that the item matches at the top 2986level. 2987 2988Matches for "containedin" are added to the other places where the item can 2989appear. A "contains" argument may also be added as usual. Don't forget that 2990keywords never contain another item, thus adding them to "containedin" won't 2991work. 2992 2993 2994nextgroup={groupname},.. *:syn-nextgroup* 2995 2996The "nextgroup" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names, 2997separated by commas (just like with "contains", so you can also use patterns). 2998 2999If the "nextgroup" argument is given, the mentioned syntax groups will be 3000tried for a match, after the match or region ends. If none of the groups have 3001a match, highlighting continues normally. If there is a match, this group 3002will be used, even when it is not mentioned in the "contains" field of the 3003current group. This is like giving the mentioned group priority over all 3004other groups. Example: > 3005 :syntax match ccFoobar "Foo.\{-}Bar" contains=ccFoo 3006 :syntax match ccFoo "Foo" contained nextgroup=ccFiller 3007 :syntax region ccFiller start="." matchgroup=ccBar end="Bar" contained 3008 3009This will highlight "Foo" and "Bar" differently, and only when there is a 3010"Bar" after "Foo". In the text line below, "f" shows where ccFoo is used for 3011highlighting, and "bbb" where ccBar is used. > 3012 3013 Foo asdfasd Bar asdf Foo asdf Bar asdf 3014 fff bbb fff bbb 3015 3016Note the use of ".\{-}" to skip as little as possible until the next Bar. 3017when ".*" would be used, the "asdf" in between "Bar" and "Foo" would be 3018highlighted according to the "ccFoobar" group, because the ccFooBar match 3019would include the first "Foo" and the last "Bar" in the line (see |pattern|). 3020 3021 3022skipwhite *:syn-skipwhite* 3023skipnl *:syn-skipnl* 3024skipempty *:syn-skipempty* 3025 3026These arguments are only used in combination with "nextgroup". They can be 3027used to allow the next group to match after skipping some text: 3028 skipwhite skip over space and Tab characters 3029 skipnl skip over the end of a line 3030 skipempty skip over empty lines (implies a "skipnl") 3031 3032When "skipwhite" is present, the white space is only skipped if there is no 3033next group that matches the white space. 3034 3035When "skipnl" is present, the match with nextgroup may be found in the next 3036line. This only happens when the current item ends at the end of the current 3037line! When "skipnl" is not present, the nextgroup will only be found after 3038the current item in the same line. 3039 3040When skipping text while looking for a next group, the matches for other 3041groups are ignored. Only when no next group matches, other items are tried 3042for a match again. This means that matching a next group and skipping white 3043space and <EOL>s has a higher priority than other items. 3044 3045Example: > 3046 :syn match ifstart "\<if.*" nextgroup=ifline skipwhite skipempty 3047 :syn match ifline "[^ \t].*" nextgroup=ifline skipwhite skipempty contained 3048 :syn match ifline "endif" contained 3049Note that the "[^ \t].*" match matches all non-white text. Thus it would also 3050match "endif". Therefore the "endif" match is put last, so that it takes 3051precedence. 3052Note that this example doesn't work for nested "if"s. You need to add 3053"contains" arguments to make that work (omitted for simplicity of the 3054example). 3055 3056============================================================================== 30577. Syntax patterns *:syn-pattern* *E401* *E402* 3058 3059In the syntax commands, a pattern must be surrounded by two identical 3060characters. This is like it works for the ":s" command. The most common to 3061use is the double quote. But if the pattern contains a double quote, you can 3062use another character that is not used in the pattern. Examples: > 3063 :syntax region Comment start="/\*" end="\*/" 3064 :syntax region String start=+"+ end=+"+ skip=+\\"+ 3065 3066See |pattern| for the explanation of what a pattern is. Syntax patterns are 3067always interpreted like the 'magic' options is set, no matter what the actual 3068value of 'magic' is. And the patterns are interpreted like the 'l' flag is 3069not included in 'cpoptions'. This was done to make syntax files portable and 3070independent of 'compatible' and 'magic' settings. 3071 3072Try to avoid patterns that can match an empty string, such as "[a-z]*". 3073This slows down the highlighting a lot, because it matches everywhere. 3074 3075 *:syn-pattern-offset* 3076The pattern can be followed by a character offset. This can be used to 3077change the highlighted part, and to change the text area included in the 3078match or region (which only matters when trying to match other items). Both 3079are relative to the matched pattern. The character offset for a skip 3080pattern can be used to tell where to continue looking for an end pattern. 3081 3082The offset takes the form of "{what}={offset}" 3083The {what} can be one of seven strings: 3084 3085ms Match Start offset for the start of the matched text 3086me Match End offset for the end of the matched text 3087hs Highlight Start offset for where the highlighting starts 3088he Highlight End offset for where the highlighting ends 3089rs Region Start offset for where the body of a region starts 3090re Region End offset for where the body of a region ends 3091lc Leading Context offset past "leading context" of pattern 3092 3093The {offset} can be: 3094 3095s start of the matched pattern 3096s+{nr} start of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the right 3097s-{nr} start of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the left 3098e end of the matched pattern 3099e+{nr} end of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the right 3100e-{nr} end of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the left 3101{nr} (for "lc" only): start matching {nr} chars to the left 3102 3103Examples: "ms=s+1", "hs=e-2", "lc=3". 3104 3105Although all offsets are accepted after any pattern, they are not always 3106meaningful. This table shows which offsets are actually used: 3107 3108 ms me hs he rs re lc ~ 3109match item yes yes yes yes - - yes 3110region item start yes - yes - yes - yes 3111region item skip - yes - - - - yes 3112region item end - yes - yes - yes yes 3113 3114Offsets can be concatenated, with a ',' in between. Example: > 3115 :syn match String /"[^"]*"/hs=s+1,he=e-1 3116< 3117 some "string" text 3118 ^^^^^^ highlighted 3119 3120Notes: 3121- There must be no white space between the pattern and the character 3122 offset(s). 3123- The highlighted area will never be outside of the matched text. 3124- A negative offset for an end pattern may not always work, because the end 3125 pattern may be detected when the highlighting should already have stopped. 