Vim documentation: syntax
main help file
*syntax.txt* For Vim version 7.0. Last change: 2006 Apr 30
VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
Syntax highlighting *syntax* *syntax-highlighting* *coloring*
Syntax highlighting enables Vim to show parts of the text in another font or
color. Those parts can be specific keywords or text matching a pattern. Vim
doesn't parse the whole file (to keep it fast), so the highlighting has its
limitations. Lexical highlighting might be a better name, but since everybody
calls it syntax highlighting we'll stick with that.
Vim supports syntax highlighting on all terminals. But since most ordinary
terminals have very limited highlighting possibilities, it works best in the
GUI version, gvim.
In the User Manual:
|usr_06.txt| introduces syntax highlighting.
|usr_44.txt| introduces writing a syntax file.
1. Quick start |:syn-qstart|
2. Syntax files |:syn-files|
3. Syntax loading procedure |syntax-loading|
4. Syntax file remarks |:syn-file-remarks|
5. Defining a syntax |:syn-define|
6. :syntax arguments |:syn-arguments|
7. Syntax patterns |:syn-pattern|
8. Syntax clusters |:syn-cluster|
9. Including syntax files |:syn-include|
10. Synchronizing |:syn-sync|
11. Listing syntax items |:syntax|
12. Highlight command |:highlight|
13. Linking groups |:highlight-link|
14. Cleaning up |:syn-clear|
15. Highlighting tags |tag-highlight|
16. Color xterms |xterm-color|
{Vi does not have any of these commands}
Syntax highlighting is not available when the |+syntax| feature has been
disabled at compile time.
==============================================================================
1. Quick start *:syn-qstart*
*:syn-enable* *:syntax-enable*
This command switches on syntax highlighting:
:syntax enable
What this command actually does is to execute the command
:source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim
If the VIM environment variable is not set, Vim will try to find
the path in another way (see |$VIMRUNTIME|). Usually this works just
fine. If it doesn't, try setting the VIM environment variable to the
directory where the Vim stuff is located. For example, if your syntax files
are in the "/usr/vim/vim50/syntax" directory, set $VIMRUNTIME to
"/usr/vim/vim50". You must do this in the shell, before starting Vim.
*:syn-on* *:syntax-on*
The ":syntax enable" command will keep your current color settings. This
allows using ":highlight" commands to set your preferred colors before or
after using this command. If you want Vim to overrule your settings with the
defaults, use:
:syntax on
*:hi-normal* *:highlight-normal*
If you are running in the GUI, you can get white text on a black background
with:
:highlight Normal guibg=Black guifg=White
For a color terminal see |:hi-normal-cterm|.
For setting up your own colors syntax highlighting see |syncolor|.
NOTE: The syntax files on MS-DOS and Windows have lines that end in <CR><NL>.
The files for Unix end in <NL>. This means you should use the right type of
file for your system. Although on MS-DOS and Windows the right format is
automatically selected if the 'fileformats' option is not empty.
NOTE: When using reverse video ("gvim -fg white -bg black"), the default value
of 'background' will not be set until the GUI window is opened, which is after
reading the |gvimrc|. This will cause the wrong default highlighting to be
used. To set the default value of 'background' before switching on
highlighting, include the ":gui" command in the YXXYgvimrc|:
:gui " open window and set default for 'background'
:syntax on " start highlighting, use 'background' to set colors
NOTE: Using ":gui" in the |gvimrc| means that "gvim -f" won't start in the
foreground! Use ":gui -f" then.
You can toggle the syntax on/off with this command
:if exists("syntax_on") | syntax off | else | syntax enable | endif
To put this into a mapping, you can use:
:map <F7> :if exists("syntax_on") <Bar>
\ syntax off <Bar>
\ else <Bar>
\ syntax enable <Bar>
\ endif <CR>
[using the |<>| notation, type this literally]
Details
The ":syntax" commands are implemented by sourcing a file. To see exactly how
this works, look in the file:
command file
:syntax enable $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim
:syntax on $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim
:syntax manual $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/manual.vim
:syntax off $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim
Also see |syntax-loading|.
==============================================================================
2. Syntax files *:syn-files*
The syntax and highlighting commands for one language are normally stored in
a syntax file. The name convention is: "{name}.vim". Where {name} is the
name of the language, or an abbreviation (to fit the name in 8.3 characters,
a requirement in case the file is used on a DOS filesystem).
Examples:
c.vim perl.vim java.vim html.vim
cpp.vim sh.vim csh.vim
The syntax file can contain any Ex commands, just like a vimrc file. But
the idea is that only commands for a specific language are included. When a
language is a superset of another language, it may include the other one,
for example, the cpp.vim file could include the c.vim file:
:so $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/c.vim
The .vim files are normally loaded with an autocommand. For example:
:au Syntax c runtime! syntax/c.vim
:au Syntax cpp runtime! syntax/cpp.vim
These commands are normally in the file $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/synload.vim.
MAKING YOUR OWN SYNTAX FILES *mysyntaxfile*
When you create your own syntax files, and you want to have Vim use these
automatically with ":syntax enable", do this:
1. Create your user runtime directory. You would normally use the first item
of the 'runtimepath' option. Example for Unix:
mkdir ~/.vim
2. Create a directory in there called "syntax". For Unix:
mkdir ~/.vim/syntax
3. Write the Vim syntax file. Or download one from the internet. Then write
it in your syntax directory. For example, for the "mine" syntax:
:w ~/.vim/syntax/mine.vim
Now you can start using your syntax file manually:
:set syntax=mine
You don't have to exit Vim to use this.
If you also want Vim to detect the type of file, see |new-filetype|.
If you are setting up a system with many users and you don't want each user
to add the same syntax file, you can use another directory from 'runtimepath'.
ADDING TO AN EXISTING SYNTAX FILE *mysyntaxfile-add*
If you are mostly satisfied with an existing syntax file, but would like to
add a few items or change the highlighting, follow these steps:
1. Create your user directory from 'runtimepath', see above.
2. Create a directory in there called "after/syntax". For Unix:
mkdir ~/.vim/after
mkdir ~/.vim/after/syntax
3. Write a Vim script that contains the commands you want to use. For
example, to change the colors for the C syntax:
highlight cComment ctermfg=Green guifg=Green
4. Write that file in the "after/syntax" directory. Use the name of the
syntax, with ".vim" added. For our C syntax:
:w ~/.vim/after/syntax/c.vim
That's it. The next time you edit a C file the Comment color will be
different. You don't even have to restart Vim.
If you have multiple files, you can use the filetype as the directory name.
All the "*.vim" files in this directory will be used, for example:
~/.vim/after/syntax/c/one.vim
~/.vim/after/syntax/c/two.vim
REPLACING AN EXISTING SYNTAX FILE *mysyntaxfile-replace*
If you don't like a distributed syntax file, or you have downloaded a new
version, follow the same steps as for |mysyntaxfile| above. Just make sure
that you write the syntax file in a directory that is early in 'runtimepath'.
Vim will only load the first syntax file found.
NAMING CONVENTIONS
*group-name* *{group-name}* *E669* *W18*
The name for a highlight or syntax group must consist of ASCII letters, digits
and the underscore. As a regexp: "[a-zA-Z0-9_]*"
To be able to allow each user to pick his favorite set of colors, there must
be preferred names for highlight groups that are common for many languages.
These are the suggested group names (if syntax highlighting works properly
you can see the actual color, except for "Ignore"):
*Comment any comment
*Constant any constant
String a string constant: "this is a string"
Character a character constant: 'c', '\n'
Number a number constant: 234, 0xff
Boolean a boolean constant: TRUE, false
Float a floating point constant: 2.3e10
*Identifier any variable name
Function function name (also: methods for classes)
*Statement any statement
Conditional if, then, else, endif, switch, etc.
Repeat for, do, while, etc.
Label case, default, etc.
Operator "sizeof", "+", "*", etc.
Keyword any other keyword
Exception try, catch, throw
*PreProc generic Preprocessor
Include preprocessor #include
Define preprocessor #define
Macro same as Define
PreCondit preprocessor #if, #else, #endif, etc.
*Type int, long, char, etc.
StorageClass static, register, volatile, etc.
Structure struct, union, enum, etc.
Typedef A typedef
*Special any special symbol
SpecialChar special character in a constant
Tag you can use CTRL-] on this
Delimiter character that needs attention
SpecialComment special things inside a comment
Debug debugging statements
*Underlined text that stands out, HTML links
*Ignore left blank, hidden
*Error any erroneous construct
*Todo anything that needs extra attention; mostly the
keywords TODO FIXME and XXX
The names marked with * are the preferred groups; the others are minor groups.
For the preferred groups, the "syntax.vim" file contains default highlighting.
The minor groups are linked to the preferred groups, so they get the same
highlighting. You can override these defaults by using ":highlight" commands
after sourcing the "syntax.vim" file.
Note that highlight group names are not case sensitive. "String" and "string"
can be used for the same group.
The following names are reserved and cannot be used as a group name:
NONE ALL ALLBUT contains contained
==============================================================================
3. Syntax loading procedure *syntax-loading*
This explains the details that happen when the command ":syntax enable" is
issued. When Vim initializes itself, it finds out where the runtime files are
located. This is used here as the variable |$VIMRUNTIME|.
":syntax enable" and ":syntax on" do the following:
Source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim
|
+- Clear out any old syntax by sourcing $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim
|
+- Source first syntax/synload.vim in 'runtimepath'
| |
| +- Setup the colors for syntax highlighting. If a color scheme is
| | defined it is loaded again with ":colors {name}". Otherwise
| | ":runtime! syntax/syncolor.vim" is used. ":syntax on" overrules
| | existing colors, ":syntax enable" only sets groups that weren't
| | set yet.
| |
| +- Set up syntax autocmds to load the appropriate syntax file when
| | the 'syntax' option is set. *synload-1*
| |
| +- Source the user's optional file, from the |mysyntaxfile| variable.
| This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only. *synload-2*
|
+- Do ":filetype on", which does ":runtime! filetype.vim". It loads any
| filetype.vim files found. It should always Source
| $VIMRUNTIME/filetype.vim, which does the following.
| |
| +- Install autocmds based on suffix to set the 'filetype' option
| | This is where the connection between file name and file type is
| | made for known file types. *synload-3*
| |
| +- Source the user's optional file, from the *myfiletypefile*
| | variable. This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only.
| | *synload-4*
| |
| +- Install one autocommand which sources scripts.vim when no file
| | type was detected yet. *synload-5*
| |
| +- Source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim, to setup the Syntax menu. |menu.vim|
|
+- Install a FileType autocommand to set the 'syntax' option when a file
| type has been detected. *synload-6*
|
+- Execute syntax autocommands to start syntax highlighting for each
already loaded buffer.