3126- The start of a match cannot be in a line other than where the pattern 3127 matched. This doesn't work: "a\nb"ms=e. You can make the highlighting 3128 start in another line, this does work: "a\nb"hs=e. 3129 3130Example (match a comment but don't highlight the /* and */): > 3131 :syntax region Comment start="/\*"hs=e+1 end="\*/"he=s-1 3132< 3133 /* this is a comment */ 3134 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ highlighted 3135 3136A more complicated Example: > 3137 :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 3138< 3139 abcfoostringbarabc 3140 mmmmmmmmmmm match 3141 ssrrrreee highlight start/region/end ("Foo", "Exa" and "Bar") 3142 3143Leading context *:syn-lc* *:syn-leading* *:syn-context* 3144 3145Note: This is an obsolete feature, only included for backwards compatibility 3146with previous Vim versions. It's now recommended to use the |/\@<=| construct 3147in the pattern. 3148 3149The "lc" offset specifies leading context -- a part of the pattern that must 3150be present, but is not considered part of the match. An offset of "lc=n" will 3151cause Vim to step back n columns before attempting the pattern match, allowing 3152characters which have already been matched in previous patterns to also be 3153used as leading context for this match. This can be used, for instance, to 3154specify that an "escaping" character must not precede the match: > 3155 3156 :syn match ZNoBackslash "[^\\]z"ms=s+1 3157 :syn match WNoBackslash "[^\\]w"lc=1 3158 :syn match Underline "_\+" 3159< 3160 ___zzzz ___wwww 3161 ^^^ ^^^ matches Underline 3162 ^ ^ matches ZNoBackslash 3163 ^^^^ matches WNoBackslash 3164 3165The "ms" offset is automatically set to the same value as the "lc" offset, 3166unless you set "ms" explicitly. 3167 3168 3169Multi-line patterns *:syn-multi-line* 3170 3171The patterns can include "\n" to match an end-of-line. Mostly this works as 3172expected, but there are a few exceptions. 3173 3174When using a start pattern with an offset, the start of the match is not 3175allowed to start in a following line. The highlighting can start in a 3176following line though. 3177 3178The skip pattern can include the "\n", but the search for an end pattern will 3179continue in the first character of the next line, also when that character is 3180matched by the skip pattern. This is because redrawing may start in any line 3181halfway a region and there is no check if the skip pattern started in a 3182previous line. For example, if the skip pattern is "a\nb" and an end pattern 3183is "b", the end pattern does match in the second line of this: > 3184 x x a 3185 b x x 3186Generally this means that the skip pattern should not match any characters 3187after the "\n". 3188 3189 3190External matches *:syn-ext-match* 3191 3192These extra regular expression items are available in region patterns: 3193 3194 */\z(* */\z(\)* *E50* *E52* 3195 \z(\) Marks the sub-expression as "external", meaning that it is can 3196 be accessed from another pattern match. Currently only usable 3197 in defining a syntax region start pattern. 3198 3199 */\z1* */\z2* */\z3* */\z4* */\z5* 3200 \z1 ... \z9 */\z6* */\z7* */\z8* */\z9* *E66* *E67* 3201 Matches the same string that was matched by the corresponding 3202 sub-expression in a previous start pattern match. 3203 3204Sometimes the start and end patterns of a region need to share a common 3205sub-expression. A common example is the "here" document in Perl and many Unix 3206shells. This effect can be achieved with the "\z" special regular expression 3207items, which marks a sub-expression as "external", in the sense that it can be 3208referenced from outside the pattern in which it is defined. The here-document 3209example, for instance, can be done like this: > 3210 :syn region hereDoc start="<<\z(\I\i*\)" end="^\z1$" 3211 3212As can be seen here, the \z actually does double duty. In the start pattern, 3213it marks the "\(\I\i*\)" sub-expression as external; in the end pattern, it 3214changes the \1 back-reference into an external reference referring to the 3215first external sub-expression in the start pattern. External references can 3216also be used in skip patterns: > 3217 :syn region foo start="start \(\I\i*\)" skip="not end \z1" end="end \z1" 3218 3219Note that normal and external sub-expressions are completely orthogonal and 3220indexed separately; for instance, if the pattern "\z(..\)\(..\)" is applied 3221to the string "aabb", then \1 will refer to "bb" and \z1 will refer to "aa". 3222Note also that external sub-expressions cannot be accessed as back-references 3223within the same pattern like normal sub-expressions. If you want to use one 3224sub-expression as both a normal and an external sub-expression, you can nest 3225the two, as in "\(\z(...\)\)". 3226 3227Note that only matches within a single line can be used. Multi-line matches 3228cannot be referred to. 3229 3230============================================================================== 32318. Syntax clusters *:syn-cluster* *E400* 3232 3233:sy[ntax] cluster {cluster-name} [contains={group-name}..] 3234 [add={group-name}..] 3235 [remove={group-name}..] 3236 3237This command allows you to cluster a list of syntax groups together under a 3238single name. 3239 3240 contains={group-name}.. 3241 The cluster is set to the specified list of groups. 3242 add={group-name}.. 3243 The specified groups are added to the cluster. 3244 remove={group-name}.. 3245 The specified groups are removed from the cluster. 3246 3247A cluster so defined may be referred to in a contains=.., nextgroup=.., add=.. 3248or remove=.. list with a "@" prefix. You can also use this notation to 3249implicitly declare a cluster before specifying its contents. 3250 3251Example: > 3252 :syntax match Thing "# [^#]\+ #" contains=@ThingMembers 3253 :syntax cluster ThingMembers contains=ThingMember1,ThingMember2 3254 3255As the previous example suggests, modifications to a cluster are effectively 3256retroactive; the membership of the cluster is checked at the last minute, so 3257to speak: > 3258 :syntax keyword A aaa 3259 :syntax keyword B bbb 3260 :syntax cluster AandB contains=A 3261 :syntax match Stuff "( aaa bbb )" contains=@AandB 3262 :syntax cluster AandB add=B " now both keywords are matched in Stuff 3263 3264This also has implications for nested clusters: > 3265 :syntax keyword A aaa 3266 :syntax keyword B bbb 3267 :syntax cluster SmallGroup contains=B 3268 :syntax cluster BigGroup contains=A,@SmallGroup 3269 :syntax match Stuff "( aaa bbb )" contains=@BigGroup 3270 :syntax cluster BigGroup remove=B " no effect, since B isn't in BigGroup 3271 :syntax cluster SmallGroup remove=B " now bbb isn't matched within Stuff 3272 3273============================================================================== 32749. Including syntax files *:syn-include* *E397* 3275 3276It is often useful for one language's syntax file to include a syntax file for 3277a related language. Depending on the exact relationship, this can