Upon loading a file, Vim finds the relevant syntax file as follows:
Loading the file triggers the BufReadPost autocommands.
|
+- If there is a match with one of the autocommands from |synload-3|
| (known file types) or |synload-4| (user's file types), the 'filetype'
| option is set to the file type.
|
+- The autocommand at |synload-5| is triggered. If the file type was not
| found yet, then scripts.vim is searched for in 'runtimepath'. This
| should always load $VIMRUNTIME/scripts.vim, which does the following.
| |
| +- Source the user's optional file, from the *myscriptsfile*
| | variable. This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only.
| |
| +- If the file type is still unknown, check the contents of the file,
| again with checks like "getline(1) =~ pattern" as to whether the
| file type can be recognized, and set 'filetype'.
|
+- When the file type was determined and 'filetype' was set, this
| triggers the FileType autocommand |synload-6| above. It sets
| 'syntax' to the determined file type.
|
+- When the 'syntax' option was set above, this triggers an autocommand
| from |synload-1| (and |synload-2|). This find the main syntax file in
| 'runtimepath', with this command:
| runtime! syntax/<name>.vim
|
+- Any other user installed FileType or Syntax autocommands are
triggered. This can be used to change the highlighting for a specific
syntax.
==============================================================================
4. Syntax file remarks *:syn-file-remarks*
*b:current_syntax-variable*
Vim stores the name of the syntax that has been loaded in the
"b:current_syntax" variable. You can use this if you want to load other
settings, depending on which syntax is active. Example:
:au BufReadPost * if b:current_syntax == "csh"
:au BufReadPost * do-some-things
:au BufReadPost * endif
2HTML *2html.vim* *convert-to-HTML*
This is not a syntax file itself, but a script that converts the current
window into HTML. Vim opens a new window in which it builds the HTML file.
You are not supposed to set the 'filetype' or 'syntax' option to "2html"!
Source the script to convert the current file:
:runtime! syntax/2html.vim
Warning: This is slow!
*:TOhtml*
Or use the ":TOhtml" user command. It is defined in a standard plugin.
":TOhtml" also works with a range and in a Visual area:
:10,40TOhtml
After you save the resulting file, you can view it with any HTML viewer, such
as Netscape. The colors should be exactly the same as you see them in Vim.
To restrict the conversion to a range of lines set "html_start_line" and
"html_end_line" to the first and last line to be converted. Example, using
the last set Visual area:
:let html_start_line = line("'<")
:let html_end_line = line("'>")
The lines are numbered according to 'number' option and the Number
highlighting. You can force lines to be numbered in the HTML output by
setting "html_number_lines" to non-zero value:
:let html_number_lines = 1
Force to omit the line numbers by using a zero value:
:let html_number_lines = 0
Go back to the default to use 'number' by deleting the variable:
:unlet html_number_lines
Closed folds are put in the HTML as they are displayed. If you don't want
this, use the |zR| command before invoking 2html, or use:
:let html_ignore_folding = 1
By default, HTML optimized for old browsers is generated. If you prefer using
cascading style sheets (CSS1) for the attributes (resulting in considerably
shorter and valid HTML 4 file), use:
:let html_use_css = 1
By default "<pre>" and "</pre>" is used around the text. This makes it show
up as you see it in Vim, but without wrapping. If you prefer wrapping, at the
risk of making some things look a bit different, use:
:let html_no_pre = 1
This will use <br> at the end of each line and use " " for repeated
spaces.
The current value of 'encoding' is used to specify the charset of the HTML
file. This only works for those values of 'encoding' that have an equivalent
HTML charset name. To overrule this set g:html_use_encoding to the name of
the charset to be used:
:let html_use_encoding = "foobar"
To omit the line that specifies the charset, set g:html_use_encoding to an
empty string:
:let html_use_encoding = ""
To go back to the automatic mechanism, delete the g:html_use_encoding
variable:
:unlet html_use_encoding
For diff mode a sequence of more than 3 filler lines is displayed as three
lines with the middle line mentioning the total number of inserted lines. If
you prefer to see all the inserted lines use:
:let html_whole_filler = 1
And to go back to displaying up to three lines again:
:unlet html_whole_filler
*convert-to-XML* *convert-to-XHTML*
An alternative is to have the script generate XHTML (XML compliant HTML). To
do this set the "use_xhtml" variable:
:let use_xhtml = 1
To disable it again delete the variable:
:unlet use_xhtml
The generated XHTML file can be used in DocBook XML documents. See:
http://people.mech.kuleuven.ac.be/~pissaris/howto/src2db.html
Remarks:
- This only works in a version with GUI support. If the GUI is not actually
running (possible for X11) it still works, but not very well (the colors
may be wrong).
- Older browsers will not show the background colors.
- From most browsers you can also print the file (in color)!
Here is an example how to run the script over all .c and .h files from a
Unix shell:
for f in *.[ch]; do gvim -f +"syn on" +"run! syntax/2html.vim" +"wq" +"q" $f; done
ABEL *abel.vim* *ft-abel-syntax*
ABEL highlighting provides some user-defined options. To enable them, assign
any value to the respective variable. Example:
:let abel_obsolete_ok=1
To disable them use ":unlet". Example:
:unlet abel_obsolete_ok
Variable Highlight
abel_obsolete_ok obsolete keywords are statements, not errors
abel_cpp_comments_illegal do not interpret '//' as inline comment leader
ADA *ada.vim* *ft-ada-syntax*
This mode is designed for the 1995 edition of Ada ("Ada95"), which
includes support for objected-programming, protected types, and so on.
It handles code written for the original Ada language
("Ada83" or "Ada87") as well, though Ada83 code which uses Ada95-only
keywords will be wrongly colored (such code should be fixed anyway).
For more information about Ada, see http://www.adapower.com.
The Ada mode handles a number of situations cleanly.
For example, it knows that the "-" in "-5" is a number, but the same
character in "A-5" is an operator. Normally, a "with" or "use" clause
referencing another compilation unit is colored the same way as C's
"#include" is colored. If you have "Conditional" or "Repeat"
groups colored differently, then "end if" and "end loop" will be
colored as part of those respective groups.
You can set these to different colors using vim's "highlight" command
(e.g., to change how loops are displayed, enter the command
":hi Repeat" followed by the color specification; on simple terminals
the color specification ctermfg=White often shows well).
There are several options you can select in this Ada mode.
To enable them, assign a value to the option. For example, to turn one on:
let ada_standard_types = 1
To disable them use ":unlet". Example:
unlet ada_standard_types = 1
You can just use ":" and type these into the command line to set these
temporarily before loading an Ada file. You can make these option settings
permanent by adding the "let" command(s), without a colon,
to your "~/.vimrc" file.
Here are the Ada mode options:
Variable Action
ada_standard_types Highlight types in package Standard (e.g., "Float")
ada_space_errors Highlight extraneous errors in spaces...
ada_no_trail_space_error but ignore trailing spaces at the end of a line
ada_no_tab_space_error but ignore tabs after spaces
ada_withuse_ordinary Show "with" and "use" as ordinary keywords
(when used to reference other compilation units
they're normally highlighted specially).
ada_begin_preproc Show all begin-like keywords using the coloring
of C preprocessor commands.
Even on a slow (90Mhz) PC this mode works quickly, but if you find
the performance unacceptable, turn on ada_withuse_ordinary.
ANT *ant.vim* *ft-ant-syntax*
The ant syntax file provides syntax highlighting for javascript and python
by default. Syntax highlighting for other script languages can be installed
by the function AntSyntaxScript(), which takes the tag name as first argument
and the script syntax file name as second argument. Example:
:call AntSyntaxScript('perl', 'perl.vim')
will install syntax perl highlighting for the following ant code
<script language = 'perl'><![CDATA[
# everything inside is highlighted as perl
]]></script>
See |mysyntaxfile-add| for installing script languages permanently.
APACHE *apache.vim* *ft-apache-syntax*
The apache syntax file provides syntax highlighting depending on Apache HTTP
server version, by default for 1.3.x. Set "apache_version" to Apache version
(as a string) to get highlighting for another version. Example:
:let apache_version = "2.0"
*asm.vim* *asmh8300.vim* *nasm.vim* *masm.vim* *asm68k*
ASSEMBLY *ft-asm-syntax* *ft-asmh8300-syntax* *ft-nasm-syntax*
*ft-masm-syntax* *ft-asm68k-syntax* *fasm.vim*
Files matching "*.i" could be Progress or Assembly. If the automatic detection
doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your
startup vimrc:
:let filetype_i = "asm"
Replace "asm" with the type of assembly you use.
There are many types of assembly languages that all use the same file name
extensions. Therefore you will have to select the type yourself, or add a
line in the assembly file that Vim will recognize. Currently these syntax
files are included:
asm GNU assembly (the default)
asm68k Motorola 680x0 assembly
asmh8300 Hitachi H-8300 version of GNU assembly
ia64 Intel Itanium 64
fasm Flat assembly http://flatassembler.net
masm Microsoft assembly (probably works for any 80x86)
nasm Netwide assembly
tasm Turbo Assembly (with opcodes 80x86 up to Pentium, and
MMX)
pic PIC assembly (currently for PIC16F84)
The most flexible is to add a line in your assembly file containing:
:asmsyntax=nasm
Replace "nasm" with the name of the real assembly syntax. This line must be
one of the first five lines in the file.