be done in 3278two different ways: 3279 3280 - If top-level syntax items in the included syntax file are to be 3281 allowed at the top level in the including syntax, you can simply use 3282 the |:runtime| command: > 3283 3284 " In cpp.vim: 3285 :runtime! syntax/c.vim 3286 :unlet b:current_syntax 3287 3288< - If top-level syntax items in the included syntax file are to be 3289 contained within a region in the including syntax, you can use the 3290 ":syntax include" command: 3291 3292:sy[ntax] include [@{grouplist-name}] {file-name} 3293 3294 All syntax items declared in the included file will have the 3295 "contained" flag added. In addition, if a group list is specified, 3296 all top-level syntax items in the included file will be added to 3297 that list. > 3298 3299 " In perl.vim: 3300 :syntax include @Pod <sfile>:p:h/pod.vim 3301 :syntax region perlPOD start="^=head" end="^=cut" contains=@Pod 3302< 3303 When {file-name} is an absolute path (starts with "/", "c:", "$VAR" 3304 or "<sfile>") that file is sourced. When it is a relative path 3305 (e.g., "syntax/pod.vim") the file is searched for in 'runtimepath'. 3306 All matching files are loaded. Using a relative path is 3307 recommended, because it allows a user to replace the included file 3308 with his own version, without replacing the file that does the ":syn 3309 include". 3310 3311============================================================================== 331210. Synchronizing *:syn-sync* *E403* *E404* 3313 3314Vim wants to be able to start redrawing in any position in the document. To 3315make this possible it needs to know the syntax state at the position where 3316redrawing starts. 3317 3318:sy[ntax] sync [ccomment [group-name] | minlines={N} | ...] 3319 3320There are four ways to synchronize: 33211. Always parse from the start of the file. 3322 |:syn-sync-first| 33232. Based on C-style comments. Vim understands how C-comments work and can 3324 figure out if the current line starts inside or outside a comment. 3325 |:syn-sync-second| 33263. Jumping back a certain number of lines and start parsing there. 3327 |:syn-sync-third| 33284. Searching backwards in the text for a pattern to sync on. 3329 |:syn-sync-fourth| 3330 3331 *:syn-sync-maxlines* *:syn-sync-minlines* 3332For the last three methods, the line range where the parsing can start is 3333limited by "minlines" and "maxlines". 3334 3335If the "minlines={N}" argument is given, the parsing always starts at least 3336that many lines backwards. This can be used if the parsing may take a few 3337lines before it's correct, or when it's not possible to use syncing. 3338 3339If the "maxlines={N}" argument is given, the number of lines that are searched 3340for a comment or syncing pattern is restricted to N lines backwards (after 3341adding "minlines"). This is useful if you have few things to sync on and a 3342slow machine. Example: > 3343 :syntax sync ccomment maxlines=500 3344< 3345 *:syn-sync-linebreaks* 3346When using a pattern that matches multiple lines, a change in one line may 3347cause a pattern to no longer match in a previous line. This means has to 3348start above where the change was made. How many lines can be specified with 3349the "linebreaks" argument. For example, when a pattern may include one line 3350break use this: > 3351 :syntax sync linebreaks=1 3352The result is that redrawing always starts at least one line before where a 3353change was made. The default value for "linebreaks" is zero. Usually the 3354value for "minlines" is bigger than "linebreaks". 3355 3356 3357First syncing method: *:syn-sync-first* 3358> 3359 :syntax sync fromstart 3360 3361The file will be parsed from the start. This makes syntax highlighting 3362accurate, but can be slow for long files. Vim caches previously parsed text, 3363so that it's only slow when parsing the text for the first time. However, 3364when making changes some part of the next needs to be parsed again (worst 3365case: to the end of the file). 3366 3367Using "fromstart" is equivalent to using "minlines" with a very large number. 3368 3369 3370Second syncing method: *:syn-sync-second* *:syn-sync-ccomment* 3371 3372For the second method, only the "ccomment" argument needs to be given. 3373Example: > 3374 :syntax sync ccomment 3375 3376When Vim finds that the line where displaying starts is inside a C-style 3377comment, the last region syntax item with the group-name "Comment" will be 3378used. This requires that there is a region with the group-name "Comment"! 3379An alternate group name can be specified, for example: > 3380 :syntax sync ccomment javaComment 3381This means that the last item specified with "syn region javaComment" will be 3382used for the detected C comment region. This only works properly if that 3383region does have a start pattern "\/*" and an end pattern "*\/". 3384 3385The "maxlines" argument can be used to restrict the search to a number of 3386lines. The "minlines" argument can be used to at least start a number of 3387lines back (e.g., for when there is some construct that only takes a few 3388lines, but it hard to sync on). 3389 3390Note: Syncing on a C comment doesn't work properly when strings are used 3391that cross a line and contain a "*/". Since letting strings cross a line 3392is a bad programming habit (many compilers give a warning message), and the 3393chance of a "*/" appearing inside a comment is very small, this restriction 3394is hardly ever noticed. 3395 3396 3397Third syncing method: *:syn-sync-third* 3398 3399For the third method, only the "minlines={N}" argument needs to be given. 3400Vim will subtract {N} from the line number and start parsing there. This 3401means {N} extra lines need to be parsed, which makes this method a bit slower. 3402Example: > 3403 :syntax sync minlines=50 3404 3405"lines" is equivalent to "minlines" (used by older versions). 3406 3407 3408Fourth syncing method: *:syn-sync-fourth* 3409 3410The idea is to synchronize on the end of a few specific regions, called a 3411sync pattern. Only regions can cross lines, so when we find the end of some 3412region, we might be able to know in which syntax item we are. The search 3413starts in the line just above the one where redrawing starts. From there 3414the search continues backwards in the file. 3415 3416This works just like the non-syncing syntax items. You can use contained 3417matches, nextgroup, etc. But there are a few differences: 3418- Keywords cannot be used. 3419- The syntax items with the "sync" keyword form a completely separated group 3420 of syntax items. You can't mix syncing groups and non-syncing groups. 3421- The matching works backwards in the buffer (line by line), instead of 3422 forwards. 3423- A line continuation pattern can be given. It is used to decide which group 3424 of lines need to be searched like they were one line. This means that the 3425 search for a match with the specified items starts in the first of the 3426 consecutive that contain the continuation pattern. 3427- When using "nextgroup" or "contains", this only works within one line (or 3428 group of continued lines). 3429- When using a region, it must start and end in the same line (or group of 3430 continued lines). Otherwise the end is assumed to be at the end of the 3431 line (or group of continued lines). 3432- When a match with a sync pattern is found, the rest of the line (or group of 3433 continued lines) is searched for another match. The last match is used. 3434 This is used when a line can contain both the start end the end of a region 3435 (e.g., in a C-comment like /* this */, the last "*/" is used). 3436 3437There are two ways how a match with a sync pattern can be used: 34381. Parsing for highlighting starts where redrawing starts (and where the 3439 search for the sync pattern started). The syntax group that is expected 3440 to be valid there must be specified. This works well when the regions 3441 that cross lines cannot contain other regions. 34422. Parsing for highlighting continues just after the match. The syntax group 3443 that is expected to be present just after the match must be specified. 3444 This can be used when the previous method doesn't work well. It's much 3445 slower, because more text needs to be parsed. 3446Both types of sync patterns can be used at the same time. 3447 3448Besides the sync patterns, other matches and regions can be specified, to 3449avoid finding unwanted matches. 3450 3451[The reason that the sync patterns are given separately, is that mostly the 3452search for the sync point can be much simpler than figuring out the 3453highlighting. The reduced number of patterns means it will go (much) 3454faster.] 3455 3456 *syn-sync-grouphere* *E393* *E394* 3457 :syntax sync match {sync-group-name} grouphere {group-name} "pattern" .. 3458 3459 Define a match that is used for syncing. {group-name} is the 3460 name of a syntax group that follows just after the match. Parsing 3461 of the text for highlighting starts just after the match. A region 3462 must exist for this {group-name}. The first one defined will be used. 3463 "NONE" can be used for when there is no syntax group after the match. 3464 3465 *syn-sync-groupthere* 3466 :syntax sync match {sync-group-name} groupthere {group-name} "pattern" .. 3467 3468 Like "grouphere", but {group-name} is the name of a syntax group that 3469 is to be used at the start of the line where searching for the sync 3470 point started. The text between the match and the start of the sync 3471 pattern searching is assumed not to change the syntax highlighting. 3472 For example, in C you could search backwards for "/*" and "*/". If 3473 "/*" is found first, you know that you are inside a comment, so the 3474 "groupthere" is "cComment". If "*/" is found first, you know that you 3475 are not in a comment, so the "groupthere" is "NONE". (in practice 3476 it's a bit more complicated, because the "/*" and "*/" could appear 3477 inside a string. That's left as an exercise to the reader...). 3478 3479 :syntax sync match .. 3480 :syntax sync region .. 3481 3482 Without a "groupthere" argument. Define a region or match that is 3483 skipped while searching for a sync point. 3484 3485 :syntax sync linecont {pattern} 3486 3487 When {pattern} matches in a line, it is considered to continue in 3488 the next line. This means that the search for a sync point will 3489 consider the lines to be concatenated. 3490 3491If the "maxlines={N}" argument is given too, the number of lines that are 3492searched for a match is restricted to N. This is useful if you have very 3493few things to sync on and a slow machine. Example: > 3494 :syntax sync maxlines=100 3495 3496You can clear all sync settings with: > 3497 :syntax sync clear 3498 3499You can clear specific sync patterns with: > 3500 :syntax sync clear {sync-group-name} .. 3501 3502============================================================================== 350311. Listing syntax items *:syntax* *:sy* *:syn* *:syn-list* 3504 3505This commands lists all the syntax items: > 3506 3507 :sy[ntax] [list] 3508 3509To show the syntax items for one syntax group: > 3510 3511 :sy[ntax] list {group-name} 3512 3513To list the syntax groups in one cluster: *E392* > 3514 3515 :sy[ntax] list @{cluster-name} 3516 3517See above for other arguments for the ":syntax" command. 3518 3519Note that the ":syntax" command can be abbreviated to ":sy", although ":syn" 3520is mostly used, because it looks better. 3521 3522============================================================================== 352312. Highlight command *:highlight* *:hi* *E28* *E411* *E415* 3524 3525There are three types of highlight groups: 3526- The ones used for specific languages. For these the name starts with the 3527 name of the language. Many of these don't have any attributes, but are 3528 linked to a group of the second type. 3529- The ones used for all syntax languages. 3530- The ones used for the 'highlight' option. 3531 *hitest.vim* 3532You can see all the groups currently active with this command: > 3533 :so $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/hitest.vim 3534This will open a new window containing all highlight group names, displayed 3535in their own color. 3536 3537 *:colo* *:colorscheme* *E185* 3538:colo[rscheme] {name} Load color scheme {name}. This searches 'runtimepath' 3539 for the file "colors/{name}.vim. The first one that 3540 is found is loaded. 3541 To see the name of the currently active color scheme 3542 (if there is one): > 3543 :echo g:colors_name 3544< Doesn't work recursively, thus you can't use 3545 ":colorscheme" in a color scheme script. 3546 After the color scheme has been loaded the 3547 |ColorScheme| autocommand event is triggered. 3548 For info about writing a colorscheme file: > 3549 :edit $VIMRUNTIME/colors/README.txt 3550 3551:hi[ghlight] List all the current highlight groups that have 3552 attributes set. 3553 3554:hi[ghlight] {group-name} 3555 List one highlight group. 3556 3557:hi[ghlight] clear Reset all highlighting to the defaults. Removes all 3558 highlighting for groups added by the user! 3559 Uses the current value of 'background' to decide which 3560 default colors to use. 3561 3562:hi[ghlight] clear {group-name} 3563:hi[ghlight] {group-name} NONE 3564 Disable the highlighting for one highlight group. It 3565 is _not_ set back to the default colors. 3566 3567:hi[ghlight] [default] {group-name} {key}={arg} .. 3568 Add a highlight group, or change the highlighting for 3569 an existing group. 3570 See |highlight-args| for the {key}={arg} arguments. 3571 See |:highlight-default| for the optional [default] 3572 argument. 3573 3574Normally a highlight group is added once when starting up. This sets the 3575default values for the highlighting. After that, you can use additional 3576highlight commands to change the arguments that you want to set to non-default 3577values. The value "NONE" can be used to switch the value off or go back to 3578the default value. 