The syntax type can always be overruled for a specific buffer by setting the
b:asmsyntax variable:
:let b:asmsyntax=nasm
If b:asmsyntax is not set, either automatically or by hand, then the value of
the global variable asmsyntax is used. This can be seen as a default assembly
language:
:let asmsyntax=nasm
As a last resort, if nothing is defined, the "asm" syntax is used.
Netwide assembler (nasm.vim) optional highlighting
To enable a feature:
:let {variable}=1|set syntax=nasm
To disable a feature:
:unlet {variable} |set syntax=nasm
Variable Highlight
nasm_loose_syntax unofficial parser allowed syntax not as Error
(parser dependent; not recommended)
nasm_ctx_outside_macro contexts outside macro not as Error
nasm_no_warn potentially risky syntax not as ToDo
ASPPERL and ASPVBS *ft-aspperl-syntax* *ft-aspvbs-syntax*
*.asp and *.asa files could be either Perl or Visual Basic script. Since it's
hard to detect this you can set two global variables to tell Vim what you are
using. For Perl script use:
:let g:filetype_asa = "aspperl"
:let g:filetype_asp = "aspperl"
For Visual Basic use:
:let g:filetype_asa = "aspvbs"
:let g:filetype_asp = "aspvbs"
BAAN *baan.vim* *baan-syntax*
The baan.vim gives syntax support for BaanC of release BaanIV upto SSA ERP LN
for both 3 GL and 4 GL programming. Large number of standard defines/constants
are supported.
Some special violation of coding standards will be signalled when one specify
in ones YXXY.vimrc|:
let baan_code_stds=1
*baan-folding*
Syntax folding can be enabled at various levels through the variables
mentioned below (Set those in your |.vimrc|). The more complex folding on
source blocks and SQL can be CPU intensive.
To allow any folding and enable folding at function level use:
let baan_fold=1
Folding can be enabled at source block level as if, while, for ,... The
indentation preceding the begin/end keywords has to match (spaces are not
considered equal to a tab).
let baan_fold_block=1
Folding can be enabled for embedded SQL blocks as SELECT, SELECTDO,
SELECTEMPTY, ... The indentation preceding the begin/end keywords has to
match (spaces are not considered equal to a tab).
let baan_fold_sql=1
Note: Block folding can result in many small folds. It is suggested to |:set|
the options 'foldminlines' and 'foldnestmax' in |.vimrc| or use |:setlocal| in
.../after/syntax/baan.vim (see |after-directory|). Eg:
set foldminlines=5
set foldnestmax=6
BASIC *basic.vim* *vb.vim* *ft-basic-syntax* *ft-vb-syntax*
Both Visual Basic and "normal" basic use the extension ".bas". To detect
which one should be used, Vim checks for the string "VB_Name" in the first
five lines of the file. If it is not found, filetype will be "basic",
otherwise "vb". Files with the ".frm" extension will always be seen as Visual
Basic.
C *c.vim* *ft-c-syntax*
A few things in C highlighting are optional. To enable them assign any value
to the respective variable. Example:
:let c_comment_strings=1
To disable them use ":unlet". Example:
:unlet c_comment_strings
Variable Highlight
c_gnu GNU gcc specific items
c_comment_strings strings and numbers inside a comment
c_space_errors trailing white space and spaces before a <Tab>
c_no_trail_space_error ... but no trailing spaces
c_no_tab_space_error ... but no spaces before a <Tab>
c_no_bracket_error don't highlight {}; inside [] as errors
c_no_curly_error don't highlight {}; inside [] and () as errors;
except { and } in first column
c_no_ansi don't do standard ANSI types and constants
c_ansi_typedefs ... but do standard ANSI types
c_ansi_constants ... but do standard ANSI constants
c_no_utf don't highlight \u and \U in strings
c_syntax_for_h use C syntax for *.h files, instead of C++
c_no_if0 don't highlight "#if 0" blocks as comments
c_no_cformat don't highlight %-formats in strings
c_no_c99 don't highlight C99 standard items
When 'foldmethod' is set to "syntax" then /* */ comments and { } blocks will
become a fold. If you don't want comments to become a fold use:
:let c_no_comment_fold = 1
"#if 0" blocks are also folded, unless:
:let c_no_if0_fold = 1
If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed
when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "c_minlines" internal variable
to a larger number:
:let c_minlines = 100
This will make the syntax synchronization start 100 lines before the first
displayed line. The default value is 50 (15 when c_no_if0 is set). The
disadvantage of using a larger number is that redrawing can become slow.
When using the "#if 0" / "#endif" comment highlighting, notice that this only
works when the "#if 0" is within "c_minlines" from the top of the window. If
you have a long "#if 0" construct it will not be highlighted correctly.
To match extra items in comments, use the cCommentGroup cluster.
Example:
:au Syntax c call MyCadd()
:function MyCadd()
: syn keyword cMyItem contained Ni
: syn cluster cCommentGroup add=cMyItem
: hi link cMyItem Title
:endfun
ANSI constants will be highlighted with the "cConstant" group. This includes
"NULL", "SIG_IGN" and others. But not "TRUE", for example, because this is
not in the ANSI standard. If you find this confusing, remove the cConstant
highlighting:
:hi link cConstant NONE
If you see '{' and '}' highlighted as an error where they are OK, reset the
highlighting for cErrInParen and cErrInBracket.
If you want to use folding in your C files, you can add these lines in a file
an the "after" directory in 'runtimepath'. For Unix this would be
~/.vim/after/syntax/c.vim.
syn region myFold start="{" end="}" transparent fold
syn sync fromstart
set foldmethod=syntax
CH *ch.vim* *ft-ch-syntax*
C/C++ interpreter. Ch has similar syntax highlighting to C and builds upon
the C syntax file. See |c.vim| for all the settings that are available for C.
By setting a variable you can tell Vim to use Ch syntax for *.h files, instead
of C or C++:
:let ch_syntax_for_h = 1
CHILL *chill.vim* *ft-chill-syntax*
Chill syntax highlighting is similar to C. See |c.vim| for all the settings
that are available. Additionally there is:
chill_space_errors like c_space_errors
chill_comment_string like c_comment_strings
chill_minlines like c_minlines
CHANGELOG *changelog.vim* *ft-changelog-syntax*
ChangeLog supports highlighting spaces at the start of a line.
If you do not like this, add following line to your .vimrc:
let g:changelog_spacing_errors = 0
This works the next time you edit a changelog file. You can also use
"b:changelog_spacing_errors" to set this per buffer (before loading the syntax
file).
You can change the highlighting used, e.g., to flag the spaces as an error:
:hi link ChangelogError Error
Or to avoid the highlighting:
:hi link ChangelogError NONE
This works immediately.
COBOL *cobol.vim* *ft-cobol-syntax*
COBOL highlighting has different needs for legacy code than it does for fresh
development. This is due to differences in what is being done (maintenance
versus development) and other factors. To enable legacy code highlighting,
add this line to your .vimrc:
:let cobol_legacy_code = 1
To disable it again, use this:
:unlet cobol_legacy_code
COLD FUSION *coldfusion.vim* *ft-coldfusion-syntax*
The ColdFusion has its own version of HTML comments. To turn on ColdFusion
comment highlighting, add the following line to your startup file:
:let html_wrong_comments = 1
The ColdFusion syntax file is based on the HTML syntax file.
CSH *csh.vim* *ft-csh-syntax*
This covers the shell named "csh". Note that on some systems tcsh is actually
used.
Detecting whether a file is csh or tcsh is notoriously hard. Some systems
symlink /bin/csh to /bin/tcsh, making it almost impossible to distinguish
between csh and tcsh. In case VIM guesses wrong you can set the
"filetype_csh" variable. For using csh:
:let filetype_csh = "csh"
For using tcsh:
:let filetype_csh = "tcsh"
Any script with a tcsh extension or a standard tcsh filename (.tcshrc,
tcsh.tcshrc, tcsh.login) will have filetype tcsh. All other tcsh/csh scripts
will be classified as tcsh, UNLESS the "filetype_csh" variable exists. If the
"filetype_csh" variable exists, the filetype will be set to the value of the
variable.
CYNLIB *cynlib.vim* *ft-cynlib-syntax*
Cynlib files are C++ files that use the Cynlib class library to enable
hardware modelling and simulation using C++. Typically Cynlib files have a .cc
or a .cpp extension, which makes it very difficult to distinguish them from a
normal C++ file. Thus, to enable Cynlib highlighting for .cc files, add this
line to your .vimrc file:
:let cynlib_cyntax_for_cc=1
Similarly for cpp files (this extension is only usually used in Windows)
:let cynlib_cyntax_for_cpp=1
To disable these again, use this:
:unlet cynlib_cyntax_for_cc
:unlet cynlib_cyntax_for_cpp
CWEB *cweb.vim* *ft-cweb-syntax*
Files matching "*.w" could be Progress or cweb. If the automatic detection
doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your
startup vimrc:
:let filetype_w = "cweb"
DESKTOP *desktop.vim* *ft-desktop-syntax*
Primary goal of this syntax file is to highlight .desktop and .directory files
according to freedesktop.org standard: http://pdx.freedesktop.org/Standards/
But actually almost none implements this standard fully. Thus it will
highlight all Unix ini files. But you can force strict highlighting according
to standard by placing this in your vimrc file:
:let enforce_freedesktop_standard = 1
DIRCOLORS *dircolors.vim* *ft-dircolors-syntax*
The dircolors utility highlighting definition has one option. It exists to
provide compatibility with the Slackware GNU/Linux distributions version of
the command. It adds a few keywords that are generally ignored by most
versions. On Slackware systems, however, the utility accepts the keywords and
uses them for processing. To enable the Slackware keywords add the following
line to your startup file:
let dircolors_is_slackware = 1
DOCBOOK *docbk.vim* *ft-docbk-syntax* *docbook*
DOCBOOK XML *docbkxml.vim* *ft-docbkxml-syntax*
DOCBOOK SGML *docbksgml.vim* *ft-docbksgml-syntax*
There are two types of DocBook files: SGML and XML. To specify what type you
are using the "b:docbk_type" variable should be set. Vim does this for you
automatically if it can recognize the type. When Vim can't guess it the type
defaults to XML.