3579 3580A simple way to change colors is with the |:colorscheme| command. This loads 3581a file with ":highlight" commands such as this: > 3582 3583 :hi Comment gui=bold 3584 3585Note that all settings that are not included remain the same, only the 3586specified field is used, and settings are merged with previous ones. So, the 3587result is like this single command has been used: > 3588 :hi Comment term=bold ctermfg=Cyan guifg=#80a0ff gui=bold 3589< 3590 *highlight-args* *E416* *E417* *E423* 3591There are three types of terminals for highlighting: 3592term a normal terminal (vt100, xterm) 3593cterm a color terminal (MS-DOS console, color-xterm, these have the "Co" 3594 termcap entry) 3595gui the GUI 3596 3597For each type the highlighting can be given. This makes it possible to use 3598the same syntax file on all terminals, and use the optimal highlighting. 3599 36001. highlight arguments for normal terminals 3601 3602term={attr-list} *attr-list* *highlight-term* *E418* 3603 attr-list is a comma separated list (without spaces) of the 3604 following items (in any order): 3605 bold 3606 underline 3607 reverse 3608 inverse same as reverse 3609 italic 3610 standout 3611 NONE no attributes used (used to reset it) 3612 3613 Note that "bold" can be used here and by using a bold font. They 3614 have the same effect. 3615 3616start={term-list} *highlight-start* *E422* 3617stop={term-list} *term-list* *highlight-stop* 3618 These lists of terminal codes can be used to get 3619 non-standard attributes on a terminal. 3620 3621 The escape sequence specified with the "start" argument 3622 is written before the characters in the highlighted 3623 area. It can be anything that you want to send to the 3624 terminal to highlight this area. The escape sequence 3625 specified with the "stop" argument is written after the 3626 highlighted area. This should undo the "start" argument. 3627 Otherwise the screen will look messed up. 3628 3629 The {term-list} can have two forms: 3630 3631 1. A string with escape sequences. 3632 This is any string of characters, except that it can't start with 3633 "t_" and blanks are not allowed. The <> notation is recognized 3634 here, so you can use things like "<Esc>" and "<Space>". Example: 3635 start=<Esc>[27h;<Esc>[<Space>r; 3636 3637 2. A list of terminal codes. 3638 Each terminal code has the form "t_xx", where "xx" is the name of 3639 the termcap entry. The codes have to be separated with commas. 3640 White space is not allowed. Example: 3641 start=t_C1,t_BL 3642 The terminal codes must exist for this to work. 3643 3644 36452. highlight arguments for color terminals 3646 3647cterm={attr-list} *highlight-cterm* 3648 See above for the description of {attr-list} |attr-list|. 3649 The "cterm" argument is likely to be different from "term", when 3650 colors are used. For example, in a normal terminal comments could 3651 be underlined, in a color terminal they can be made Blue. 3652 Note: Many terminals (e.g., DOS console) can't mix these attributes 3653 with coloring. Use only one of "cterm=" OR "ctermfg=" OR "ctermbg=". 3654 3655ctermfg={color-nr} *highlight-ctermfg* *E421* 3656ctermbg={color-nr} *highlight-ctermbg* 3657 The {color-nr} argument is a color number. Its range is zero to 3658 (not including) the number given by the termcap entry "Co". 3659 The actual color with this number depends on the type of terminal 3660 and its settings. Sometimes the color also depends on the settings of 3661 "cterm". For example, on some systems "cterm=bold ctermfg=3" gives 3662 another color, on others you just get color 3. 3663 3664 For an xterm this depends on your resources, and is a bit 3665 unpredictable. See your xterm documentation for the defaults. The 3666 colors for a color-xterm can be changed from the .Xdefaults file. 3667 Unfortunately this means that it's not possible to get the same colors 3668 for each user. See |xterm-color| for info about color xterms. 3669 3670 The MSDOS standard colors are fixed (in a console window), so these 3671 have been used for the names. But the meaning of color names in X11 3672 are fixed, so these color settings have been used, to make the 3673 highlighting settings portable (complicated, isn't it?). The 3674 following names are recognized, with the color number used: 3675 3676 *cterm-colors* 3677 NR-16 NR-8 COLOR NAME ~ 3678 0 0 Black 3679 1 4 DarkBlue 3680 2 2 DarkGreen 3681 3 6 DarkCyan 3682 4 1 DarkRed 3683 5 5 DarkMagenta 3684 6 3 Brown, DarkYellow 3685 7 7 LightGray, LightGrey, Gray, Grey 3686 8 0* DarkGray, DarkGrey 3687 9 4* Blue, LightBlue 3688 10 2* Green, LightGreen 3689 11 6* Cyan, LightCyan 3690 12 1* Red, LightRed 3691 13 5* Magenta, LightMagenta 3692 14 3* Yellow, LightYellow 3693 15 7* White 3694 3695 The number under "NR-16" is used for 16-color terminals ('t_Co' 3696 greater than or equal to 16). The number under "NR-8" is used for 3697 8-color terminals ('t_Co' less than 16). The '*' indicates that the 3698 bold attribute is set for ctermfg. In many 8-color terminals (e.g., 3699 "linux"), this causes the bright colors to appear. This doesn't work 3700 for background colors! Without the '*' the bold attribute is removed. 3701 If you want to set the bold attribute in a different way, put a 3702 "cterm=" argument AFTER the "ctermfg=" or "ctermbg=" argument. Or use 3703 a number instead of a color name. 3704 3705 The case of the color names is ignored. 3706 Note that for 16 color ansi style terminals (including xterms), the 3707 numbers in the NR-8 column is used. Here '*' means 'add 8' so that Blue 3708 is 12, DarkGray is 8 etc. 3709 3710 Note that for some color terminals these names may result in the wrong 3711 colors! 3712 3713 *:hi-normal-cterm* 3714 When setting the "ctermfg" or "ctermbg" colors for the Normal group, 3715 these will become the colors used for the non-highlighted text. 3716 Example: > 3717 :highlight Normal ctermfg=grey ctermbg=darkblue 3718< When setting the "ctermbg" color for the Normal group, the 3719 'background' option will be adjusted automatically. This causes the 3720 highlight groups that depend on 'background' to change! This means 3721 you should set the colors for Normal first, before setting other 3722 colors. 3723 When a colorscheme is being used, changing 'background' causes it to 3724 be reloaded, which may reset all colors (including Normal). First 3725 delete the "colors_name" variable when you don't want this. 3726 3727 When you have set "ctermfg" or "ctermbg" for the Normal group, Vim 3728 needs to reset the color when exiting. This is done with the "op" 3729 termcap entry |t_op|. If this doesn't work correctly, try setting the 3730 't_op' option in your .vimrc. 