You can set the type manually:
:let docbk_type = "sgml"
or:
:let docbk_type = "xml"
You need to do this before loading the syntax file, which is complicated.
Simpler is setting the filetype to "docbkxml" or "docbksgml":
:set filetype=docbksgml
or:
:set filetype=docbkxml
DOSBATCH *dosbatch.vim* *ft-dosbatch-syntax*
There is one option with highlighting DOS batch files. This covers new
extensions to the Command Interpreter introduced with Windows 2000 and
is controlled by the variable dosbatch_cmdextversion. For Windows NT
this should have the value 1, and for Windows 2000 it should be 2.
Select the version you want with the following line:
:let dosbatch_cmdextversion = 1
If this variable is not defined it defaults to a value of 2 to support
Windows 2000.
A second option covers whether *.btm files should be detected as type
"dosbatch" (MS-DOS batch files) or type "btm" (4DOS batch files). The latter
is used by default. You may select the former with the following line:
:let g:dosbatch_syntax_for_btm = 1
If this variable is undefined or zero, btm syntax is selected.
DOXYGEN *doxygen.vim* *doxygen-syntax*
Doxygen generates code documentation using a special documentation format
(similar to Javadoc). This syntax script adds doxygen highlighting to c, cpp
and idl files, and should also work with java.
There are a few of ways to turn on doxygen formatting. It can be done explicity
or in a modeline by appending '.doxygen' to the syntax of the file. Example:
:set syntax=c.doxygen
or
// vim:syntax=c.doxygen
To use doxygen formatting on top of any filetype, add the following to your
.vimrc for each filetype, replacing {filetype} with the relevent value.
:let g:syntax_extra_{filetype}='doxygen'
It can also be done automaticly for c, cpp and idl files by setting the global
or buffer-local variable load_doxygen_syntax. This is done by adding the
following to your .vimrc.
:let g:load_doxygen_syntax=1
There are a couple of variables that have an affect on syntax highlighting, and
are to do with non-standard highlighting options.
Variable Default Effect
g:doxygen_enhanced_color
g:doxygen_enhanced_colour 0 Use non-standard highlighting for
doxygen comments.
doxygen_my_rendering 0 Disable rendering of HTML bold, italic
and html_my_rendering underline.
doxygen_javadoc_autobrief 1 Set to 0 to disable javadoc autobrief
colour highlighting.
doxygen_end_punctuation '[.]' Set to regexp match for the ending
punctuation of brief
There are also some hilight groups worth mentioning as they can be useful in
configuration.
Highlight Effect
doxygenErrorComment The colour of an end-comment when missing
punctuation in a code, verbatim or dot section
doxygenLinkError The colour of an end-comment when missing the
\endlink from a \link section.
DTD *dtd.vim* *ft-dtd-syntax*
The DTD syntax highlighting is case sensitive by default. To disable
case-sensitive highlighting, add the following line to your startup file:
:let dtd_ignore_case=1
The DTD syntax file will highlight unknown tags as errors. If
this is annoying, it can be turned off by setting:
:let dtd_no_tag_errors=1
before sourcing the dtd.vim syntax file.
Parameter entity names are highlighted in the definition using the
'Type' highlighting group and 'Comment' for punctuation and '%'.
Parameter entity instances are highlighted using the 'Constant'
highlighting group and the 'Type' highlighting group for the
delimiters % and ;. This can be turned off by setting:
:let dtd_no_param_entities=1
The DTD syntax file is also included by xml.vim to highlight included dtd's.
EIFFEL *eiffel.vim* *ft-eiffel-syntax*
While Eiffel is not case-sensitive, its style guidelines are, and the
syntax highlighting file encourages their use. This also allows to
highlight class names differently. If you want to disable case-sensitive
highlighting, add the following line to your startup file:
:let eiffel_ignore_case=1
Case still matters for class names and TODO marks in comments.
Conversely, for even stricter checks, add one of the following lines:
:let eiffel_strict=1
:let eiffel_pedantic=1
Setting eiffel_strict will only catch improper capitalization for the
five predefined words "Current", "Void", "Result", "Precursor", and
"NONE", to warn against their accidental use as feature or class names.
Setting eiffel_pedantic will enforce adherence to the Eiffel style
guidelines fairly rigorously (like arbitrary mixes of upper- and
lowercase letters as well as outdated ways to capitalize keywords).
If you want to use the lower-case version of "Current", "Void",
"Result", and "Precursor", you can use
:let eiffel_lower_case_predef=1
instead of completely turning case-sensitive highlighting off.
Support for ISE's proposed new creation syntax that is already
experimentally handled by some compilers can be enabled by:
:let eiffel_ise=1
Finally, some vendors support hexadecimal constants. To handle them, add
:let eiffel_hex_constants=1
to your startup file.
ERLANG *erlang.vim* *ft-erlang-syntax*
The erlang highlighting supports Erlang (ERicsson LANGuage).
Erlang is case sensitive and default extension is ".erl".
If you want to disable keywords highlighting, put in your .vimrc:
:let erlang_keywords = 1
If you want to disable built-in-functions highlighting, put in your
.vimrc file:
:let erlang_functions = 1
If you want to disable special characters highlighting, put in
your .vimrc:
:let erlang_characters = 1
FLEXWIKI *flexwiki.vim* *ft-flexwiki-syntax*
FlexWiki is an ASP.NET-based wiki package available at http://www.flexwiki.com
Syntax highlighting is available for the most common elements of FlexWiki
syntax. The associated ftplugin script sets some buffer-local options to make
editing FlexWiki pages more convenient. FlexWiki considers a newline as the
start of a new paragraph, so the ftplugin sets 'tw'=0 (unlimited line length),
'wrap' (wrap long lines instead of using horizontal scrolling), 'linebreak'
(to wrap at a character in 'breakat' instead of at the last char on screen),
and so on. It also includes some keymaps that are disabled by default.
If you want to enable the keymaps that make "j" and "k" and the cursor keys
move up and down by display lines, add this to your .vimrc:
:let flexwiki_maps = 1
FORM *form.vim* *ft-form-syntax*
The coloring scheme for syntax elements in the FORM file uses the default
modes Conditional, Number, Statement, Comment, PreProc, Type, and String,
following the language specifications in 'Symbolic Manipulation with FORM'' by
J.A.M. Vermaseren, CAN, Netherlands, 1991.
If you want include your own changes to the default colors, you have to
redefine the following syntax groups:
- formConditional
- formNumber
- formStatement
- formHeaderStatement
- formComment
- formPreProc
- formDirective
- formType
- formString
Note that the form.vim syntax file implements FORM preprocessor commands and
directives per default in the same syntax group.
A predefined enhanced color mode for FORM is available to distinguish between
header statements and statements in the body of a FORM program. To activate
this mode define the following variable in your vimrc file
:let form_enhanced_color=1
The enhanced mode also takes advantage of additional color features for a dark
gvim display. Here, statements are colored LightYellow instead of Yellow, and
conditionals are LightBlue for better distinction.
FORTRAN *fortran.vim* *ft-fortran-syntax*
Default highlighting and dialect
Highlighting appropriate for f95 (Fortran 95) is used by default. This choice
should be appropriate for most users most of the time because Fortran 95 is a
superset of Fortran 90 and almost a superset of Fortran 77.
Fortran source code form
Fortran 9x code can be in either fixed or free source form. Note that the
syntax highlighting will not be correct if the form is incorrectly set.
When you create a new fortran file, the syntax script assumes fixed source
form. If you always use free source form, then
:let fortran_free_source=1
in your .vimrc prior to the :syntax on command. If you always use fixed source
form, then
:let fortran_fixed_source=1
in your .vimrc prior to the :syntax on command.
If the form of the source code depends upon the file extension, then it is
most convenient to set fortran_free_source in a ftplugin file. For more
information on ftplugin files, see |ftplugin|. For example, if all your
fortran files with an .f90 extension are written in free source form and the
rest in fixed source form, add the following code to your ftplugin file
let s:extfname = expand("%:e")
if s:extfname ==? "f90"
let fortran_free_source=1
unlet! fortran_fixed_source
else
let fortran_fixed_source=1
unlet! fortran_free_source
endif
Note that this will work only if the "filetype plugin indent on" command
precedes the "syntax on" command in your .vimrc file.
When you edit an existing fortran file, the syntax script will assume free
source form if the fortran_free_source variable has been set, and assumes
fixed source form if the fortran_fixed_source variable has been set. If
neither of these variables have been set, the syntax script attempts to
determine which source form has been used by examining the first five columns
of the first 250 lines of your file. If no signs of free source form are
detected, then the file is assumed to be in fixed source form. The algorithm
should work in the vast majority of cases. In some cases, such as a file that
begins with 250 or more full-line comments, the script may incorrectly decide
that the fortran code is in fixed form. If that happens, just add a
non-comment statement beginning anywhere in the first five columns of the
first twenty five lines, save (:w) and then reload (:e!) the file.
Tabs in fortran files
Tabs are not recognized by the Fortran standards. Tabs are not a good idea in
fixed format fortran source code which requires fixed column boundaries.
Therefore, tabs are marked as errors. Nevertheless, some programmers like
using tabs. If your fortran files contain tabs, then you should set the
variable fortran_have_tabs in your .vimrc with a command such as
:let fortran_have_tabs=1
placed prior to the :syntax on command. Unfortunately, the use of tabs will
mean that the syntax file will not be able to detect incorrect margins.
Syntax folding of fortran files
If you wish to use foldmethod=syntax, then you must first set the variable
fortran_fold with a command such as
:let fortran_fold=1
to instruct the syntax script to define fold regions for program units, that
is main programs starting with a program statement, subroutines, function
subprograms, block data subprograms, interface blocks, and modules. If you
also set the variable fortran_fold_conditionals with a command such as
:let fortran_fold_conditionals=1
then fold regions will also be defined for do loops, if blocks, and select
case constructs. If you also set the variable
fortran_fold_multilinecomments with a command such as
:let fortran_fold_multilinecomments=1
then fold regions will also be defined for three or more consecutive comment
lines. Note that defining fold regions can be slow for large files.
If fortran_fold, and possibly fortran_fold_conditionals and/or
fortran_fold_multilinecomments, have been set, then vim will fold your file if
you set foldmethod=syntax. Comments or blank lines placed between two program
units are not folded because they are seen as not belonging to any program
unit.
More precise fortran syntax
If you set the variable fortran_more_precise with a command such as
:let fortran_more_precise=1
then the syntax coloring will be more precise but slower. In particular,
statement labels used in do, goto and arithmetic if statements will be
recognized, as will construct names at the end of a do, if, select or forall
construct.
Non-default fortran dialects
The syntax script supports five Fortran dialects: f95, f90, f77, the Lahey
subset elf90, and the Imagine1 subset F.
If you use f77 with extensions, even common ones like do/enddo loops, do/while
loops and free source form that are supported by most f77 compilers including
g77 (GNU Fortran), then you will probably find the default highlighting
satisfactory. However, if you use strict f77 with no extensions, not even free
source form or the MIL STD 1753 extensions, then the advantages of setting the
dialect to f77 are that names such as SUM are recognized as user variable
names and not highlighted as f9x intrinsic functions, that obsolete constructs
such as ASSIGN statements are not highlighted as todo items, and that fixed
source form will be assumed.
If you use elf90 or F, the advantage of setting the dialect appropriately is
that f90 features excluded from these dialects will be highlighted as todo
items and that free source form will be assumed as required for these
dialects.
The dialect can be selected by setting the variable fortran_dialect. The
permissible values of fortran_dialect are case-sensitive and must be "f95",
"f90", "f77", "elf" or "F". Invalid values of fortran_dialect are ignored.
If all your fortran files use the same dialect, set fortran_dialect in your
.vimrc prior to your syntax on statement. If the dialect depends upon the file
extension, then it is most convenient to set it in a ftplugin file. For more
information on ftplugin files, see |ftplugin|. For example, if all your
fortran files with an .f90 extension are written in the elf subset, your
ftplugin file should contain the code
let s:extfname = expand("%:e")
if s:extfname ==? "f90"
let fortran_dialect="elf"
else
unlet! fortran_dialect
endif
Note that this will work only if the "filetype plugin indent on" command
precedes the "syntax on" command in your .vimrc file.
Finer control is necessary if the file extension does not uniquely identify
the dialect. You can override the default dialect, on a file-by-file basis, by
including a comment with the directive "fortran_dialect=xx" (where xx=f77 or
elf or F or f90 or f95) in one of the first three lines in your file. For
example, your older .f files may be written in extended f77 but your newer
ones may be F codes, and you would identify the latter by including in the
first three lines of those files a Fortran comment of the form
! fortran_dialect=F
F overrides elf if both directives are present.
Limitations
Parenthesis checking does not catch too few closing parentheses. Hollerith
strings are not recognized. Some keywords may be highlighted incorrectly
because Fortran90 has no reserved words.
For further information related to fortran, see |ft-fortran-indent| and
|ft-fortran-plugin|.
FVWM CONFIGURATION FILES *fvwm.vim* *ft-fvwm-syntax*
In order for Vim to recognize Fvwm configuration files that do not match
the patterns *fvwmrc* or *fvwm2rc* , you must put additional patterns
appropriate to your system in your myfiletypes.vim file. For these
patterns, you must set the variable "b:fvwm_version" to the major version
number of Fvwm, and the 'filetype' option to fvwm.
For example, to make Vim identify all files in /etc/X11/fvwm2/
as Fvwm2 configuration files, add the following:
:au! BufNewFile,BufRead /etc/X11/fvwm2/* let b:fvwm_version = 2 |
\ set filetype=fvwm
If you'd like Vim to highlight all valid color names, tell it where to
find the color database (rgb.txt) on your system. Do this by setting
"rgb_file" to its location. Assuming your color database is located
in /usr/X11/lib/X11/, you should add the line
:let rgb_file = "/usr/X11/lib/X11/rgb.txt"
to your .vimrc file.
GSP *gsp.vim* *ft-gsp-syntax*
The default coloring style for GSP pages is defined by |html.vim|, and
the coloring for java code (within java tags or inline between backticks)
is defined by |java.vim|. The following HTML groups defined in |html.vim|
are redefined to incorporate and highlight inline java code:
htmlString
htmlValue
htmlEndTag
htmlTag
htmlTagN
Highlighting should look fine most of the places where you'd see inline
java code, but in some special cases it may not. To add another HTML
group where you will have inline java code where it does not highlight
correctly, just copy the line you want from |html.vim| and add gspJava
to the contains clause.
The backticks for inline java are highlighted according to the htmlError
group to make them easier to see.
GROFF *groff.vim* *ft-groff-syntax*
The groff syntax file is a wrapper for |nroff.vim|, see the notes
under that heading for examples of use and configuration. The purpose
of this wrapper is to set up groff syntax extensions by setting the
filetype from a |modeline| or in a personal filetype definitions file
(see |filetype.txt|).
HASKELL *haskell.vim* *lhaskell.vim* *ft-haskell-syntax*
The Haskell syntax files support plain Haskell code as well as literate
Haskell code, the latter in both Bird style and TeX style. The Haskell
syntax highlighting will also highlight C preprocessor directives.
If you want to highlight delimiter characters (useful if you have a
light-coloured background), add to your .vimrc:
:let hs_highlight_delimiters = 1
To treat True and False as keywords as opposed to ordinary identifiers,
add:
:let hs_highlight_boolean = 1
To also treat the names of primitive types as keywords:
:let hs_highlight_types = 1
And to treat the names of even more relatively common types as keywords:
:let hs_highlight_more_types = 1
If you want to highlight the names of debugging functions, put in
your .vimrc:
:let hs_highlight_debug = 1
The Haskell syntax highlighting also highlights C preprocessor
directives, and flags lines that start with # but are not valid
directives as erroneous. This interferes with Haskell's syntax for
operators, as they may start with #. If you want to highlight those
as operators as opposed to errors, put in your .vimrc:
:let hs_allow_hash_operator = 1
The syntax highlighting for literate Haskell code will try to
automatically guess whether your literate Haskell code contains
TeX markup or not, and correspondingly highlight TeX constructs
or nothing at all. You can override this globally by putting
in your .vimrc
:let lhs_markup = none
for no highlighting at all, or
:let lhs_markup = tex
to force the highlighting to always try to highlight TeX markup.
For more flexibility, you may also use buffer local versions of
this variable, so e.g.
:let b:lhs_markup = tex
will force TeX highlighting for a particular buffer. It has to be
set before turning syntax highlighting on for the buffer or
loading a file.
HTML *html.vim* *ft-html-syntax*
The coloring scheme for tags in the HTML file works as follows.
The <> of opening tags are colored differently than the </> of a closing tag.
This is on purpose! For opening tags the 'Function' color is used, while for
closing tags the 'Type' color is used (See syntax.vim to check how those are
defined for you)
Known tag names are colored the same way as statements in C. Unknown tag
names are colored with the same color as the <> or </> respectively which
makes it easy to spot errors
Note that the same is true for argument (or attribute) names. Known attribute
names are colored differently than unknown ones.
Some HTML tags are used to change the rendering of text. The following tags
are recognized by the html.vim syntax coloring file and change the way normal
text is shown: <B> <I> <U> <EM> <STRONG> (<EM> is used as an alias for <I>,
while <STRONG> as an alias for <B>), <H1> - <H6>, <HEAD>, <TITLE> and <A>, but
only if used as a link (that is, it must include a href as in
<A href="somfile.html">).
If you want to change how such text is rendered, you must redefine the
following syntax groups:
- htmlBold
- htmlBoldUnderline
- htmlBoldUnderlineItalic
- htmlUnderline
- htmlUnderlineItalic
- htmlItalic
- htmlTitle for titles
- htmlH1 - htmlH6 for headings
To make this redefinition work you must redefine them all with the exception
of the last two (htmlTitle and htmlH[1-6], which are optional) and define the
following variable in your vimrc (this is due to the order in which the files
are read during initialization)
:let html_my_rendering=1
If you'd like to see an example download mysyntax.vim at
http://www.fleiner.com/vim/download.html
You can also disable this rendering by adding the following line to your
vimrc file:
:let html_no_rendering=1
HTML comments are rather special (see an HTML reference document for the
details), and the syntax coloring scheme will highlight all errors.
However, if you prefer to use the wrong style (starts with <!-- and
ends with --!>) you can define
:let html_wrong_comments=1
JavaScript and Visual Basic embedded inside HTML documents are highlighted as
'Special' with statements, comments, strings and so on colored as in standard
programming languages. Note that only JavaScript and Visual Basic are currently
supported, no other scripting language has been added yet.
Embedded and inlined cascading style sheets (CSS) are highlighted too.
There are several html preprocessor languages out there. html.vim has been
written such that it should be trivial to include it. To do so add the
following two lines to the syntax coloring file for that language
(the example comes from the asp.vim file):
runtime! syntax/html.vim
syn cluster htmlPreproc add=asp
Now you just need to make sure that you add all regions that contain
the preprocessor language to the cluster htmlPreproc.
HTML/OS (by Aestiva) *htmlos.vim* *ft-htmlos-syntax*
The coloring scheme for HTML/OS works as follows:
Functions and variable names are the same color by default, because VIM
doesn't specify different colors for Functions and Identifiers. To change
this (which is recommended if you want function names to be recognizable in a
different color) you need to add the following line to either your ~/.vimrc:
:hi Function term=underline cterm=bold ctermfg=LightGray
Of course, the ctermfg can be a different color if you choose.
Another issues that HTML/OS runs into is that there is no special filetype to
signify that it is a file with HTML/OS coding. You can change this by opening
a file and turning on HTML/OS syntax by doing the following:
:set syntax=htmlos
Lastly, it should be noted that the opening and closing characters to begin a
block of HTML/OS code can either be << or [[ and >> or ]], respectively.