3731 *E419* *E420* 3732 When Vim knows the normal foreground and background colors, "fg" and 3733 "bg" can be used as color names. This only works after setting the 3734 colors for the Normal group and for the MS-DOS console. Example, for 3735 reverse video: > 3736 :highlight Visual ctermfg=bg ctermbg=fg 3737< Note that the colors are used that are valid at the moment this 3738 command are given. If the Normal group colors are changed later, the 3739 "fg" and "bg" colors will not be adjusted. 3740 3741 37423. highlight arguments for the GUI 3743 3744gui={attr-list} *highlight-gui* 3745 These give the attributes to use in the GUI mode. 3746 See |attr-list| for a description. 3747 Note that "bold" can be used here and by using a bold font. They 3748 have the same effect. 3749 Note that the attributes are ignored for the "Normal" group. 3750 3751font={font-name} *highlight-font* 3752 font-name is the name of a font, as it is used on the system Vim 3753 runs on. For X11 this is a complicated name, for example: > 3754 font=-misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--14-130-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1 3755< 3756 The font-name "NONE" can be used to revert to the default font. 3757 When setting the font for the "Normal" group, this becomes the default 3758 font (until the 'guifont' option is changed; the last one set is 3759 used). 3760 The following only works with Motif and Athena, not with other GUIs: 3761 When setting the font for the "Menu" group, the menus will be changed. 3762 When setting the font for the "Tooltip" group, the tooltips will be 3763 changed. 3764 All fonts used, except for Menu and Tooltip, should be of the same 3765 character size as the default font! Otherwise redrawing problems will 3766 occur. 3767 3768guifg={color-name} *highlight-guifg* 3769guibg={color-name} *highlight-guibg* 3770 These give the foreground (guifg) and background (guibg) color to 3771 use in the GUI. There are a few special names: 3772 NONE no color (transparent) 3773 bg use normal background color 3774 background use normal background color 3775 fg use normal foreground color 3776 foreground use normal foreground color 3777 To use a color name with an embedded space or other special character, 3778 put it in single quotes. The single quote cannot be used then. 3779 Example: > 3780 :hi comment guifg='salmon pink' 3781< 3782 *gui-colors* 3783 Suggested color names (these are available on most systems): 3784 Red LightRed DarkRed 3785 Green LightGreen DarkGreen SeaGreen 3786 Blue LightBlue DarkBlue SlateBlue 3787 Cyan LightCyan DarkCyan 3788 Magenta LightMagenta DarkMagenta 3789 Yellow LightYellow Brown DarkYellow 3790 Gray LightGray DarkGray 3791 Black White 3792 Orange Purple Violet 3793 3794 In the Win32 GUI version, additional system colors are available. See 3795 |win32-colors|. 3796 3797 You can also specify a color by its Red, Green and Blue values. 3798 The format is "#rrggbb", where 3799 "rr" is the Red value 3800 "bb" is the Blue value 3801 "gg" is the Green value 3802 All values are hexadecimal, range from "00" to "ff". Examples: > 3803 :highlight Comment guifg=#11f0c3 guibg=#ff00ff 3804< 3805 *highlight-groups* *highlight-default* 3806These are the default highlighting groups. These groups are used by the 3807'highlight' option default. Note that the highlighting depends on the value 3808of 'background'. You can see the current settings with the ":highlight" 3809command. 3810 *hl-Cursor* 3811Cursor the character under the cursor 3812 *hl-CursorIM* 3813CursorIM like Cursor, but used when in IME mode |CursorIM| 3814 *hl-Directory* 3815Directory directory names (and other special names in listings) 3816 *hl-DiffAdd* 3817DiffAdd diff mode: Added line |diff.txt| 3818 *hl-DiffChange* 3819DiffChange diff mode: Changed line |diff.txt| 3820 *hl-DiffDelete* 3821DiffDelete diff mode: Deleted line |diff.txt| 3822 *hl-DiffText* 3823DiffText diff mode: Changed text within a changed line |diff.txt| 3824 *hl-ErrorMsg* 3825ErrorMsg error messages on the command line 3826 *hl-VertSplit* 3827VertSplit the column separating vertically split windows 3828 *hl-Folded* 3829Folded line used for closed folds 3830 *hl-FoldColumn* 3831FoldColumn 'foldcolumn' 3832 *hl-SignColumn* 3833SignColumn column where |signs| are displayed 3834 *hl-IncSearch* 3835IncSearch 'incsearch' highlighting; also used for the text replaced with 3836 ":s///c" 3837 *hl-LineNr* 3838LineNr line number for ":number" and ":#" commands, and when 'number' 3839 option is set. 3840 *hl-ModeMsg* 3841ModeMsg 'showmode' message (e.g., "-- INSERT --") 3842 *hl-MoreMsg* 3843MoreMsg |more-prompt| 3844 *hl-NonText* 3845NonText '~' and '@' at the end of the window, characters from 3846 'showbreak' and other characters that do not really exist in 3847 the text (e.g., ">" displayed when a double-wide character 3848 doesn't fit at the end of the line). 3849 *hl-Normal* 3850Normal normal text 3851 *hl-Question* 3852Question |hit-enter| prompt and yes/no questions 3853 *hl-Search* 3854Search Last search pattern highlighting (see 'hlsearch'). 3855 Also used for highlighting the current line in the quickfix 3856 window and similar items that need to stand out. 3857 *hl-SpecialKey* 3858SpecialKey Meta and special keys listed with ":map", also for text used 3859 to show unprintable characters in the text, 'listchars'. 3860 Generally: text that is displayed differently from what it 3861 really is. 3862 *hl-StatusLine* 3863StatusLine status line of current window 3864 *hl-StatusLineNC* 3865StatusLineNC status lines of not-current windows 3866 Note: if this is equal to "StatusLine" Vim will use "^^^" in 3867 the status line of the current window. 3868 *hl-Title* 3869Title titles for output from ":set all", ":autocmd" etc. 3870 *hl-Visual* 3871Visual Visual mode selection 3872 *hl-VisualNOS* 3873VisualNOS Visual mode selection when vim is "Not Owning the Selection". 3874 Only X11 Gui's |gui-x11| and |xterm-clipboard| supports this. 3875 *hl-WarningMsg* 3876WarningMsg warning messages 3877 *hl-WildMenu* 3878WildMenu current match in 'wildmenu' completion 3879 3880 *hl-User1* *hl-User1..9* 3881The 'statusline' syntax allows the use of 9 different highlights in the 3882statusline and ruler (via 'rulerformat'). The names are User1 to User9. 3883 3884For the GUI you can use these groups to set the colors for the menu, 3885scrollbars and tooltips. They don't have defaults. This doesn't work for the 3886Win32 GUI. Only three highlight arguments have any effect here: font, guibg, 3887and guifg. 3888 3889 *hl-Menu* 3890Menu Current font, background and foreground colors of the menus. 3891 Also used for the toolbar. 3892 Applicable highlight arguments: font, guibg, guifg. 3893 3894 NOTE: For Motif and Athena the font argument actually 3895 specifies a fontset at all times, no matter if 'guifontset' is 3896 empty, and as such it is tied to the current |:language| when 3897 set. 3898 3899 *hl-Scrollbar* 3900Scrollbar Current background and foreground of the main window's 3901 scrollbars. 3902 Applicable highlight arguments: guibg, guifg. 3903 3904 *hl-Tooltip* 3905Tooltip Current font, background and foreground of the tooltips. 3906 Applicable highlight arguments: font, guibg, guifg. 3907 3908 NOTE: For Motif and Athena the font argument actually 3909 specifies a fontset at all times, no matter if 'guifontset' is 3910 empty, and as such it is tied to the current |:language| when 3911 set. 3912 3913============================================================================== 391413. Linking groups *:hi-link* *:highlight-link* *E412* *E413* 3915 3916When you want to use the same highlighting for several syntax groups, you 3917can do this more easily by linking the groups into one common highlight 3918group, and give the color attributes only for that group. 3919 3920To set a link: 3921 3922 :hi[ghlight][!] [default] link {from-group} {to-group} 3923 3924To remove a link: 3925 3926 :hi[ghlight][!] [default] link {from-group} NONE 3927 3928Notes: *E414* 3929- If the {from-group} and/or {to-group} doesn't exist, it is created. You 3930 don't get an error message for a non-existing group. 3931- As soon as you use a ":highlight" command for a linked group, the link is 3932 removed. 3933- If there are already highlight settings for the {from-group}, the link is 3934 not made, unless the '!' is given. For a ":highlight link" command in a 3935 sourced file, you don't get an error message. This can be used to skip 3936 links for groups that already have settings. 3937 3938 *:hi-default* *:highlight-default* 3939The [default] argument is used for setting the default highlighting for a 3940group. If highlighting has already been specified for the group the command 3941will be ignored. Also when there is an existing link. 3942 3943Using [default] is especially useful to overrule the highlighting of a 3944specific syntax file. For example, the C syntax file contains: > 3945 :highlight default link cComment Comment 3946If you like Question highlighting for C comments, put this in your vimrc file: > 3947 :highlight link cComment Question 3948Without the "default" in the C syntax file, the highlighting would be 3949overruled when the syntax file is loaded. 3950 3951============================================================================== 395214. Cleaning up *:syn-clear* *E391* 3953 3954If you want to clear the syntax stuff for the current buffer, you can use this 3955command: > 3956 :syntax clear 3957 3958This command should be used when you want to switch off syntax highlighting, 3959or when you want to switch to using another syntax. It's normally not needed 3960in a syntax file itself, because syntax is cleared by the autocommands that 3961load the syntax file. 3962The command also deletes the "b:current_syntax" variable, since no syntax is 3963loaded after this command. 3964 3965If you want to disable syntax highlighting for all buffers, you need to remove 3966the autocommands that load the syntax files: > 3967 :syntax off 3968 3969What this command actually does, is executing the command > 3970 :source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim 3971See the "nosyntax.vim" file for details. Note that for this to work 3972$VIMRUNTIME must be valid. See |$VIMRUNTIME|. 3973 3974To clean up specific syntax groups for the current buffer: > 3975 :syntax clear {group-name} .. 3976This removes all patterns and keywords for {group-name}. 3977 3978To clean up specific syntax group lists for the current buffer: > 3979 :syntax clear @{grouplist-name} .. 3980This sets {grouplist-name}'s contents to an empty list. 3981 3982 *:syntax-reset* *:syn-reset* 3983If you have changed the colors and messed them up, use this command to get the 3984defaults back: > 3985 3986 :syntax reset 3987 3988This doesn't change the colors for the 'highlight' option. 3989 3990Note that the syntax colors that you set in your vimrc file will also be reset 3991back to their Vim default. 3992Note that if you are using a color scheme, the colors defined by the color 3993scheme for syntax highlighting will be lost. 3994 3995What this actually does is: > 3996 3997 let g:syntax_cmd = "reset" 3998 runtime! syntax/syncolor.vim 3999 4000Note that this uses the 'runtimepath' option. 4001 4002 *syncolor* 4003If you want to use different colors for syntax highlighting, you can add a Vim 4004script file to set these colors. Put this file in a directory in 4005'runtimepath' which comes after $VIMRUNTIME, so that your settings overrule 4006the default colors. This way these colors will be used after the ":syntax 4007reset" command. 4008 4009For Unix you can use the file ~/.vim/after/syntax/syncolor.vim. Example: > 4010 4011 if &background == "light" 4012 highlight comment ctermfg=darkgreen guifg=darkgreen 4013 else 4014 highlight comment ctermfg=green guifg=green 4015 endif 4016 4017 *E679* 4018Do make sure this syncolor.vim script does not use a "syntax on", set the 4019'background' option or uses a "colorscheme" command, because it results in an 4020endless loop. 4021 4022Note that when a color scheme is used, there might be some confusion whether 4023your defined colors are to be used or the colors from the scheme. This 4024depends on the color scheme file. See |:colorscheme|. 4025 4026 *syntax_cmd* 4027The "syntax_cmd" variable is set to one of these values when the 4028syntax/syncolor.vim files are loaded: 4029 "on" ":syntax on" command. Highlight colors are overruled but 4030 links are kept 4031 "enable" ":syntax enable" command. Only define colors for groups that 4032 don't have highlighting yet. Use ":syntax default". 4033 "reset" ":syntax reset" command or loading a color scheme. Define all 4034 the colors. 4035 "skip" Don't define colors. Used to skip the default settings when a 4036 syncolor.vim file earlier in 'runtimepath' has already set 4037 them. 4038 4039============================================================================== 404015. Highlighting tags *tag-highlight* 4041 4042If you want to highlight all the tags in your file, you can use the following 4043mappings. 4044 4045 <F11> -- Generate tags.vim file, and highlight tags. 4046 <F12> -- Just highlight tags based on existing tags.vim file. 4047> 4048 :map <F11> :sp tags<CR>:%s/^\([^ :]*:\)\=\([^ ]*\).*/syntax keyword Tag \2/<CR>:wq! tags.vim<CR>/^<CR><F12> 4049 :map <F12> :so tags.vim<CR> 4050 4051WARNING: The longer the tags file, the slower this will be, and the more 4052memory Vim will consume. 4053 4054Only highlighting typedefs, unions and structs can be done too. For this you 4055must use Exuberant ctags (found at http://ctags.sf.net). 4056 4057Put these lines in your Makefile: 4058 4059# Make a highlight file for types. Requires Exuberant ctags and awk 4060types: types.vim 4061types.vim: *.[ch] 4062 ctags -i=gstuS -o- *.[ch] |\ 4063 awk 'BEGIN{printf("syntax keyword Type\t")}\ 4064 {printf("%s ", $$1)}END{print ""}' > $@ 4065 4066And put these lines in your .vimrc: > 4067 4068 " load the types.vim highlighting file, if it exists 4069 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] let fname = expand('<afile>:p:h') . '/types.vim' 4070 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] if filereadable(fname) 4071 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] exe 'so ' . fname 4072 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] endif 4073 4074============================================================================== 407516. Color xterms *xterm-color* *color-xterm* 4076 4077Most color xterms have only eight colors. If you don't get colors with the 4078default setup, it should work with these lines in your .vimrc: > 4079 :if &term =~ "xterm" 4080 : if has("terminfo") 4081 : set t_Co=8 4082 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%p1%dm 4083 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%p1%dm 4084 : else 4085 : set t_Co=8 4086 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%dm 4087 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%dm 4088 : endif 4089 :endif 4090< [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] 4091 4092You might want to change the first "if" to match the name of your terminal, 4093e.g. "dtterm" instead of "xterm". 4094 4095Note: Do these settings BEFORE doing ":syntax on". Otherwise the colors may 4096be wrong. 4097 *xiterm* *rxvt* 4098The above settings have been mentioned to work for xiterm and rxvt too. 4099But for using 16 colors in an rxvt these should work with terminfo: > 4100 :set t_AB=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t25;%p1%{40}%+%e5;%p1%{32}%+%;%dm 4101 :set t_AF=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t22;%p1%{30}%+%e1;%p1%{22}%+%;%dm 4102< 4103 *colortest.vim* 4104To test your color setup, a file has been included in the Vim distribution. 4105To use it, execute these commands: > 4106 :e $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/colortest.vim 4107 :so % 4108 4109Some versions of xterm (and other terminals, like the linux console) can 4110output lighter foreground colors, even though the number of colors is defined 4111at 8. Therefore Vim sets the "cterm=bold" attribute for light foreground 4112colors, when 't_Co' is 8. 4113 4114 *xfree-xterm* 4115To get 16 colors or more, get the newest xterm version (which should be 4116included with Xfree86 3.3 and later). You can also find the latest version 4117at: > 4118 http://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.html 4119Here is a good way to configure it. This uses 88 colors and enables the 4120termcap-query feature, which allows Vim to ask the xterm how many colors it 4121supports. > 4122 ./configure --disable-bold-color --enable-88-color --enable-tcap-query 4123If you only get 8 colors, check the xterm compilation settings. 4124(Also see |UTF8-xterm| for using this xterm with UTF-8 character encoding). 4125 4126This xterm should work with these lines in your .vimrc (for 16 colors): > 4127 :if has("terminfo") 4128 : set t_Co=16 4129 : set t_AB=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{40}%+%e%p1%{92}%+%;%dm 4130 : set t_AF=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{30}%+%e%p1%{82}%+%;%dm 4131 :else 4132 : set t_Co=16 4133 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%dm 4134 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%dm 4135 :endif 4136< [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] 4137 4138Without |+terminfo|, Vim will recognize these settings, and automatically 4139translate cterm colors of 8 and above to "<Esc>[9%dm" and "<Esc>[10%dm". 4140Colors above 16 are also translated automatically. 4141 4142For 256 colors this has been reported to work: > 4143 4144 :set t_AB=<Esc>[48;5;%dm 4145 :set t_AF=<Esc>[38;5;%dm 4146 4147Or just set the TERM environment variable to "xterm-color" or "xterm-16color" 4148and try if that works. 4149 4150You probably want to use these X resources (in your ~/.Xdefaults file): 4151 XTerm*color0: #000000 4152 XTerm*color1: #c00000 4153 XTerm*color2: #008000 4154 XTerm*color3: #808000 4155 XTerm*color4: #0000c0 4156 XTerm*color5: #c000c0 4157 XTerm*color6: #008080 4158 XTerm*color7: #c0c0c0 4159 XTerm*color8: #808080 4160 XTerm*color9: #ff6060 4161 XTerm*color10: #00ff00 4162 XTerm*color11: #ffff00 4163 XTerm*color12: #8080ff 4164 XTerm*color13: #ff40ff 4165 XTerm*color14: #00ffff 4166 XTerm*color15: #ffffff 4167 Xterm*cursorColor: Black 4168 4169[Note: The cursorColor is required to work around a bug, which changes the 4170cursor color to the color of the last drawn text. This has been fixed by a 4171newer version of xterm, but not everybody is it using yet.] 4172 4173To get these right away, reload the .Xdefaults file to the X Option database 4174Manager (you only need to do this when you just changed the .Xdefaults file): > 4175 xrdb -merge ~/.Xdefaults 4176< 4177 *xterm-blink* *xterm-blinking-cursor* 4178To make the cursor blink in an xterm, see tools/blink.c. Or use Thomas 4179Dickey's xterm above patchlevel 107 (see above for where to get it), with 4180these resources: 4181 XTerm*cursorBlink: on 4182 XTerm*cursorOnTime: 400 4183 XTerm*cursorOffTime: 250 4184 XTerm*cursorColor: White 4185 4186 *hpterm-color* 4187These settings work (more or less) for a hpterm, which only supports 8 4188foreground colors: > 4189 :if has("terminfo") 4190 : set t_Co=8 4191 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[&v%p1%dS 4192 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[&v7S 4193 :else 4194 : set t_Co=8 4195 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[&v%dS 4196 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[&v7S 4197 :endif 4198< [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] 4199 4200 *Eterm* *enlightened-terminal* 4201These settings have been reported to work for the Enlightened terminal 4202emulator, or Eterm. They might work for all xterm-like terminals that use the 4203bold attribute to get bright colors. Add an ":if" like above when needed. > 4204 :set t_Co=16 4205 :set t_AF=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t3%p1%d%e%p1%{22}%+%d;1%;m 4206 :set t_AB=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t4%p1%d%e%p1%{32}%+%d;1%;m 4207< 4208 *TTpro-telnet* 4209These settings should work for TTpro telnet. Tera Term Pro is a freeware / 4210open-source program for MS-Windows. > 4211 set t_Co=16 4212 set t_AB=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{40}%+%e%p1%{32}%+5;%;%dm 4213 set t_AF=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{30}%+%e%p1%{22}%+1;%;%dm 4214Also make sure TTpro's Setup / Window / Full Color is enabled, and make sure 4215that Setup / Font / Enable Bold is NOT enabled. 4216(info provided by John Love-Jensen <[email protected]>) 4217 4218 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 4219