IA64 *ia64.vim* *intel-itanium* *ft-ia64-syntax*
Highlighting for the Intel Itanium 64 assembly language. See |asm.vim| for
how to recognize this filetype.
To have *.inc files be recognized as IA64, add this to your .vimrc file:
:let g:filetype_inc = "ia64"
INFORM *inform.vim* *ft-inform-syntax*
Inform highlighting includes symbols provided by the Inform Library, as
most programs make extensive use of it. If do not wish Library symbols
to be highlighted add this to your vim startup:
:let inform_highlight_simple=1
By default it is assumed that Inform programs are Z-machine targeted,
and highlights Z-machine assembly language symbols appropriately. If
you intend your program to be targeted to a Glulx/Glk environment you
need to add this to your startup sequence:
:let inform_highlight_glulx=1
This will highlight Glulx opcodes instead, and also adds glk() to the
set of highlighted system functions.
The Inform compiler will flag certain obsolete keywords as errors when
it encounters them. These keywords are normally highlighted as errors
by Vim. To prevent such error highlighting, you must add this to your
startup sequence:
:let inform_suppress_obsolete=1
By default, the language features highlighted conform to Compiler
version 6.30 and Library version 6.11. If you are using an older
Inform development environment, you may with to add this to your
startup sequence:
:let inform_highlight_old=1
IDL *idl.vim* *idl-syntax*
IDL (Interface Definition Language) files are used to define RPC calls. In
Microsoft land, this is also used for defining COM interfaces and calls.
IDL's structure is simple enough to permit a full grammar based approach to
rather than using a few heuristics. The result is large and somewhat
repetative but seems to work.
There are some Microsoft extensions to idl files that are here. Some of them
are disabled by defining idl_no_ms_extensions.
The more complex of the extensions are disabled by defining idl_no_extensions.
Variable Effect
idl_no_ms_extensions Disable some of the Microsoft specific
extensions
idl_no_extensions Disable complex extensions
idlsyntax_showerror Show IDL errors (can be rather intrusive, but
quite helpful)
idlsyntax_showerror_soft Use softer colours by default for errors
JAVA *java.vim* *ft-java-syntax*
The java.vim syntax highlighting file offers several options:
In Java 1.0.2 it was never possible to have braces inside parens, so this was
flagged as an error. Since Java 1.1 this is possible (with anonymous
classes), and therefore is no longer marked as an error. If you prefer the old
way, put the following line into your vim startup file:
:let java_mark_braces_in_parens_as_errors=1
All identifiers in java.lang.* are always visible in all classes. To
highlight them use:
:let java_highlight_java_lang_ids=1
You can also highlight identifiers of most standard Java packages if you
download the javaid.vim script at http://www.fleiner.com/vim/download.html.
If you prefer to only highlight identifiers of a certain package, say java.io
use the following:
:let java_highlight_java_io=1
Check the javaid.vim file for a list of all the packages that are supported.
Function names are not highlighted, as the way to find functions depends on
how you write Java code. The syntax file knows two possible ways to highlight
functions:
If you write function declarations that are always indented by either
a tab, 8 spaces or 2 spaces you may want to set
:let java_highlight_functions="indent"
However, if you follow the Java guidelines about how functions and classes are
supposed to be named (with respect to upper and lowercase), use
:let java_highlight_functions="style"
If both options do not work for you, but you would still want function
declarations to be highlighted create your own definitions by changing the
definitions in java.vim or by creating your own java.vim which includes the
original one and then adds the code to highlight functions.
In Java 1.1 the functions System.out.println() and System.err.println() should
only be used for debugging. Therefore it is possible to highlight debugging
statements differently. To do this you must add the following definition in
your startup file:
:let java_highlight_debug=1
The result will be that those statements are highlighted as 'Special'
characters. If you prefer to have them highlighted differently you must define
new highlightings for the following groups.:
Debug, DebugSpecial, DebugString, DebugBoolean, DebugType
which are used for the statement itself, special characters used in debug
strings, strings, boolean constants and types (this, super) respectively. I
have opted to chose another background for those statements.
In order to help you to write code that can be easily ported between
Java and C++, all C++ keywords are marked as error in a Java program.
However, if you use them regularly, you may want to define the following
variable in your .vimrc file:
:let java_allow_cpp_keywords=1
Javadoc is a program that takes special comments out of Java program files and
creates HTML pages. The standard configuration will highlight this HTML code
similarly to HTML files (see |html.vim|). You can even add Javascript
and CSS inside this code (see below). There are four differences however:
1. The title (all characters up to the first '.' which is followed by
some white space or up to the first '@') is colored differently (to change
the color change the group CommentTitle).
2. The text is colored as 'Comment'.
3. HTML comments are colored as 'Special'
4. The special Javadoc tags (@see, @param, ...) are highlighted as specials
and the argument (for @see, @param, @exception) as Function.
To turn this feature off add the following line to your startup file:
:let java_ignore_javadoc=1
If you use the special Javadoc comment highlighting described above you
can also turn on special highlighting for Javascript, visual basic
scripts and embedded CSS (stylesheets). This makes only sense if you
actually have Javadoc comments that include either Javascript or embedded
CSS. The options to use are
:let java_javascript=1
:let java_css=1
:let java_vb=1
In order to highlight nested parens with different colors define colors
for javaParen, javaParen1 and javaParen2, for example with
:hi link javaParen Comment
or
:hi javaParen ctermfg=blue guifg=#0000ff
If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed
when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "java_minlines" internal variable
to a larger number:
:let java_minlines = 50
This will make the syntax synchronization start 50 lines before the first
displayed line. The default value is 10. The disadvantage of using a larger
number is that redrawing can become slow.
LACE *lace.vim* *ft-lace-syntax*
Lace (Language for Assembly of Classes in Eiffel) is case insensitive, but the
style guide lines are not. If you prefer case insensitive highlighting, just
define the vim variable 'lace_case_insensitive' in your startup file:
:let lace_case_insensitive=1
LEX *lex.vim* *ft-lex-syntax*
Lex uses brute-force synchronizing as the "^%%$" section delimiter
gives no clue as to what section follows. Consequently, the value for
:syn sync minlines=300
may be changed by the user if s/he is experiencing synchronization
difficulties (such as may happen with large lex files).
LISP *lisp.vim* *ft-lisp-syntax*
The lisp syntax highlighting provides two options:
g:lisp_instring : if it exists, then "(...)" strings are highlighted
as if the contents of the string were lisp.
Useful for AutoLisp.
g:lisp_rainbow : if it exists and is nonzero, then differing levels
of parenthesization will receive different
highlighting.
The g:lisp_rainbow option provides 10 levels of individual colorization for
the parentheses and backquoted parentheses. Because of the quantity of
colorization levels, unlike non-rainbow highlighting, the rainbow mode
specifies its highlighting using ctermfg and guifg, thereby bypassing the
usual colorscheme control using standard highlighting groups. The actual
highlighting used depends on the dark/bright setting (see |'bg'|).
LITE *lite.vim* *ft-lite-syntax*
There are two options for the lite syntax highlighting.
If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this:
:let lite_sql_query = 1
For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can
set "lite_minlines" to the value you desire. Example:
:let lite_minlines = 200
LPC *lpc.vim* *ft-lpc-syntax*
LPC stands for a simple, memory-efficient language: Lars Pensj| C. The
file name of LPC is usually *.c. Recognizing these files as LPC would bother
users writing only C programs. If you want to use LPC syntax in Vim, you
should set a variable in your .vimrc file:
:let lpc_syntax_for_c = 1
If it doesn't work properly for some particular C or LPC files, use a
modeline. For a LPC file:
// vim:set ft=lpc:
For a C file that is recognized as LPC:
// vim:set ft=c:
If you don't want to set the variable, use the modeline in EVERY LPC file.
There are several implementations for LPC, we intend to support most widely
used ones. Here the default LPC syntax is for MudOS series, for MudOS v22
and before, you should turn off the sensible modifiers, and this will also
asserts the new efuns after v22 to be invalid, don't set this variable when
you are using the latest version of MudOS:
:let lpc_pre_v22 = 1
For LpMud 3.2 series of LPC:
:let lpc_compat_32 = 1
For LPC4 series of LPC:
:let lpc_use_lpc4_syntax = 1
For uLPC series of LPC:
uLPC has been developed to Pike, so you should use Pike syntax
instead, and the name of your source file should be *.pike
LUA *lua.vim* *ft-lua-syntax*
This syntax file may be used for Lua 4.0, Lua 5.0 or Lua 5.1 (the latter is
the default). You can select one of these versions using the global variables
lua_version and lua_subversion. For example, to activate Lua
4.0 syntax highlighting, use this command:
:let lua_version = 4
If you are using Lua 5.0, use these commands:
:let lua_version = 5
:let lua_subversion = 0
To restore highlighting for Lua 5.1:
:let lua_version = 5
:let lua_subversion = 1
MAIL *mail.vim* *ft-mail.vim*
Vim highlights all the standard elements of an email (headers, signatures,
quoted text and URLs / email addresses). In keeping with standard conventions,
signatures begin in a line containing only "--" followed optionally by
whitespaces and end with a newline.
Vim treats lines beginning with ']', '}', '|', '>' or a word followed by '>'
as quoted text. However Vim highlights headers and signatures in quoted text
only if the text is quoted with '>' (optionally followed by one space).
By default mail.vim synchronises syntax to 100 lines before the first
displayed line. If you have a slow machine, and generally deal with emails
with short headers, you can change this to a smaller value:
:let mail_minlines = 30
MAKE *make.vim* *ft-make-syntax*
In makefiles, commands are usually highlighted to make it easy for you to spot
errors. However, this may be too much coloring for you. You can turn this
feature off by using:
:let make_no_commands = 1
MAPLE *maple.vim* *ft-maple-syntax*
Maple V, by Waterloo Maple Inc, supports symbolic algebra. The language
supports many packages of functions which are selectively loaded by the user.
The standard set of packages' functions as supplied in Maple V release 4 may be
highlighted at the user's discretion. Users may place in their .vimrc file:
:let mvpkg_all= 1
to get all package functions highlighted, or users may select any subset by
choosing a variable/package from the table below and setting that variable to
1, also in their .vimrc file (prior to sourcing
$VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim).
Table of Maple V Package Function Selectors
mv_DEtools mv_genfunc mv_networks mv_process
mv_Galois mv_geometry mv_numapprox mv_simplex
mv_GaussInt mv_grobner mv_numtheory mv_stats
mv_LREtools mv_group mv_orthopoly mv_student
mv_combinat mv_inttrans mv_padic mv_sumtools
mv_combstruct mv_liesymm mv_plots mv_tensor
mv_difforms mv_linalg mv_plottools mv_totorder
mv_finance mv_logic mv_powseries
MATHEMATICA *mma.vim* *ft-mma-syntax* *ft-mathematica-syntax*
Empty *.m files will automatically be presumed to be Matlab files unless you
have the following in your .vimrc:
let filetype_m = "mma"
MOO *moo.vim* *ft-moo-syntax*
If you use C-style comments inside expressions and find it mangles your
highlighting, you may want to use extended (slow!) matches for C-style
comments:
:let moo_extended_cstyle_comments = 1
To disable highlighting of pronoun substitution patterns inside strings:
:let moo_no_pronoun_sub = 1
To disable highlighting of the regular expression operator '%|', and matching
'%(' and '%)' inside strings:
:let moo_no_regexp = 1
Unmatched double quotes can be recognized and highlighted as errors:
:let moo_unmatched_quotes = 1
To highlight builtin properties (.name, .location, .programmer etc.):
:let moo_builtin_properties = 1
Unknown builtin functions can be recognized and highlighted as errors. If you
use this option, add your own extensions to the mooKnownBuiltinFunction group.
To enable this option:
:let moo_unknown_builtin_functions = 1
An example of adding sprintf() to the list of known builtin functions:
:syn keyword mooKnownBuiltinFunction sprintf contained
MSQL *msql.vim* *ft-msql-syntax*
There are two options for the msql syntax highlighting.
If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this:
:let msql_sql_query = 1
For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can
set "msql_minlines" to the value you desire. Example:
:let msql_minlines = 200
NCF *ncf.vim* *ft-ncf-syntax*
There is one option for NCF syntax highlighting.
If you want to have unrecognized (by ncf.vim) statements highlighted as
errors, use this:
:let ncf_highlight_unknowns = 1
If you don't want to highlight these errors, leave it unset.
NROFF *nroff.vim* *ft-nroff-syntax*
The nroff syntax file works with AT&T n/troff out of the box. You need to
activate the GNU groff extra features included in the syntax file before you
can use them.
For example, Linux and BSD distributions use groff as their default text
processing package. In order to activate the extra syntax highlighting
features for groff, add the following option to your start-up files:
:let b:nroff_is_groff = 1
Groff is different from the old AT&T n/troff that you may still find in
Solaris. Groff macro and request names can be longer than 2 characters and
there are extensions to the language primitives. For example, in AT&T troff
you access the year as a 2-digit number with the request \(yr. In groff you
can use the same request, recognized for compatibility, or you can use groff's
native syntax, \[yr]. Furthermore, you can use a 4-digit year directly:
\[year]. Macro requests can be longer than 2 characters, for example, GNU mm
accepts the requests ".VERBON" and ".VERBOFF" for creating verbatim
environments.
In order to obtain the best formatted output g/troff can give you, you should
follow a few simple rules about spacing and punctuation.
1. Do not leave empty spaces at the end of lines.
2. Leave one space and one space only after an end-of-sentence period,
exclamation mark, etc.
3. For reasons stated below, it is best to follow all period marks with a
carriage return.
The reason behind these unusual tips is that g/n/troff have a line breaking
algorithm that can be easily upset if you don't follow the rules given above.
Unlike TeX, troff fills text line-by-line, not paragraph-by-paragraph and,
furthermore, it does not have a concept of glue or stretch, all horizontal and
vertical space input will be output as is.
Therefore, you should be careful about not using more space between sentences
than you intend to have in your final document. For this reason, the common
practice is to insert a carriage return immediately after all punctuation
marks. If you want to have "even" text in your final processed output, you
need to maintaining regular spacing in the input text. To mark both trailing
spaces and two or more spaces after a punctuation as an error, use:
:let nroff_space_errors = 1
Another technique to detect extra spacing and other errors that will interfere
with the correct typesetting of your file, is to define an eye-catching
highlighting definition for the syntax groups "nroffDefinition" and
"nroffDefSpecial" in your configuration files. For example:
hi def nroffDefinition term=italic cterm=italic gui=reverse
hi def nroffDefSpecial term=italic,bold cterm=italic,bold
\ gui=reverse,bold
If you want to navigate preprocessor entries in your source file as easily as
with section markers, you can activate the following option in your .vimrc
file:
let b:preprocs_as_sections = 1
As well, the syntax file adds an extra paragraph marker for the extended
paragraph macro (.XP) in the ms package.
Finally, there is a |groff.vim| syntax file that can be used for enabling
groff syntax highlighting either on a file basis or globally by default.
OCAML *ocaml.vim* *ft-ocaml-syntax*
The OCaml syntax file handles files having the following prefixes: .ml,
.mli, .mll and .mly. By setting the following variable
:let ocaml_revised = 1
you can switch from standard OCaml-syntax to revised syntax as supported
by the camlp4 preprocessor. Setting the variable
:let ocaml_noend_error = 1
prevents highlighting of "end" as error, which is useful when sources
contain very long structures that Vim does not synchronize anymore.
PAPP *papp.vim* *ft-papp-syntax*
The PApp syntax file handles .papp files and, to a lesser extend, .pxml
and .pxsl files which are all a mixture of perl/xml/html/other using xml
as the top-level file format. By default everything inside phtml or pxml
sections is treated as a string with embedded preprocessor commands. If
you set the variable:
:let papp_include_html=1
in your startup file it will try to syntax-hilight html code inside phtml
sections, but this is relatively slow and much too colourful to be able to
edit sensibly. ;)
The newest version of the papp.vim syntax file can usually be found at
http://papp.plan9.de.
PASCAL *pascal.vim* *ft-pascal-syntax*
Files matching "*.p" could be Progress or Pascal. If the automatic detection
doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your
startup vimrc:
:let filetype_p = "pascal"
The Pascal syntax file has been extended to take into account some extensions
provided by Turbo Pascal, Free Pascal Compiler and GNU Pascal Compiler.
Delphi keywords are also supported. By default, Turbo Pascal 7.0 features are
enabled. If you prefer to stick with the standard Pascal keywords, add the
following line to your startup file:
:let pascal_traditional=1
To switch on Delphi specific constructions (such as one-line comments,
keywords, etc):
:let pascal_delphi=1
The option pascal_symbol_operator controls whether symbol operators such as +,
*, .., etc. are displayed using the Operator color or not. To colorize symbol
operators, add the following line to your startup file:
:let pascal_symbol_operator=1
Some functions are highlighted by default. To switch it off:
:let pascal_no_functions=1
Furthermore, there are specific variable for some compiler. Besides
pascal_delphi, there are pascal_gpc and pascal_fpc. Default extensions try to
match Turbo Pascal.
:let pascal_gpc=1
or
:let pascal_fpc=1
To ensure that strings are defined on a single line, you can define the
pascal_one_line_string variable.
:let pascal_one_line_string=1
If you dislike <Tab> chars, you can set the pascal_no_tabs variable. Tabs
will be highlighted as Error.
:let pascal_no_tabs=1
PERL *perl.vim* *ft-perl-syntax*
There are a number of possible options to the perl syntax highlighting.
If you use POD files or POD segments, you might:
:let perl_include_pod = 1
The reduce the complexity of parsing (and increase performance) you can switch
off two elements in the parsing of variable names and contents.
To handle package references in variable and function names not differently
from the rest of the name (like 'PkgName::' in '$PkgName::VarName'):
:let perl_no_scope_in_variables = 1
(In Vim 6.x it was the other way around: "perl_want_scope_in_variables"
enabled it.)
If you do not want complex things like '@{${"foo"}}' to be parsed:
:let perl_no_extended_vars = 1
(In Vim 6.x it was the other way around: "perl_extended_vars" enabled it.)
The coloring strings can be changed. By default strings and qq friends will be
highlighted like the first line. If you set the variable
perl_string_as_statement, it will be highlighted as in the second line.
"hello world!"; qq|hello world|;
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^NN^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^N (unlet perl_string_as_statement)
S^^^^^^^^^^^^SNNSSS^^^^^^^^^^^SN (let perl_string_as_statement)
(^ = perlString, S = perlStatement, N = None at all)
The syncing has 3 options. The first two switch off some triggering of
synchronization and should only be needed in case it fails to work properly.
If while scrolling all of a sudden the whole screen changes color completely
then you should try and switch off one of those. Let me know if you can figure
out the line that causes the mistake.
One triggers on "^\s*sub\s*" and the other on "^[$@%]" more or less.
:let perl_no_sync_on_sub
:let perl_no_sync_on_global_var
Below you can set the maximum distance VIM should look for starting points for
its attempts in syntax highlighting.
:let perl_sync_dist = 100
If you want to use folding with perl, set perl_fold:
:let perl_fold = 1
If you want to fold blocks in if statements, etc. as well set the following:
:let perl_fold_blocks = 1
To avoid folding packages or subs when perl_fold is let, let the appropriate
variable(s):
:unlet perl_nofold_packages
:unlet perl_nofold_subs
PHP3 and PHP4 *php.vim* *php3.vim* *ft-php-syntax* *ft-php3-syntax*
[note: previously this was called "php3", but since it now also supports php4
it has been renamed to "php"]
There are the following options for the php syntax highlighting.
If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings:
let php_sql_query = 1
For highlighting the Baselib methods:
let php_baselib = 1
Enable HTML syntax highlighting inside strings:
let php_htmlInStrings = 1
Using the old colorstyle:
let php_oldStyle = 1
Enable highlighting ASP-style short tags:
let php_asp_tags = 1
Disable short tags:
let php_noShortTags = 1
For highlighting parent error ] or ):
let php_parent_error_close = 1
For skipping an php end tag, if there exists an open ( or [ without a closing
one:
let php_parent_error_open = 1
Enable folding for classes and functions:
let php_folding = 1
Selecting syncing method:
let php_sync_method = x
x = -1 to sync by search (default),
x > 0 to sync at least x lines backwards,
x = 0 to sync from start.
PLAINTEX *plaintex.vim* *ft-plaintex-syntax*
TeX is a typesetting language, and plaintex is the file type for the "plain"
variant of TeX. If you never want your *.tex files recognized as plain TeX,
see |ft-tex-plugin|.
This syntax file has the option
let g:plaintex_delimiters = 1
if you want to highlight brackets "[]" and braces "{}".
PPWIZARD *ppwiz.vim* *ft-ppwiz-syntax*
PPWizard is a preprocessor for HTML and OS/2 INF files
This syntax file has the options:
- ppwiz_highlight_defs : determines highlighting mode for PPWizard's
definitions. Possible values are
ppwiz_highlight_defs = 1 : PPWizard #define statements retain the
colors of their contents (e.g. PPWizard macros and variables)
ppwiz_highlight_defs = 2 : preprocessor #define and #evaluate
statements are shown in a single color with the exception of line
continuation symbols
The default setting for ppwiz_highlight_defs is 1.
- ppwiz_with_html : If the value is 1 (the default), highlight literal
HTML code; if 0, treat HTML code like ordinary text.
PHTML *phtml.vim* *ft-phtml-syntax*
There are two options for the phtml syntax highlighting.
If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this:
:let phtml_sql_query = 1
For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can
set "phtml_minlines" to the value you desire. Example:
:let phtml_minlines = 200
POSTSCRIPT *postscr.vim* *ft-postscr-syntax*
There are several options when it comes to highlighting PostScript.
First which version of the PostScript language to highlight. There are
currently three defined language versions, or levels. Level 1 is the original
and base version, and includes all extensions prior to the release of level 2.
Level 2 is the most common version around, and includes its own set of
extensions prior to the release of level 3. Level 3 is currently the highest
level supported. You select which level of the PostScript language you want
highlighted by defining the postscr_level variable as follows:
:let postscr_level=2
If this variable is not defined it defaults to 2 (level 2) since this is
the most prevalent version currently.
Note, not all PS interpreters will support all language features for a
particular language level. In particular the %!PS-Adobe-3.0 at the start of
PS files does NOT mean the PostScript present is level 3 PostScript!
If you are working with Display PostScript, you can include highlighting of
Display PS language features by defining the postscr_display variable as
follows:
:let postscr_display=1
If you are working with Ghostscript, you can include highlighting of
Ghostscript specific language features by defining the variable
postscr_ghostscript as follows:
:let postscr_ghostscript=1
PostScript is a large language, with many predefined elements. While it
useful to have all these elements highlighted, on slower machines this can
cause Vim to slow down. In an attempt to be machine friendly font names and
character encodings are not highlighted by default. Unless you are working
explicitly with either of these this should be ok. If you want them to be
highlighted you should set one or both of the following variables:
:let postscr_fonts=1
:let postscr_encodings=1
There is a stylistic option to the highlighting of and, or, and not. In
PostScript the function of these operators depends on the types of their
operands - if the operands are booleans then they are the logical operators,
if they are integers then they are binary operators. As binary and logical
operators can be highlighted differently they have to be highlighted one way
or the other. By default they are treated as logical operators. They can be
highlighted as binary operators by defining the variable
postscr_andornot_binary as follows:
:let postscr_andornot_binary=1
*ptcap.vim* *ft-printcap-syntax*
PRINTCAP + TERMCAP *ft-ptcap-syntax* *ft-termcap-syntax*
This syntax file applies to the printcap and termcap databases.
In order for Vim to recognize printcap/termcap files that do not match
the patterns *printcap*, or *termcap*, you must put additional patterns
appropriate to your system in your |myfiletypefile| file. For these
patterns, you must set the variable "b:ptcap_type" to either "print" or
"term", and then the 'filetype' option to ptcap.
For example, to make Vim identify all files in /etc/termcaps/ as termcap
files, add the following:
:au BufNewFile,BufRead /etc/termcaps/* let b:ptcap_type = "term" |
\ set filetype=ptcap
If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which
are fixed when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "ptcap_minlines"
internal variable to a larger number:
:let ptcap_minlines = 50
(The default is 20 lines.)
PROGRESS *progress.vim* *ft-progress-syntax*
Files matching "*.w" could be Progress or cweb. If the automatic detection
doesn't work for you, or you don't edit cweb at all, use this in your
startup vimrc:
:let filetype_w = "progress"
The same happens for "*.i", which could be assembly, and "*.p", which could be
Pascal. Use this if you don't use assembly and Pascal:
:let filetype_i = "progress"
:let filetype_p = "progress"
PYTHON *python.vim* *ft-python-syntax*
There are four options to control Python syntax highlighting.
For highlighted numbers:
:let python_highlight_numbers = 1
For highlighted builtin functions:
:let python_highlight_builtins = 1
For highlighted standard exceptions:
:let python_highlight_exceptions = 1
For highlighted trailing whitespace and mix of spaces and tabs:
:let python_highlight_space_errors = 1
If you want all possible Python highlighting (the same as setting the
preceding three options):
:let python_highlight_all = 1
QUAKE *quake.vim* *ft-quake-syntax*
The Quake syntax definition should work for most any FPS (First Person
Shooter) based on one of the Quake engines. However, the command names vary
a bit between the three games (Quake, Quake 2, and Quake 3 Arena) so the
syntax definition checks for the existence of three global variables to allow
users to specify what commands are legal in their files. The three variables
can be set for the following effects:
set to highlight commands only available in Quake:
:let quake_is_quake1 = 1
set to highlight commands only available in Quake 2:
:let quake_is_quake2 = 1
set to highlight commands only available in Quake 3 Arena:
:let quake_is_quake3 = 1
Any combination of these three variables is legal, but might highlight more
commands than are actually available to you by the game.
READLINE *readline.vim* *ft-readline-syntax*
The readline library is primarily used by the BASH shell, which adds quite a
few commands and options to the ones already available. To highlight these
items as well you can add the following to your |vimrc| or just type it in the
command line before loading a file with the readline syntax:
let readline_has_bash = 1
This will add highlighting for the commands that BASH (version 2.05a and
later, and part earlier) adds.
REXX *rexx.vim* *ft-rexx-syntax*
If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed
when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "rexx_minlines" internal variable
to a larger number:
:let rexx_minlines = 50
This will make the syntax synchronization start 50 lines before the first
displayed line. The default value is 10. The disadvantage of using a larger
number is that redrawing can become slow.
RUBY *ruby.vim* *ft-ruby-syntax*
There are a number of options to the Ruby syntax highlighting.
By default, the "end" keyword is colorized according to the opening statement
of the block it closes. While useful, this feature can be expensive; if you
experience slow redrawing (or you are on a terminal with poor color support)
you may want to turn it off by defining the "ruby_no_expensive" variable:
:let ruby_no_expensive = 1
In this case the same color will be used for all control keywords.
If you do want this feature enabled, but notice highlighting errors while
scrolling backwards, which are fixed when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting
the "ruby_minlines" variable to a value larger than 50:
:let ruby_minlines = 100
Ideally, this value should be a number of lines large enough to embrace your
largest class or module.
Highlighting of special identifiers can be disabled by defining
"ruby_no_identifiers":
:let ruby_no_identifiers = 1
This will prevent highlighting of special identifiers like "ConstantName",
"$global_var", "@@class_var", "@instance_var", "| block_param |", and
":symbol".
Significant methods of Kernel, Module and Object are highlighted by default.
This can be disabled by defining "ruby_no_special_methods":
:let ruby_no_special_methods = 1
This will prevent highlighting of important methods such as "require", "attr",
"private", "raise" and "proc".
Whitespace errors can be highlighted by defining "ruby_space_errors":
:let ruby_space_errors = 1
This will highlight trailing whitespace and tabs preceded by a space character
as errors. This can be refined by defining "ruby_no_trail_space_error" and
"ruby_no_tab_space_error" which will ignore trailing whitespace and tabs after
spaces respectively.
Folding can be enabled by defining "ruby_fold":
:let ruby_fold = 1
This will set the 'foldmethod' option to "syntax" and allow folding of
classes, modules, methods, code blocks, heredocs and comments.
SCHEME *scheme.vim* *ft-scheme-syntax*
By default only R5RS keywords are highlighted and properly indented.
MzScheme-specific stuff will be used if b:is_mzscheme or g:is_mzscheme
variables are defined.
Also scheme.vim supports keywords of the Chicken Scheme->C compiler. Define
b:is_chicken or g:is_chicken, if you need them.
SDL *sdl.vim* *ft-sdl-syntax*
The SDL highlighting probably misses a few keywords, but SDL has so many
of them it's almost impossibly to cope.
The new standard, SDL-2000, specifies that all identifiers are
case-sensitive (which was not so before), and that all keywords can be
used either completely lowercase or completely uppercase. To have the
highlighting reflect this, you can set the following variable:
:let sdl_2000=1
This also sets many new keywords. If you want to disable the old
keywords, which is probably a good idea, use:
:let SDL_no_96=1
The indentation is probably also incomplete, but right now I am very
satisfied with it for my own projects.
SED *sed.vim* *ft-sed-syntax*
To make tabs stand out from regular blanks (accomplished by using Todo
highlighting on the tabs), define "highlight_sedtabs" by putting
:let highlight_sedtabs = 1
in the vimrc file. (This special highlighting only applies for tabs
inside search patterns, replacement texts, addresses or text included
by an Append/Change/Insert command.) If you enable this option, it is
also a good idea to set the tab width to one character; by doing that,
you can easily count the number of tabs in a string.
Bugs: