1*syntax.txt* For Vim version 7.3. Last change: 2010 Aug 10 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. Window-local syntax |:ownsyntax| 3917. Color xterms |xterm-color| 40 41{Vi does not have any of these commands} 42 43Syntax highlighting is not available when the |+syntax| feature has been 44disabled at compile time. 45 46============================================================================== 471. Quick start *:syn-qstart* 48 49 *:syn-enable* *:syntax-enable* 50This command switches on syntax highlighting: > 51 52 :syntax enable 53 54What this command actually does is to execute the command > 55 :source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim 56 57If the VIM environment variable is not set, Vim will try to find 58the path in another way (see |$VIMRUNTIME|). Usually this works just 59fine. If it doesn't, try setting the VIM environment variable to the 60directory where the Vim stuff is located. For example, if your syntax files 61are in the "/usr/vim/vim50/syntax" directory, set $VIMRUNTIME to 62"/usr/vim/vim50". You must do this in the shell, before starting Vim. 63 64 *:syn-on* *:syntax-on* 65The ":syntax enable" command will keep your current color settings. This 66allows using ":highlight" commands to set your preferred colors before or 67after using this command. If you want Vim to overrule your settings with the 68defaults, use: > 69 :syntax on 70< 71 *:hi-normal* *:highlight-normal* 72If you are running in the GUI, you can get white text on a black background 73with: > 74 :highlight Normal guibg=Black guifg=White 75For a color terminal see |:hi-normal-cterm|. 76For setting up your own colors syntax highlighting see |syncolor|. 77 78NOTE: The syntax files on MS-DOS and Windows have lines that end in <CR><NL>. 79The files for Unix end in <NL>. This means you should use the right type of 80file for your system. Although on MS-DOS and Windows the right format is 81automatically selected if the 'fileformats' option is not empty. 82 83NOTE: When using reverse video ("gvim -fg white -bg black"), the default value 84of 'background' will not be set until the GUI window is opened, which is after 85reading the |gvimrc|. This will cause the wrong default highlighting to be 86used. To set the default value of 'background' before switching on 87highlighting, include the ":gui" command in the |gvimrc|: > 88 89 :gui " open window and set default for 'background' 90 :syntax on " start highlighting, use 'background' to set colors 91 92NOTE: Using ":gui" in the |gvimrc| means that "gvim -f" won't start in the 93foreground! Use ":gui -f" then. 94 95 *g:syntax_on* 96You can toggle the syntax on/off with this command: > 97 :if exists("g:syntax_on") | syntax off | else | syntax enable | endif 98 99To put this into a mapping, you can use: > 100 :map <F7> :if exists("g:syntax_on") <Bar> 101 \ syntax off <Bar> 102 \ else <Bar> 103 \ syntax enable <Bar> 104 \ endif <CR> 105[using the |<>| notation, type this literally] 106 107Details: 108The ":syntax" commands are implemented by sourcing a file. To see exactly how 109this works, look in the file: 110 command file ~ 111 :syntax enable $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim 112 :syntax on $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim 113 :syntax manual $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/manual.vim 114 :syntax off $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim 115Also see |syntax-loading|. 116 117NOTE: If displaying long lines is slow and switching off syntax highlighting 118makes it fast, consider setting the 'synmaxcol' option to a lower value. 119 120============================================================================== 1212. Syntax files *:syn-files* 122 123The syntax and highlighting commands for one language are normally stored in 124a syntax file. The name convention is: "{name}.vim". Where {name} is the 125name of the language, or an abbreviation (to fit the name in 8.3 characters, 126a requirement in case the file is used on a DOS filesystem). 127Examples: 128 c.vim perl.vim java.vim html.vim 129 cpp.vim sh.vim csh.vim 130 131The syntax file can contain any Ex commands, just like a vimrc file. But 132the idea is that only commands for a specific language are included. When a 133language is a superset of another language, it may include the other one, 134for example, the cpp.vim file could include the c.vim file: > 135 :so $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/c.vim 136 137The .vim files are normally loaded with an autocommand. For example: > 138 :au Syntax c runtime! syntax/c.vim 139 :au Syntax cpp runtime! syntax/cpp.vim 140These commands are normally in the file $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/synload.vim. 141 142 143MAKING YOUR OWN SYNTAX FILES *mysyntaxfile* 144 145When you create your own syntax files, and you want to have Vim use these 146automatically with ":syntax enable", do this: 147 1481. Create your user runtime directory. You would normally use the first item 149 of the 'runtimepath' option. Example for Unix: > 150 mkdir ~/.vim 151 1522. Create a directory in there called "syntax". For Unix: > 153 mkdir ~/.vim/syntax 154 1553. Write the Vim syntax file. Or download one from the internet. Then write 156 it in your syntax directory. For example, for the "mine" syntax: > 157 :w ~/.vim/syntax/mine.vim 158 159Now you can start using your syntax file manually: > 160 :set syntax=mine 161You don't have to exit Vim to use this. 162 163If you also want Vim to detect the type of file, see |new-filetype|. 164 165If you are setting up a system with many users and you don't want each user 166to add the same syntax file, you can use another directory from 'runtimepath'. 167 168 169ADDING TO AN EXISTING SYNTAX FILE *mysyntaxfile-add* 170 171If you are mostly satisfied with an existing syntax file, but would like to 172add a few items or change the highlighting, follow these steps: 173 1741. Create your user directory from 'runtimepath', see above. 175 1762. Create a directory in there called "after/syntax". For Unix: > 177 mkdir ~/.vim/after 178 mkdir ~/.vim/after/syntax 179 1803. Write a Vim script that contains the commands you want to use. For 181 example, to change the colors for the C syntax: > 182 highlight cComment ctermfg=Green guifg=Green 183 1844. Write that file in the "after/syntax" directory. Use the name of the 185 syntax, with ".vim" added. For our C syntax: > 186 :w ~/.vim/after/syntax/c.vim 187 188That's it. The next time you edit a C file the Comment color will be 189different. You don't even have to restart Vim. 190 191If you have multiple files, you can use the filetype as the directory name. 192All the "*.vim" files in this directory will be used, for example: 193 ~/.vim/after/syntax/c/one.vim 194 ~/.vim/after/syntax/c/two.vim 195 196 197REPLACING AN EXISTING SYNTAX FILE *mysyntaxfile-replace* 198 199If you don't like a distributed syntax file, or you have downloaded a new 200version, follow the same steps as for |mysyntaxfile| above. Just make sure 201that you write the syntax file in a directory that is early in 'runtimepath'. 202Vim will only load the first syntax file found. 203 204 205NAMING CONVENTIONS *group-name* *{group-name}* *E669* *W18* 206 207A syntax group name is to be used for syntax items that match the same kind of 208thing. These are then linked to a highlight group that specifies the color. 209A syntax group name doesn't specify any color or attributes itself. 210 211The name for a highlight or syntax group must consist of ASCII letters, digits 212and the underscore. As a regexp: "[a-zA-Z0-9_]*" 213 214To be able to allow each user to pick his favorite set of colors, there must 215be preferred names for highlight groups that are common for many languages. 216These are the suggested group names (if syntax highlighting works properly 217you can see the actual color, except for "Ignore"): 218 219 *Comment any comment 220 221 *Constant any constant 222 String a string constant: "this is a string" 223 Character a character constant: 'c', '\n' 224 Number a number constant: 234, 0xff 225 Boolean a boolean constant: TRUE, false 226 Float a floating point constant: 2.3e10 227 228 *Identifier any variable name 229 Function function name (also: methods for classes) 230 231 *Statement any statement 232 Conditional if, then, else, endif, switch, etc. 233 Repeat for, do, while, etc. 234 Label case, default, etc. 235 Operator "sizeof", "+", "*", etc. 236 Keyword any other keyword 237 Exception try, catch, throw 238 239 *PreProc generic Preprocessor 240 Include preprocessor #include 241 Define preprocessor #define 242 Macro same as Define 243 PreCondit preprocessor #if, #else, #endif, etc. 244 245 *Type int, long, char, etc. 246 StorageClass static, register, volatile, etc. 247 Structure struct, union, enum, etc. 248 Typedef A typedef 249 250 *Special any special symbol 251 SpecialChar special character in a constant 252 Tag you can use CTRL-] on this 253 Delimiter character that needs attention 254 SpecialComment special things inside a comment 255 Debug debugging statements 256 257 *Underlined text that stands out, HTML links 258 259 *Ignore left blank, hidden |hl-Ignore| 260 261 *Error any erroneous construct 262 263 *Todo anything that needs extra attention; mostly the 264 keywords TODO FIXME and XXX 265 266The names marked with * are the preferred groups; the others are minor groups. 267For the preferred groups, the "syntax.vim" file contains default highlighting. 268The minor groups are linked to the preferred groups, so they get the same 269highlighting. You can override these defaults by using ":highlight" commands 270after sourcing the "syntax.vim" file. 271 272Note that highlight group names are not case sensitive. "String" and "string" 273can be used for the same group. 274 275The following names are reserved and cannot be used as a group name: 276 NONE ALL ALLBUT contains contained 277 278 *hl-Ignore* 279When using the Ignore group, you may also consider using the conceal 280mechanism. See |conceal|. 281 282============================================================================== 2833. Syntax loading procedure *syntax-loading* 284 285This explains the details that happen when the command ":syntax enable" is 286issued. When Vim initializes itself, it finds out where the runtime files are 287located. This is used here as the variable |$VIMRUNTIME|. 288 289":syntax enable" and ":syntax on" do the following: 290 291 Source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim 292 | 293 +- Clear out any old syntax by sourcing $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim 294 | 295 +- Source first syntax/synload.vim in 'runtimepath' 296 | | 297 | +- Setup the colors for syntax highlighting. If a color scheme is 298 | | defined it is loaded again with ":colors {name}". Otherwise 299 | | ":runtime! syntax/syncolor.vim" is used. ":syntax on" overrules 300 | | existing colors, ":syntax enable" only sets groups that weren't 301 | | set yet. 302 | | 303 | +- Set up syntax autocmds to load the appropriate syntax file when 304 | | the 'syntax' option is set. *synload-1* 305 | | 306 | +- Source the user's optional file, from the |mysyntaxfile| variable. 307 | This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only. *synload-2* 308 | 309 +- Do ":filetype on", which does ":runtime! filetype.vim". It loads any 310 | filetype.vim files found. It should always Source 311 | $VIMRUNTIME/filetype.vim, which does the following. 312 | | 313 | +- Install autocmds based on suffix to set the 'filetype' option 314 | | This is where the connection between file name and file type is 315 | | made for known file types. *synload-3* 316 | | 317 | +- Source the user's optional file, from the *myfiletypefile* 318 | | variable. This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only. 319 | | *synload-4* 320 | | 321 | +- Install one autocommand which sources scripts.vim when no file 322 | | type was detected yet. *synload-5* 323 | | 324 | +- Source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim, to setup the Syntax menu. |menu.vim| 325 | 326 +- Install a FileType autocommand to set the 'syntax' option when a file 327 | type has been detected. *synload-6* 328 | 329 +- Execute syntax autocommands to start syntax highlighting for each 330 already loaded buffer. 331 332 333Upon loading a file, Vim finds the relevant syntax file as follows: 334 335 Loading the file triggers the BufReadPost autocommands. 336 | 337 +- If there is a match with one of the autocommands from |synload-3| 338 | (known file types) or |synload-4| (user's file types), the 'filetype' 339 | option is set to the file type. 340 | 341 +- The autocommand at |synload-5| is triggered. If the file type was not 342 | found yet, then scripts.vim is searched for in 'runtimepath'. This 343 | should always load $VIMRUNTIME/scripts.vim, which does the following. 344 | | 345 | +- Source the user's optional file, from the *myscriptsfile* 346 | | variable. This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only. 347 | | 348 | +- If the file type is still unknown, check the contents of the file, 349 | again with checks like "getline(1) =~ pattern" as to whether the 350 | file type can be recognized, and set 'filetype'. 351 | 352 +- When the file type was determined and 'filetype' was set, this 353 | triggers the FileType autocommand |synload-6| above. It sets 354 | 'syntax' to the determined file type. 355 | 356 +- When the 'syntax' option was set above, this triggers an autocommand 357 | from |synload-1| (and |synload-2|). This find the main syntax file in 358 | 'runtimepath', with this command: 359 | runtime! syntax/<name>.vim 360 | 361 +- Any other user installed FileType or Syntax autocommands are 362 triggered. This can be used to change the highlighting for a specific 363 syntax. 364 365============================================================================== 3664. Syntax file remarks *:syn-file-remarks* 367 368 *b:current_syntax-variable* 369Vim stores the name of the syntax that has been loaded in the 370"b:current_syntax" variable. You can use this if you want to load other 371settings, depending on which syntax is active. Example: > 372 :au BufReadPost * if b:current_syntax == "csh" 373 :au BufReadPost * do-some-things 374 :au BufReadPost * endif 375 376 3772HTML *2html.vim* *convert-to-HTML* 378 379This is not a syntax file itself, but a script that converts the current 380window into HTML. Vim opens a new window in which it builds the HTML file. 381 382You are not supposed to set the 'filetype' or 'syntax' option to "2html"! 383Source the script to convert the current file: > 384 385 :runtime! syntax/2html.vim 386< 387 *:TOhtml* 388Or use the ":TOhtml" user command. It is defined in a standard plugin. 389":TOhtml" also works with a range and in a Visual area: > 390 391 :10,40TOhtml 392 393Warning: This is slow! The script must process every character of every line. 394Because it is so slow, by default a progress bar is displayed in the 395statusline for each step that usually takes a long time. If you don't like 396seeing this progress bar, you can disable it and get a very minor speed 397improvement with: > 398 399 let g:html_no_progress = 1 400 401":TOhtml" has another special feature: if the window is in diff mode, it will 402generate HTML that shows all the related windows. This can be disabled by 403setting the g:html_diff_one_file variable: > 404 405 let g:html_diff_one_file = 1 406 407After you save the resulting file, you can view it with any browser. The 408colors should be exactly the same as you see them in Vim. 409 410To restrict the conversion to a range of lines, use a range with the |:TOhtml| 411command, or set "g:html_start_line" and "g:html_end_line" to the first and 412last line to be converted. Example, using the last set Visual area: > 413 414 :let g:html_start_line = line("'<") 415 :let g:html_end_line = line("'>") 416 417The lines are numbered according to 'number' option and the Number 418highlighting. You can force lines to be numbered in the HTML output by 419setting "html_number_lines" to non-zero value: > 420 :let g:html_number_lines = 1 421Force to omit the line numbers by using a zero value: > 422 :let g:html_number_lines = 0 423Go back to the default to use 'number' by deleting the variable: > 424 :unlet g:html_number_lines 425 426By default, valid HTML 4.01 using cascading style sheets (CSS1) is generated. 427If you need to generate markup for really old browsers or some other user 428agent that lacks basic CSS support, use: > 429 :let g:html_use_css = 0 430 431Concealed text is removed from the HTML and replaced with the appropriate 432character from |:syn-cchar| or 'listchars' depending on the current value of 433'conceallevel'. If you always want to display all text in your document, 434either set 'conceallevel' to zero before invoking 2html, or use: > 435 :let g:html_ignore_conceal = 1 436 437Similarly, closed folds are put in the HTML as they are displayed. If you 438don't want this, use the |zR| command before invoking 2html, or use: > 439 :let g:html_ignore_folding = 1 440 441You may want to generate HTML that includes all the data within the folds, and 442allow the user to view the folded data similar to how they would in Vim. To 443generate this dynamic fold information, use: > 444 :let g:html_dynamic_folds = 1 445 446Using html_dynamic_folds will imply html_use_css, because it would be far too 447difficult to do it for old browsers. However, html_ignore_folding overrides 448html_dynamic_folds. 449 450Using html_dynamic_folds will default to generating a foldcolumn in the html 451similar to Vim's foldcolumn, that will use javascript to open and close the 452folds in the HTML document. The width of this foldcolumn starts at the current 453setting of |'foldcolumn'| but grows to fit the greatest foldlevel in your 454document. If you do not want to show a foldcolumn at all, use: > 455 :let g:html_no_foldcolumn = 1 456 457Using this option, there will be no foldcolumn available to open the folds in 458the HTML. For this reason, another option is provided: html_hover_unfold. 459Enabling this option will use CSS 2.0 to allow a user to open a fold by 460hovering the mouse pointer over it. Note that old browsers (notably Internet 461Explorer 6) will not support this feature. Browser-specific markup for IE6 is 462included to fall back to the normal CSS1 code so that the folds show up 463correctly for this browser, but they will not be openable without a 464foldcolumn. Note that using html_hover_unfold will allow modern browsers with 465disabled javascript to view closed folds. To use this option, use: > 466 :let g:html_hover_unfold = 1 467 468Setting html_no_foldcolumn with html_dynamic_folds will automatically set 469html_hover_unfold, because otherwise the folds wouldn't be dynamic. 470 471By default "<pre>" and "</pre>" is used around the text. This makes it show 472up as you see it in Vim, but without wrapping. If you prefer wrapping, at the 473risk of making some things look a bit different, use: > 474 :let g:html_no_pre = 1 475This will use <br> at the end of each line and use " " for repeated 476spaces. 477 478The current value of 'encoding' is used to specify the charset of the HTML 479file. This only works for those values of 'encoding' that have an equivalent 480HTML charset name. To overrule this set g:html_use_encoding to the name of 481the charset to be used: > 482 :let g:html_use_encoding = "foobar" 483To omit the line that specifies the charset, set g:html_use_encoding to an 484empty string: > 485 :let g:html_use_encoding = "" 486To go back to the automatic mechanism, delete the g:html_use_encoding 487variable: > 488 :unlet g:html_use_encoding 489< 490For diff mode a sequence of more than 3 filler lines is displayed as three 491lines with the middle line mentioning the total number of inserted lines. If 492you prefer to see all the inserted lines use: > 493 :let g:html_whole_filler = 1 494And to go back to displaying up to three lines again: > 495 :unlet g:html_whole_filler 496< 497 *convert-to-XML* *convert-to-XHTML* 498An alternative is to have the script generate XHTML (XML compliant HTML). To 499do this set the "html_use_xhtml" variable: > 500 :let g:html_use_xhtml = 1 501 502Any of these options can be enabled or disabled by setting them explicitly to 503the desired value, or restored to their default by removing the variable using 504|:unlet|. 505 506Remarks: 507- This only works in a version with GUI support. If the GUI is not actually 508 running (possible for X11) it still works, but not very well (the colors 509 may be wrong). 510- Some truly ancient browsers may not show the background colors. 511- From most browsers you can also print the file (in color)! 512 513Here is an example how to run the script over all .c and .h files from a 514Unix shell: > 515 for f in *.[ch]; do gvim -f +"syn on" +"run! syntax/2html.vim" +"wq" +"q" $f; done 516< 517 518ABEL *abel.vim* *ft-abel-syntax* 519 520ABEL highlighting provides some user-defined options. To enable them, assign 521any value to the respective variable. Example: > 522 :let abel_obsolete_ok=1 523To disable them use ":unlet". Example: > 524 :unlet abel_obsolete_ok 525 526Variable Highlight ~ 527abel_obsolete_ok obsolete keywords are statements, not errors 528abel_cpp_comments_illegal do not interpret '//' as inline comment leader 529 530 531ADA 532 533See |ft-ada-syntax| 534 535 536ANT *ant.vim* *ft-ant-syntax* 537 538The ant syntax file provides syntax highlighting for javascript and python 539by default. Syntax highlighting for other script languages can be installed 540by the function AntSyntaxScript(), which takes the tag name as first argument 541and the script syntax file name as second argument. Example: > 542 543 :call AntSyntaxScript('perl', 'perl.vim') 544 545will install syntax perl highlighting for the following ant code > 546 547 <script language = 'perl'><![CDATA[ 548 # everything inside is highlighted as perl 549 ]]></script> 550 551See |mysyntaxfile-add| for installing script languages permanently. 552 553 554APACHE *apache.vim* *ft-apache-syntax* 555 556The apache syntax file provides syntax highlighting depending on Apache HTTP 557server version, by default for 1.3.x. Set "apache_version" to Apache version 558(as a string) to get highlighting for another version. Example: > 559 560 :let apache_version = "2.0" 561< 562 563 *asm.vim* *asmh8300.vim* *nasm.vim* *masm.vim* *asm68k* 564ASSEMBLY *ft-asm-syntax* *ft-asmh8300-syntax* *ft-nasm-syntax* 565 *ft-masm-syntax* *ft-asm68k-syntax* *fasm.vim* 566 567Files matching "*.i" could be Progress or Assembly. If the automatic detection 568doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your 569startup vimrc: > 570 :let filetype_i = "asm" 571Replace "asm" with the type of assembly you use. 572 573There are many types of assembly languages that all use the same file name 574extensions. Therefore you will have to select the type yourself, or add a 575line in the assembly file that Vim will recognize. Currently these syntax 576files are included: 577 asm GNU assembly (the default) 578 asm68k Motorola 680x0 assembly 579 asmh8300 Hitachi H-8300 version of GNU assembly 580 ia64 Intel Itanium 64 581 fasm Flat assembly (http://flatassembler.net) 582 masm Microsoft assembly (probably works for any 80x86) 583 nasm Netwide assembly 584 tasm Turbo Assembly (with opcodes 80x86 up to Pentium, and 585 MMX) 586 pic PIC assembly (currently for PIC16F84) 587 588The most flexible is to add a line in your assembly file containing: > 589 asmsyntax=nasm 590Replace "nasm" with the name of the real assembly syntax. This line must be 591one of the first five lines in the file. No non-white text must be 592immediately before or after this text. 593 594The syntax type can always be overruled for a specific buffer by setting the 595b:asmsyntax variable: > 596 :let b:asmsyntax = "nasm" 597 598If b:asmsyntax is not set, either automatically or by hand, then the value of 599the global variable asmsyntax is used. This can be seen as a default assembly 600language: > 601 :let asmsyntax = "nasm" 602 603As a last resort, if nothing is defined, the "asm" syntax is used. 604 605 606Netwide assembler (nasm.vim) optional highlighting ~ 607 608To enable a feature: > 609 :let {variable}=1|set syntax=nasm 610To disable a feature: > 611 :unlet {variable} |set syntax=nasm 612 613Variable Highlight ~ 614nasm_loose_syntax unofficial parser allowed syntax not as Error 615 (parser dependent; not recommended) 616nasm_ctx_outside_macro contexts outside macro not as Error 617nasm_no_warn potentially risky syntax not as ToDo 618 619 620ASPPERL and ASPVBS *ft-aspperl-syntax* *ft-aspvbs-syntax* 621 622*.asp and *.asa files could be either Perl or Visual Basic script. Since it's 623hard to detect this you can set two global variables to tell Vim what you are 624using. For Perl script use: > 625 :let g:filetype_asa = "aspperl" 626 :let g:filetype_asp = "aspperl" 627For Visual Basic use: > 628 :let g:filetype_asa = "aspvbs" 629 :let g:filetype_asp = "aspvbs" 630 631 632BAAN *baan.vim* *baan-syntax* 633 634The baan.vim gives syntax support for BaanC of release BaanIV upto SSA ERP LN 635for both 3 GL and 4 GL programming. Large number of standard defines/constants 636are supported. 637 638Some special violation of coding standards will be signalled when one specify 639in ones |.vimrc|: > 640 let baan_code_stds=1 641 642*baan-folding* 643 644Syntax folding can be enabled at various levels through the variables 645mentioned below (Set those in your |.vimrc|). The more complex folding on 646source blocks and SQL can be CPU intensive. 647 648To allow any folding and enable folding at function level use: > 649 let baan_fold=1 650Folding can be enabled at source block level as if, while, for ,... The 651indentation preceding the begin/end keywords has to match (spaces are not 652considered equal to a tab). > 653 let baan_fold_block=1 654Folding can be enabled for embedded SQL blocks as SELECT, SELECTDO, 655SELECTEMPTY, ... The indentation preceding the begin/end keywords has to 656match (spaces are not considered equal to a tab). > 657 let baan_fold_sql=1 658Note: Block folding can result in many small folds. It is suggested to |:set| 659the options 'foldminlines' and 'foldnestmax' in |.vimrc| or use |:setlocal| in 660.../after/syntax/baan.vim (see |after-directory|). Eg: > 661 set foldminlines=5 662 set foldnestmax=6 663 664 665BASIC *basic.vim* *vb.vim* *ft-basic-syntax* *ft-vb-syntax* 666 667Both Visual Basic and "normal" basic use the extension ".bas". To detect 668which one should be used, Vim checks for the string "VB_Name" in the first 669five lines of the file. If it is not found, filetype will be "basic", 670otherwise "vb". Files with the ".frm" extension will always be seen as Visual 671Basic. 672 673 674C *c.vim* *ft-c-syntax* 675 676A few things in C highlighting are optional. To enable them assign any value 677to the respective variable. Example: > 678 :let c_comment_strings = 1 679To disable them use ":unlet". Example: > 680 :unlet c_comment_strings 681 682Variable Highlight ~ 683c_gnu GNU gcc specific items 684c_comment_strings strings and numbers inside a comment 685c_space_errors trailing white space and spaces before a <Tab> 686c_no_trail_space_error ... but no trailing spaces 687c_no_tab_space_error ... but no spaces before a <Tab> 688c_no_bracket_error don't highlight {}; inside [] as errors 689c_no_curly_error don't highlight {}; inside [] and () as errors; 690 except { and } in first column 691c_curly_error highlight a missing }; this forces syncing from the 692 start of the file, can be slow 693c_no_ansi don't do standard ANSI types and constants 694c_ansi_typedefs ... but do standard ANSI types 695c_ansi_constants ... but do standard ANSI constants 696c_no_utf don't highlight \u and \U in strings 697c_syntax_for_h use C syntax for *.h files, instead of C++ 698c_no_if0 don't highlight "#if 0" blocks as comments 699c_no_cformat don't highlight %-formats in strings 700c_no_c99 don't highlight C99 standard items 701 702When 'foldmethod' is set to "syntax" then /* */ comments and { } blocks will 703become a fold. If you don't want comments to become a fold use: > 704 :let c_no_comment_fold = 1 705"#if 0" blocks are also folded, unless: > 706 :let c_no_if0_fold = 1 707 708If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 709when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "c_minlines" internal variable 710to a larger number: > 711 :let c_minlines = 100 712This will make the syntax synchronization start 100 lines before the first 713displayed line. The default value is 50 (15 when c_no_if0 is set). The 714disadvantage of using a larger number is that redrawing can become slow. 715 716When using the "#if 0" / "#endif" comment highlighting, notice that this only 717works when the "#if 0" is within "c_minlines" from the top of the window. If 718you have a long "#if 0" construct it will not be highlighted correctly. 719 720To match extra items in comments, use the cCommentGroup cluster. 721Example: > 722 :au Syntax c call MyCadd() 723 :function MyCadd() 724 : syn keyword cMyItem contained Ni 725 : syn cluster cCommentGroup add=cMyItem 726 : hi link cMyItem Title 727 :endfun 728 729ANSI constants will be highlighted with the "cConstant" group. This includes 730"NULL", "SIG_IGN" and others. But not "TRUE", for example, because this is 731not in the ANSI standard. If you find this confusing, remove the cConstant 732highlighting: > 733 :hi link cConstant NONE 734 735If you see '{' and '}' highlighted as an error where they are OK, reset the 736highlighting for cErrInParen and cErrInBracket. 737 738If you want to use folding in your C files, you can add these lines in a file 739in the "after" directory in 'runtimepath'. For Unix this would be 740~/.vim/after/syntax/c.vim. > 741 syn sync fromstart 742 set foldmethod=syntax 743 744CH *ch.vim* *ft-ch-syntax* 745 746C/C++ interpreter. Ch has similar syntax highlighting to C and builds upon 747the C syntax file. See |c.vim| for all the settings that are available for C. 748 749By setting a variable you can tell Vim to use Ch syntax for *.h files, instead 750of C or C++: > 751 :let ch_syntax_for_h = 1 752 753 754CHILL *chill.vim* *ft-chill-syntax* 755 756Chill syntax highlighting is similar to C. See |c.vim| for all the settings 757that are available. Additionally there is: 758 759chill_space_errors like c_space_errors 760chill_comment_string like c_comment_strings 761chill_minlines like c_minlines 762 763 764CHANGELOG *changelog.vim* *ft-changelog-syntax* 765 766ChangeLog supports highlighting spaces at the start of a line. 767If you do not like this, add following line to your .vimrc: > 768 let g:changelog_spacing_errors = 0 769This works the next time you edit a changelog file. You can also use 770"b:changelog_spacing_errors" to set this per buffer (before loading the syntax 771file). 772 773You can change the highlighting used, e.g., to flag the spaces as an error: > 774 :hi link ChangelogError Error 775Or to avoid the highlighting: > 776 :hi link ChangelogError NONE 777This works immediately. 778 779 780COBOL *cobol.vim* *ft-cobol-syntax* 781 782COBOL highlighting has different needs for legacy code than it does for fresh 783development. This is due to differences in what is being done (maintenance 784versus development) and other factors. To enable legacy code highlighting, 785add this line to your .vimrc: > 786 :let cobol_legacy_code = 1 787To disable it again, use this: > 788 :unlet cobol_legacy_code 789 790 791COLD FUSION *coldfusion.vim* *ft-coldfusion-syntax* 792 793The ColdFusion has its own version of HTML comments. To turn on ColdFusion 794comment highlighting, add the following line to your startup file: > 795 796 :let html_wrong_comments = 1 797 798The ColdFusion syntax file is based on the HTML syntax file. 799 800 801CSH *csh.vim* *ft-csh-syntax* 802 803This covers the shell named "csh". Note that on some systems tcsh is actually 804used. 805 806Detecting whether a file is csh or tcsh is notoriously hard. Some systems 807symlink /bin/csh to /bin/tcsh, making it almost impossible to distinguish 808between csh and tcsh. In case VIM guesses wrong you can set the 809"filetype_csh" variable. For using csh: > 810 811 :let filetype_csh = "csh" 812 813For using tcsh: > 814 815 :let filetype_csh = "tcsh" 816 817Any script with a tcsh extension or a standard tcsh filename (.tcshrc, 818tcsh.tcshrc, tcsh.login) will have filetype tcsh. All other tcsh/csh scripts 819will be classified as tcsh, UNLESS the "filetype_csh" variable exists. If the 820"filetype_csh" variable exists, the filetype will be set to the value of the 821variable. 822 823 824CYNLIB *cynlib.vim* *ft-cynlib-syntax* 825 826Cynlib files are C++ files that use the Cynlib class library to enable 827hardware modelling and simulation using C++. Typically Cynlib files have a .cc 828or a .cpp extension, which makes it very difficult to distinguish them from a 829normal C++ file. Thus, to enable Cynlib highlighting for .cc files, add this 830line to your .vimrc file: > 831 832 :let cynlib_cyntax_for_cc=1 833 834Similarly for cpp files (this extension is only usually used in Windows) > 835 836 :let cynlib_cyntax_for_cpp=1 837 838To disable these again, use this: > 839 840 :unlet cynlib_cyntax_for_cc 841 :unlet cynlib_cyntax_for_cpp 842< 843 844CWEB *cweb.vim* *ft-cweb-syntax* 845 846Files matching "*.w" could be Progress or cweb. If the automatic detection 847doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your 848startup vimrc: > 849 :let filetype_w = "cweb" 850 851 852DESKTOP *desktop.vim* *ft-desktop-syntax* 853 854Primary goal of this syntax file is to highlight .desktop and .directory files 855according to freedesktop.org standard: 856http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/ 857But actually almost none implements this standard fully. Thus it will 858highlight all Unix ini files. But you can force strict highlighting according 859to standard by placing this in your vimrc file: > 860 :let enforce_freedesktop_standard = 1 861 862 863DIRCOLORS *dircolors.vim* *ft-dircolors-syntax* 864 865The dircolors utility highlighting definition has one option. It exists to 866provide compatibility with the Slackware GNU/Linux distributions version of 867the command. It adds a few keywords that are generally ignored by most 868versions. On Slackware systems, however, the utility accepts the keywords and 869uses them for processing. To enable the Slackware keywords add the following 870line to your startup file: > 871 let dircolors_is_slackware = 1 872 873 874DOCBOOK *docbk.vim* *ft-docbk-syntax* *docbook* 875DOCBOOK XML *docbkxml.vim* *ft-docbkxml-syntax* 876DOCBOOK SGML *docbksgml.vim* *ft-docbksgml-syntax* 877 878There are two types of DocBook files: SGML and XML. To specify what type you 879are using the "b:docbk_type" variable should be set. Vim does this for you 880automatically if it can recognize the type. When Vim can't guess it the type 881defaults to XML. 882You can set the type manually: > 883 :let docbk_type = "sgml" 884or: > 885 :let docbk_type = "xml" 886You need to do this before loading the syntax file, which is complicated. 887Simpler is setting the filetype to "docbkxml" or "docbksgml": > 888 :set filetype=docbksgml 889or: > 890 :set filetype=docbkxml 891 892 893DOSBATCH *dosbatch.vim* *ft-dosbatch-syntax* 894 895There is one option with highlighting DOS batch files. This covers new 896extensions to the Command Interpreter introduced with Windows 2000 and 897is controlled by the variable dosbatch_cmdextversion. For Windows NT 898this should have the value 1, and for Windows 2000 it should be 2. 899Select the version you want with the following line: > 900 901 :let dosbatch_cmdextversion = 1 902 903If this variable is not defined it defaults to a value of 2 to support 904Windows 2000. 905 906A second option covers whether *.btm files should be detected as type 907"dosbatch" (MS-DOS batch files) or type "btm" (4DOS batch files). The latter 908is used by default. You may select the former with the following line: > 909 910 :let g:dosbatch_syntax_for_btm = 1 911 912If this variable is undefined or zero, btm syntax is selected. 913 914 915DOXYGEN *doxygen.vim* *doxygen-syntax* 916 917Doxygen generates code documentation using a special documentation format 918(similar to Javadoc). This syntax script adds doxygen highlighting to c, cpp, 919idl and php files, and should also work with java. 920 921There are a few of ways to turn on doxygen formatting. It can be done 922explicitly or in a modeline by appending '.doxygen' to the syntax of the file. 923Example: > 924 :set syntax=c.doxygen 925or > 926 // vim:syntax=c.doxygen 927 928It can also be done automatically for C, C++, C# and IDL files by setting the 929global or buffer-local variable load_doxygen_syntax. This is done by adding 930the following to your .vimrc. > 931 :let g:load_doxygen_syntax=1 932 933There are a couple of variables that have an effect on syntax highlighting, and 934are to do with non-standard highlighting options. 935 936Variable Default Effect ~ 937g:doxygen_enhanced_color 938g:doxygen_enhanced_colour 0 Use non-standard highlighting for 939 doxygen comments. 940 941doxygen_my_rendering 0 Disable rendering of HTML bold, italic 942 and html_my_rendering underline. 943 944doxygen_javadoc_autobrief 1 Set to 0 to disable javadoc autobrief 945 colour highlighting. 946 947doxygen_end_punctuation '[.]' Set to regexp match for the ending 948 punctuation of brief 949 950There are also some hilight groups worth mentioning as they can be useful in 951configuration. 952 953Highlight Effect ~ 954doxygenErrorComment The colour of an end-comment when missing 955 punctuation in a code, verbatim or dot section 956doxygenLinkError The colour of an end-comment when missing the 957 \endlink from a \link section. 958 959 960DTD *dtd.vim* *ft-dtd-syntax* 961 962The DTD syntax highlighting is case sensitive by default. To disable 963case-sensitive highlighting, add the following line to your startup file: > 964 965 :let dtd_ignore_case=1 966 967The DTD syntax file will highlight unknown tags as errors. If 968this is annoying, it can be turned off by setting: > 969 970 :let dtd_no_tag_errors=1 971 972before sourcing the dtd.vim syntax file. 973Parameter entity names are highlighted in the definition using the 974'Type' highlighting group and 'Comment' for punctuation and '%'. 975Parameter entity instances are highlighted using the 'Constant' 976highlighting group and the 'Type' highlighting group for the 977delimiters % and ;. This can be turned off by setting: > 978 979 :let dtd_no_param_entities=1 980 981The DTD syntax file is also included by xml.vim to highlight included dtd's. 982 983 984EIFFEL *eiffel.vim* *ft-eiffel-syntax* 985 986While Eiffel is not case-sensitive, its style guidelines are, and the 987syntax highlighting file encourages their use. This also allows to 988highlight class names differently. If you want to disable case-sensitive 989highlighting, add the following line to your startup file: > 990 991 :let eiffel_ignore_case=1 992 993Case still matters for class names and TODO marks in comments. 994 995Conversely, for even stricter checks, add one of the following lines: > 996 997 :let eiffel_strict=1 998 :let eiffel_pedantic=1 999 1000Setting eiffel_strict will only catch improper capitalization for the 1001five predefined words "Current", "Void", "Result", "Precursor", and 1002"NONE", to warn against their accidental use as feature or class names. 1003 1004Setting eiffel_pedantic will enforce adherence to the Eiffel style 1005guidelines fairly rigorously (like arbitrary mixes of upper- and 1006lowercase letters as well as outdated ways to capitalize keywords). 1007 1008If you want to use the lower-case version of "Current", "Void", 1009"Result", and "Precursor", you can use > 1010 1011 :let eiffel_lower_case_predef=1 1012 1013instead of completely turning case-sensitive highlighting off. 1014 1015Support for ISE's proposed new creation syntax that is already 1016experimentally handled by some compilers can be enabled by: > 1017 1018 :let eiffel_ise=1 1019 1020Finally, some vendors support hexadecimal constants. To handle them, add > 1021 1022 :let eiffel_hex_constants=1 1023 1024to your startup file. 1025 1026 1027ERLANG *erlang.vim* *ft-erlang-syntax* 1028 1029The erlang highlighting supports Erlang (ERicsson LANGuage). 1030Erlang is case sensitive and default extension is ".erl". 1031 1032If you want to disable keywords highlighting, put in your .vimrc: > 1033 :let erlang_keywords = 1 1034If you want to disable built-in-functions highlighting, put in your 1035.vimrc file: > 1036 :let erlang_functions = 1 1037If you want to disable special characters highlighting, put in 1038your .vimrc: > 1039 :let erlang_characters = 1 1040 1041 1042FLEXWIKI *flexwiki.vim* *ft-flexwiki-syntax* 1043 1044FlexWiki is an ASP.NET-based wiki package available at http://www.flexwiki.com 1045 1046Syntax highlighting is available for the most common elements of FlexWiki 1047syntax. The associated ftplugin script sets some buffer-local options to make 1048editing FlexWiki pages more convenient. FlexWiki considers a newline as the 1049start of a new paragraph, so the ftplugin sets 'tw'=0 (unlimited line length), 1050'wrap' (wrap long lines instead of using horizontal scrolling), 'linebreak' 1051(to wrap at a character in 'breakat' instead of at the last char on screen), 1052and so on. It also includes some keymaps that are disabled by default. 1053 1054If you want to enable the keymaps that make "j" and "k" and the cursor keys 1055move up and down by display lines, add this to your .vimrc: > 1056 :let flexwiki_maps = 1 1057 1058 1059FORM *form.vim* *ft-form-syntax* 1060 1061The coloring scheme for syntax elements in the FORM file uses the default 1062modes Conditional, Number, Statement, Comment, PreProc, Type, and String, 1063following the language specifications in 'Symbolic Manipulation with FORM' by 1064J.A.M. Vermaseren, CAN, Netherlands, 1991. 1065 1066If you want include your own changes to the default colors, you have to 1067redefine the following syntax groups: 1068 1069 - formConditional 1070 - formNumber 1071 - formStatement 1072 - formHeaderStatement 1073 - formComment 1074 - formPreProc 1075 - formDirective 1076 - formType 1077 - formString 1078 1079Note that the form.vim syntax file implements FORM preprocessor commands and 1080directives per default in the same syntax group. 1081 1082A predefined enhanced color mode for FORM is available to distinguish between 1083header statements and statements in the body of a FORM program. To activate 1084this mode define the following variable in your vimrc file > 1085 1086 :let form_enhanced_color=1 1087 1088The enhanced mode also takes advantage of additional color features for a dark 1089gvim display. Here, statements are colored LightYellow instead of Yellow, and 1090conditionals are LightBlue for better distinction. 1091 1092 1093FORTRAN *fortran.vim* *ft-fortran-syntax* 1094 1095Default highlighting and dialect ~ 1096Highlighting appropriate for f95 (Fortran 95) is used by default. This choice 1097should be appropriate for most users most of the time because Fortran 95 is a 1098superset of Fortran 90 and almost a superset of Fortran 77. Support for 1099Fortran 2003 and Fortran 2008 features has been introduced and is 1100automatically available in the default (f95) highlighting. 1101 1102Fortran source code form ~ 1103Fortran 9x code can be in either fixed or free source form. Note that the 1104syntax highlighting will not be correct if the form is incorrectly set. 1105 1106When you create a new fortran file, the syntax script assumes fixed source 1107form. If you always use free source form, then > 1108 :let fortran_free_source=1 1109in your .vimrc prior to the :syntax on command. If you always use fixed source 1110form, then > 1111 :let fortran_fixed_source=1 1112in your .vimrc prior to the :syntax on command. 1113 1114If the form of the source code depends upon the file extension, then it is 1115most convenient to set fortran_free_source in a ftplugin file. For more 1116information on ftplugin files, see |ftplugin|. For example, if all your 1117fortran files with an .f90 extension are written in free source form and the 1118rest in fixed source form, add the following code to your ftplugin file > 1119 let s:extfname = expand("%:e") 1120 if s:extfname ==? "f90" 1121 let fortran_free_source=1 1122 unlet! fortran_fixed_source 1123 else 1124 let fortran_fixed_source=1 1125 unlet! fortran_free_source 1126 endif 1127Note that this will work only if the "filetype plugin indent on" command 1128precedes the "syntax on" command in your .vimrc file. 1129 1130When you edit an existing fortran file, the syntax script will assume free 1131source form if the fortran_free_source variable has been set, and assumes 1132fixed source form if the fortran_fixed_source variable has been set. If 1133neither of these variables have been set, the syntax script attempts to 1134determine which source form has been used by examining the first five columns 1135of the first 250 lines of your file. If no signs of free source form are 1136detected, then the file is assumed to be in fixed source form. The algorithm 1137should work in the vast majority of cases. In some cases, such as a file that 1138begins with 250 or more full-line comments, the script may incorrectly decide 1139that the fortran code is in fixed form. If that happens, just add a 1140non-comment statement beginning anywhere in the first five columns of the 1141first twenty five lines, save (:w) and then reload (:e!) the file. 1142 1143Tabs in fortran files ~ 1144Tabs are not recognized by the Fortran standards. Tabs are not a good idea in 1145fixed format fortran source code which requires fixed column boundaries. 1146Therefore, tabs are marked as errors. Nevertheless, some programmers like 1147using tabs. If your fortran files contain tabs, then you should set the 1148variable fortran_have_tabs in your .vimrc with a command such as > 1149 :let fortran_have_tabs=1 1150placed prior to the :syntax on command. Unfortunately, the use of tabs will 1151mean that the syntax file will not be able to detect incorrect margins. 1152 1153Syntax folding of fortran files ~ 1154If you wish to use foldmethod=syntax, then you must first set the variable 1155fortran_fold with a command such as > 1156 :let fortran_fold=1 1157to instruct the syntax script to define fold regions for program units, that 1158is main programs starting with a program statement, subroutines, function 1159subprograms, block data subprograms, interface blocks, and modules. If you 1160also set the variable fortran_fold_conditionals with a command such as > 1161 :let fortran_fold_conditionals=1 1162then fold regions will also be defined for do loops, if blocks, and select 1163case constructs. If you also set the variable 1164fortran_fold_multilinecomments with a command such as > 1165 :let fortran_fold_multilinecomments=1 1166then fold regions will also be defined for three or more consecutive comment 1167lines. Note that defining fold regions can be slow for large files. 1168 1169If fortran_fold, and possibly fortran_fold_conditionals and/or 1170fortran_fold_multilinecomments, have been set, then vim will fold your file if 1171you set foldmethod=syntax. Comments or blank lines placed between two program 1172units are not folded because they are seen as not belonging to any program 1173unit. 1174 1175More precise fortran syntax ~ 1176If you set the variable fortran_more_precise with a command such as > 1177 :let fortran_more_precise=1 1178then the syntax coloring will be more precise but slower. In particular, 1179statement labels used in do, goto and arithmetic if statements will be 1180recognized, as will construct names at the end of a do, if, select or forall 1181construct. 1182 1183Non-default fortran dialects ~ 1184The syntax script supports five Fortran dialects: f95, f90, f77, the Lahey 1185subset elf90, and the Imagine1 subset F. 1186 1187If you use f77 with extensions, even common ones like do/enddo loops, do/while 1188loops and free source form that are supported by most f77 compilers including 1189g77 (GNU Fortran), then you will probably find the default highlighting 1190satisfactory. However, if you use strict f77 with no extensions, not even free 1191source form or the MIL STD 1753 extensions, then the advantages of setting the 1192dialect to f77 are that names such as SUM are recognized as user variable 1193names and not highlighted as f9x intrinsic functions, that obsolete constructs 1194such as ASSIGN statements are not highlighted as todo items, and that fixed 1195source form will be assumed. 1196 1197If you use elf90 or F, the advantage of setting the dialect appropriately is 1198that f90 features excluded from these dialects will be highlighted as todo 1199items and that free source form will be assumed as required for these 1200dialects. 1201 1202The dialect can be selected by setting the variable fortran_dialect. The 1203permissible values of fortran_dialect are case-sensitive and must be "f95", 1204"f90", "f77", "elf" or "F". Invalid values of fortran_dialect are ignored. 1205 1206If all your fortran files use the same dialect, set fortran_dialect in your 1207.vimrc prior to your syntax on statement. If the dialect depends upon the file 1208extension, then it is most convenient to set it in a ftplugin file. For more 1209information on ftplugin files, see |ftplugin|. For example, if all your 1210fortran files with an .f90 extension are written in the elf subset, your 1211ftplugin file should contain the code > 1212 let s:extfname = expand("%:e") 1213 if s:extfname ==? "f90" 1214 let fortran_dialect="elf" 1215 else 1216 unlet! fortran_dialect 1217 endif 1218Note that this will work only if the "filetype plugin indent on" command 1219precedes the "syntax on" command in your .vimrc file. 1220 1221Finer control is necessary if the file extension does not uniquely identify 1222the dialect. You can override the default dialect, on a file-by-file basis, by 1223including a comment with the directive "fortran_dialect=xx" (where xx=f77 or 1224elf or F or f90 or f95) in one of the first three lines in your file. For 1225example, your older .f files may be written in extended f77 but your newer 1226ones may be F codes, and you would identify the latter by including in the 1227first three lines of those files a Fortran comment of the form > 1228 ! fortran_dialect=F 1229F overrides elf if both directives are present. 1230 1231Limitations ~ 1232Parenthesis checking does not catch too few closing parentheses. Hollerith 1233strings are not recognized. Some keywords may be highlighted incorrectly 1234because Fortran90 has no reserved words. 1235 1236For further information related to fortran, see |ft-fortran-indent| and 1237|ft-fortran-plugin|. 1238 1239 1240FVWM CONFIGURATION FILES *fvwm.vim* *ft-fvwm-syntax* 1241 1242In order for Vim to recognize Fvwm configuration files that do not match 1243the patterns *fvwmrc* or *fvwm2rc* , you must put additional patterns 1244appropriate to your system in your myfiletypes.vim file. For these 1245patterns, you must set the variable "b:fvwm_version" to the major version 1246number of Fvwm, and the 'filetype' option to fvwm. 1247 1248For example, to make Vim identify all files in /etc/X11/fvwm2/ 1249as Fvwm2 configuration files, add the following: > 1250 1251 :au! BufNewFile,BufRead /etc/X11/fvwm2/* let b:fvwm_version = 2 | 1252 \ set filetype=fvwm 1253 1254If you'd like Vim to highlight all valid color names, tell it where to 1255find the color database (rgb.txt) on your system. Do this by setting 1256"rgb_file" to its location. Assuming your color database is located 1257in /usr/X11/lib/X11/, you should add the line > 1258 1259 :let rgb_file = "/usr/X11/lib/X11/rgb.txt" 1260 1261to your .vimrc file. 1262 1263 1264GSP *gsp.vim* *ft-gsp-syntax* 1265 1266The default coloring style for GSP pages is defined by |html.vim|, and 1267the coloring for java code (within java tags or inline between backticks) 1268is defined by |java.vim|. The following HTML groups defined in |html.vim| 1269are redefined to incorporate and highlight inline java code: 1270 1271 htmlString 1272 htmlValue 1273 htmlEndTag 1274 htmlTag 1275 htmlTagN 1276 1277Highlighting should look fine most of the places where you'd see inline 1278java code, but in some special cases it may not. To add another HTML 1279group where you will have inline java code where it does not highlight 1280correctly, just copy the line you want from |html.vim| and add gspJava 1281to the contains clause. 1282 1283The backticks for inline java are highlighted according to the htmlError 1284group to make them easier to see. 1285 1286 1287GROFF *groff.vim* *ft-groff-syntax* 1288 1289The groff syntax file is a wrapper for |nroff.vim|, see the notes 1290under that heading for examples of use and configuration. The purpose 1291of this wrapper is to set up groff syntax extensions by setting the 1292filetype from a |modeline| or in a personal filetype definitions file 1293(see |filetype.txt|). 1294 1295 1296HASKELL *haskell.vim* *lhaskell.vim* *ft-haskell-syntax* 1297 1298The Haskell syntax files support plain Haskell code as well as literate 1299Haskell code, the latter in both Bird style and TeX style. The Haskell 1300syntax highlighting will also highlight C preprocessor directives. 1301 1302If you want to highlight delimiter characters (useful if you have a 1303light-coloured background), add to your .vimrc: > 1304 :let hs_highlight_delimiters = 1 1305To treat True and False as keywords as opposed to ordinary identifiers, 1306add: > 1307 :let hs_highlight_boolean = 1 1308To also treat the names of primitive types as keywords: > 1309 :let hs_highlight_types = 1 1310And to treat the names of even more relatively common types as keywords: > 1311 :let hs_highlight_more_types = 1 1312If you want to highlight the names of debugging functions, put in 1313your .vimrc: > 1314 :let hs_highlight_debug = 1 1315 1316The Haskell syntax highlighting also highlights C preprocessor 1317directives, and flags lines that start with # but are not valid 1318directives as erroneous. This interferes with Haskell's syntax for 1319operators, as they may start with #. If you want to highlight those 1320as operators as opposed to errors, put in your .vimrc: > 1321 :let hs_allow_hash_operator = 1 1322 1323The syntax highlighting for literate Haskell code will try to 1324automatically guess whether your literate Haskell code contains 1325TeX markup or not, and correspondingly highlight TeX constructs 1326or nothing at all. You can override this globally by putting 1327in your .vimrc > 1328 :let lhs_markup = none 1329for no highlighting at all, or > 1330 :let lhs_markup = tex 1331to force the highlighting to always try to highlight TeX markup. 1332For more flexibility, you may also use buffer local versions of 1333this variable, so e.g. > 1334 :let b:lhs_markup = tex 1335will force TeX highlighting for a particular buffer. It has to be 1336set before turning syntax highlighting on for the buffer or 1337loading a file. 1338 1339 1340HTML *html.vim* *ft-html-syntax* 1341 1342The coloring scheme for tags in the HTML file works as follows. 1343 1344The <> of opening tags are colored differently than the </> of a closing tag. 1345This is on purpose! For opening tags the 'Function' color is used, while for 1346closing tags the 'Type' color is used (See syntax.vim to check how those are 1347defined for you) 1348 1349Known tag names are colored the same way as statements in C. Unknown tag 1350names are colored with the same color as the <> or </> respectively which 1351makes it easy to spot errors 1352 1353Note that the same is true for argument (or attribute) names. Known attribute 1354names are colored differently than unknown ones. 1355 1356Some HTML tags are used to change the rendering of text. The following tags 1357are recognized by the html.vim syntax coloring file and change the way normal 1358text is shown: <B> <I> <U> <EM> <STRONG> (<EM> is used as an alias for <I>, 1359while <STRONG> as an alias for <B>), <H1> - <H6>, <HEAD>, <TITLE> and <A>, but 1360only if used as a link (that is, it must include a href as in 1361<A href="somefile.html">). 1362 1363If you want to change how such text is rendered, you must redefine the 1364following syntax groups: 1365 1366 - htmlBold 1367 - htmlBoldUnderline 1368 - htmlBoldUnderlineItalic 1369 - htmlUnderline 1370 - htmlUnderlineItalic 1371 - htmlItalic 1372 - htmlTitle for titles 1373 - htmlH1 - htmlH6 for headings 1374 1375To make this redefinition work you must redefine them all with the exception 1376of the last two (htmlTitle and htmlH[1-6], which are optional) and define the 1377following variable in your vimrc (this is due to the order in which the files 1378are read during initialization) > 1379 :let html_my_rendering=1 1380 1381If you'd like to see an example download mysyntax.vim at 1382http://www.fleiner.com/vim/download.html 1383 1384You can also disable this rendering by adding the following line to your 1385vimrc file: > 1386 :let html_no_rendering=1 1387 1388HTML comments are rather special (see an HTML reference document for the 1389details), and the syntax coloring scheme will highlight all errors. 1390However, if you prefer to use the wrong style (starts with <!-- and 1391ends with --!>) you can define > 1392 :let html_wrong_comments=1 1393 1394JavaScript and Visual Basic embedded inside HTML documents are highlighted as 1395'Special' with statements, comments, strings and so on colored as in standard 1396programming languages. Note that only JavaScript and Visual Basic are currently 1397supported, no other scripting language has been added yet. 1398 1399Embedded and inlined cascading style sheets (CSS) are highlighted too. 1400 1401There are several html preprocessor languages out there. html.vim has been 1402written such that it should be trivial to include it. To do so add the 1403following two lines to the syntax coloring file for that language 1404(the example comes from the asp.vim file): 1405 1406 runtime! syntax/html.vim 1407 syn cluster htmlPreproc add=asp 1408 1409Now you just need to make sure that you add all regions that contain 1410the preprocessor language to the cluster htmlPreproc. 1411 1412 1413HTML/OS (by Aestiva) *htmlos.vim* *ft-htmlos-syntax* 1414 1415The coloring scheme for HTML/OS works as follows: 1416 1417Functions and variable names are the same color by default, because VIM 1418doesn't specify different colors for Functions and Identifiers. To change 1419this (which is recommended if you want function names to be recognizable in a 1420different color) you need to add the following line to either your ~/.vimrc: > 1421 :hi Function term=underline cterm=bold ctermfg=LightGray 1422 1423Of course, the ctermfg can be a different color if you choose. 1424 1425Another issues that HTML/OS runs into is that there is no special filetype to 1426signify that it is a file with HTML/OS coding. You can change this by opening 1427a file and turning on HTML/OS syntax by doing the following: > 1428 :set syntax=htmlos 1429 1430Lastly, it should be noted that the opening and closing characters to begin a 1431block of HTML/OS code can either be << or [[ and >> or ]], respectively. 1432 1433 1434IA64 *ia64.vim* *intel-itanium* *ft-ia64-syntax* 1435 1436Highlighting for the Intel Itanium 64 assembly language. See |asm.vim| for 1437how to recognize this filetype. 1438 1439To have *.inc files be recognized as IA64, add this to your .vimrc file: > 1440 :let g:filetype_inc = "ia64" 1441 1442 1443INFORM *inform.vim* *ft-inform-syntax* 1444 1445Inform highlighting includes symbols provided by the Inform Library, as 1446most programs make extensive use of it. If do not wish Library symbols 1447to be highlighted add this to your vim startup: > 1448 :let inform_highlight_simple=1 1449 1450By default it is assumed that Inform programs are Z-machine targeted, 1451and highlights Z-machine assembly language symbols appropriately. If 1452you intend your program to be targeted to a Glulx/Glk environment you 1453need to add this to your startup sequence: > 1454 :let inform_highlight_glulx=1 1455 1456This will highlight Glulx opcodes instead, and also adds glk() to the 1457set of highlighted system functions. 1458 1459The Inform compiler will flag certain obsolete keywords as errors when 1460it encounters them. These keywords are normally highlighted as errors 1461by Vim. To prevent such error highlighting, you must add this to your 1462startup sequence: > 1463 :let inform_suppress_obsolete=1 1464 1465By default, the language features highlighted conform to Compiler 1466version 6.30 and Library version 6.11. If you are using an older 1467Inform development environment, you may with to add this to your 1468startup sequence: > 1469 :let inform_highlight_old=1 1470 1471IDL *idl.vim* *idl-syntax* 1472 1473IDL (Interface Definition Language) files are used to define RPC calls. In 1474Microsoft land, this is also used for defining COM interfaces and calls. 1475 1476IDL's structure is simple enough to permit a full grammar based approach to 1477rather than using a few heuristics. The result is large and somewhat 1478repetitive but seems to work. 1479 1480There are some Microsoft extensions to idl files that are here. Some of them 1481are disabled by defining idl_no_ms_extensions. 1482 1483The more complex of the extensions are disabled by defining idl_no_extensions. 1484 1485Variable Effect ~ 1486 1487idl_no_ms_extensions Disable some of the Microsoft specific 1488 extensions 1489idl_no_extensions Disable complex extensions 1490idlsyntax_showerror Show IDL errors (can be rather intrusive, but 1491 quite helpful) 1492idlsyntax_showerror_soft Use softer colours by default for errors 1493 1494 1495JAVA *java.vim* *ft-java-syntax* 1496 1497The java.vim syntax highlighting file offers several options: 1498 1499In Java 1.0.2 it was never possible to have braces inside parens, so this was 1500flagged as an error. Since Java 1.1 this is possible (with anonymous 1501classes), and therefore is no longer marked as an error. If you prefer the old 1502way, put the following line into your vim startup file: > 1503 :let java_mark_braces_in_parens_as_errors=1 1504 1505All identifiers in java.lang.* are always visible in all classes. To 1506highlight them use: > 1507 :let java_highlight_java_lang_ids=1 1508 1509You can also highlight identifiers of most standard Java packages if you 1510download the javaid.vim script at http://www.fleiner.com/vim/download.html. 1511If you prefer to only highlight identifiers of a certain package, say java.io 1512use the following: > 1513 :let java_highlight_java_io=1 1514Check the javaid.vim file for a list of all the packages that are supported. 1515 1516Function names are not highlighted, as the way to find functions depends on 1517how you write Java code. The syntax file knows two possible ways to highlight 1518functions: 1519 1520If you write function declarations that are always indented by either 1521a tab, 8 spaces or 2 spaces you may want to set > 1522 :let java_highlight_functions="indent" 1523However, if you follow the Java guidelines about how functions and classes are 1524supposed to be named (with respect to upper and lowercase), use > 1525 :let java_highlight_functions="style" 1526If both options do not work for you, but you would still want function 1527declarations to be highlighted create your own definitions by changing the 1528definitions in java.vim or by creating your own java.vim which includes the 1529original one and then adds the code to highlight functions. 1530 1531In Java 1.1 the functions System.out.println() and System.err.println() should 1532only be used for debugging. Therefore it is possible to highlight debugging 1533statements differently. To do this you must add the following definition in 1534your startup file: > 1535 :let java_highlight_debug=1 1536The result will be that those statements are highlighted as 'Special' 1537characters. If you prefer to have them highlighted differently you must define 1538new highlightings for the following groups.: 1539 Debug, DebugSpecial, DebugString, DebugBoolean, DebugType 1540which are used for the statement itself, special characters used in debug 1541strings, strings, boolean constants and types (this, super) respectively. I 1542have opted to chose another background for those statements. 1543 1544In order to help you write code that can be easily ported between Java and 1545C++, all C++ keywords can be marked as an error in a Java program. To 1546have this add this line in your .vimrc file: > 1547 :let java_allow_cpp_keywords = 0 1548 1549Javadoc is a program that takes special comments out of Java program files and 1550creates HTML pages. The standard configuration will highlight this HTML code 1551similarly to HTML files (see |html.vim|). You can even add Javascript 1552and CSS inside this code (see below). There are four differences however: 1553 1. The title (all characters up to the first '.' which is followed by 1554 some white space or up to the first '@') is colored differently (to change 1555 the color change the group CommentTitle). 1556 2. The text is colored as 'Comment'. 1557 3. HTML comments are colored as 'Special' 1558 4. The special Javadoc tags (@see, @param, ...) are highlighted as specials 1559 and the argument (for @see, @param, @exception) as Function. 1560To turn this feature off add the following line to your startup file: > 1561 :let java_ignore_javadoc=1 1562 1563If you use the special Javadoc comment highlighting described above you 1564can also turn on special highlighting for Javascript, visual basic 1565scripts and embedded CSS (stylesheets). This makes only sense if you 1566actually have Javadoc comments that include either Javascript or embedded 1567CSS. The options to use are > 1568 :let java_javascript=1 1569 :let java_css=1 1570 :let java_vb=1 1571 1572In order to highlight nested parens with different colors define colors 1573for javaParen, javaParen1 and javaParen2, for example with > 1574 :hi link javaParen Comment 1575or > 1576 :hi javaParen ctermfg=blue guifg=#0000ff 1577 1578If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 1579when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "java_minlines" internal variable 1580to a larger number: > 1581 :let java_minlines = 50 1582This will make the syntax synchronization start 50 lines before the first 1583displayed line. The default value is 10. The disadvantage of using a larger 1584number is that redrawing can become slow. 1585 1586 1587LACE *lace.vim* *ft-lace-syntax* 1588 1589Lace (Language for Assembly of Classes in Eiffel) is case insensitive, but the 1590style guide lines are not. If you prefer case insensitive highlighting, just 1591define the vim variable 'lace_case_insensitive' in your startup file: > 1592 :let lace_case_insensitive=1 1593 1594 1595LEX *lex.vim* *ft-lex-syntax* 1596 1597Lex uses brute-force synchronizing as the "^%%$" section delimiter 1598gives no clue as to what section follows. Consequently, the value for > 1599 :syn sync minlines=300 1600may be changed by the user if s/he is experiencing synchronization 1601difficulties (such as may happen with large lex files). 1602 1603 1604LIFELINES *lifelines.vim* *ft-lifelines-syntax* 1605 1606To highlight deprecated functions as errors, add in your .vimrc: > 1607 1608 :let g:lifelines_deprecated = 1 1609< 1610 1611LISP *lisp.vim* *ft-lisp-syntax* 1612 1613The lisp syntax highlighting provides two options: > 1614 1615 g:lisp_instring : if it exists, then "(...)" strings are highlighted 1616 as if the contents of the string were lisp. 1617 Useful for AutoLisp. 1618 g:lisp_rainbow : if it exists and is nonzero, then differing levels 1619 of parenthesization will receive different 1620 highlighting. 1621< 1622The g:lisp_rainbow option provides 10 levels of individual colorization for 1623the parentheses and backquoted parentheses. Because of the quantity of 1624colorization levels, unlike non-rainbow highlighting, the rainbow mode 1625specifies its highlighting using ctermfg and guifg, thereby bypassing the 1626usual colorscheme control using standard highlighting groups. The actual 1627highlighting used depends on the dark/bright setting (see |'bg'|). 1628 1629 1630LITE *lite.vim* *ft-lite-syntax* 1631 1632There are two options for the lite syntax highlighting. 1633 1634If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this: > 1635 1636 :let lite_sql_query = 1 1637 1638For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 1639set "lite_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 1640 1641 :let lite_minlines = 200 1642 1643 1644LPC *lpc.vim* *ft-lpc-syntax* 1645 1646LPC stands for a simple, memory-efficient language: Lars Pensj| C. The 1647file name of LPC is usually *.c. Recognizing these files as LPC would bother 1648users writing only C programs. If you want to use LPC syntax in Vim, you 1649should set a variable in your .vimrc file: > 1650 1651 :let lpc_syntax_for_c = 1 1652 1653If it doesn't work properly for some particular C or LPC files, use a 1654modeline. For a LPC file: 1655 1656 // vim:set ft=lpc: 1657 1658For a C file that is recognized as LPC: 1659 1660 // vim:set ft=c: 1661 1662If you don't want to set the variable, use the modeline in EVERY LPC file. 1663 1664There are several implementations for LPC, we intend to support most widely 1665used ones. Here the default LPC syntax is for MudOS series, for MudOS v22 1666and before, you should turn off the sensible modifiers, and this will also 1667asserts the new efuns after v22 to be invalid, don't set this variable when 1668you are using the latest version of MudOS: > 1669 1670 :let lpc_pre_v22 = 1 1671 1672For LpMud 3.2 series of LPC: > 1673 1674 :let lpc_compat_32 = 1 1675 1676For LPC4 series of LPC: > 1677 1678 :let lpc_use_lpc4_syntax = 1 1679 1680For uLPC series of LPC: 1681uLPC has been developed to Pike, so you should use Pike syntax 1682instead, and the name of your source file should be *.pike 1683 1684 1685LUA *lua.vim* *ft-lua-syntax* 1686 1687This syntax file may be used for Lua 4.0, Lua 5.0 or Lua 5.1 (the latter is 1688the default). You can select one of these versions using the global variables 1689lua_version and lua_subversion. For example, to activate Lua 16904.0 syntax highlighting, use this command: > 1691 1692 :let lua_version = 4 1693 1694If you are using Lua 5.0, use these commands: > 1695 1696 :let lua_version = 5 1697 :let lua_subversion = 0 1698 1699To restore highlighting for Lua 5.1: > 1700 1701 :let lua_version = 5 1702 :let lua_subversion = 1 1703 1704 1705MAIL *mail.vim* *ft-mail.vim* 1706 1707Vim highlights all the standard elements of an email (headers, signatures, 1708quoted text and URLs / email addresses). In keeping with standard conventions, 1709signatures begin in a line containing only "--" followed optionally by 1710whitespaces and end with a newline. 1711 1712Vim treats lines beginning with ']', '}', '|', '>' or a word followed by '>' 1713as quoted text. However Vim highlights headers and signatures in quoted text 1714only if the text is quoted with '>' (optionally followed by one space). 1715 1716By default mail.vim synchronises syntax to 100 lines before the first 1717displayed line. If you have a slow machine, and generally deal with emails 1718with short headers, you can change this to a smaller value: > 1719 1720 :let mail_minlines = 30 1721 1722 1723MAKE *make.vim* *ft-make-syntax* 1724 1725In makefiles, commands are usually highlighted to make it easy for you to spot 1726errors. However, this may be too much coloring for you. You can turn this 1727feature off by using: > 1728 1729 :let make_no_commands = 1 1730 1731 1732MAPLE *maple.vim* *ft-maple-syntax* 1733 1734Maple V, by Waterloo Maple Inc, supports symbolic algebra. The language 1735supports many packages of functions which are selectively loaded by the user. 1736The standard set of packages' functions as supplied in Maple V release 4 may be 1737highlighted at the user's discretion. Users may place in their .vimrc file: > 1738 1739 :let mvpkg_all= 1 1740 1741to get all package functions highlighted, or users may select any subset by 1742choosing a variable/package from the table below and setting that variable to 17431, also in their .vimrc file (prior to sourcing 1744$VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim). 1745 1746 Table of Maple V Package Function Selectors > 1747 mv_DEtools mv_genfunc mv_networks mv_process 1748 mv_Galois mv_geometry mv_numapprox mv_simplex 1749 mv_GaussInt mv_grobner mv_numtheory mv_stats 1750 mv_LREtools mv_group mv_orthopoly mv_student 1751 mv_combinat mv_inttrans mv_padic mv_sumtools 1752 mv_combstruct mv_liesymm mv_plots mv_tensor 1753 mv_difforms mv_linalg mv_plottools mv_totorder 1754 mv_finance mv_logic mv_powseries 1755 1756 1757MATHEMATICA *mma.vim* *ft-mma-syntax* *ft-mathematica-syntax* 1758 1759Empty *.m files will automatically be presumed to be Matlab files unless you 1760have the following in your .vimrc: > 1761 1762 let filetype_m = "mma" 1763 1764 1765MOO *moo.vim* *ft-moo-syntax* 1766 1767If you use C-style comments inside expressions and find it mangles your 1768highlighting, you may want to use extended (slow!) matches for C-style 1769comments: > 1770 1771 :let moo_extended_cstyle_comments = 1 1772 1773To disable highlighting of pronoun substitution patterns inside strings: > 1774 1775 :let moo_no_pronoun_sub = 1 1776 1777To disable highlighting of the regular expression operator '%|', and matching 1778'%(' and '%)' inside strings: > 1779 1780 :let moo_no_regexp = 1 1781 1782Unmatched double quotes can be recognized and highlighted as errors: > 1783 1784 :let moo_unmatched_quotes = 1 1785 1786To highlight builtin properties (.name, .location, .programmer etc.): > 1787 1788 :let moo_builtin_properties = 1 1789 1790Unknown builtin functions can be recognized and highlighted as errors. If you 1791use this option, add your own extensions to the mooKnownBuiltinFunction group. 1792To enable this option: > 1793 1794 :let moo_unknown_builtin_functions = 1 1795 1796An example of adding sprintf() to the list of known builtin functions: > 1797 1798 :syn keyword mooKnownBuiltinFunction sprintf contained 1799 1800 1801MSQL *msql.vim* *ft-msql-syntax* 1802 1803There are two options for the msql syntax highlighting. 1804 1805If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this: > 1806 1807 :let msql_sql_query = 1 1808 1809For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 1810set "msql_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 1811 1812 :let msql_minlines = 200 1813 1814 1815NCF *ncf.vim* *ft-ncf-syntax* 1816 1817There is one option for NCF syntax highlighting. 1818 1819If you want to have unrecognized (by ncf.vim) statements highlighted as 1820errors, use this: > 1821 1822 :let ncf_highlight_unknowns = 1 1823 1824If you don't want to highlight these errors, leave it unset. 1825 1826 1827NROFF *nroff.vim* *ft-nroff-syntax* 1828 1829The nroff syntax file works with AT&T n/troff out of the box. You need to 1830activate the GNU groff extra features included in the syntax file before you 1831can use them. 1832 1833For example, Linux and BSD distributions use groff as their default text 1834processing package. In order to activate the extra syntax highlighting 1835features for groff, add the following option to your start-up files: > 1836 1837 :let b:nroff_is_groff = 1 1838 1839Groff is different from the old AT&T n/troff that you may still find in 1840Solaris. Groff macro and request names can be longer than 2 characters and 1841there are extensions to the language primitives. For example, in AT&T troff 1842you access the year as a 2-digit number with the request \(yr. In groff you 1843can use the same request, recognized for compatibility, or you can use groff's 1844native syntax, \[yr]. Furthermore, you can use a 4-digit year directly: 1845\[year]. Macro requests can be longer than 2 characters, for example, GNU mm 1846accepts the requests ".VERBON" and ".VERBOFF" for creating verbatim 1847environments. 1848 1849In order to obtain the best formatted output g/troff can give you, you should 1850follow a few simple rules about spacing and punctuation. 1851 18521. Do not leave empty spaces at the end of lines. 1853 18542. Leave one space and one space only after an end-of-sentence period, 1855 exclamation mark, etc. 1856 18573. For reasons stated below, it is best to follow all period marks with a 1858 carriage return. 1859 1860The reason behind these unusual tips is that g/n/troff have a line breaking 1861algorithm that can be easily upset if you don't follow the rules given above. 1862 1863Unlike TeX, troff fills text line-by-line, not paragraph-by-paragraph and, 1864furthermore, it does not have a concept of glue or stretch, all horizontal and 1865vertical space input will be output as is. 1866 1867Therefore, you should be careful about not using more space between sentences 1868than you intend to have in your final document. For this reason, the common 1869practice is to insert a carriage return immediately after all punctuation 1870marks. If you want to have "even" text in your final processed output, you 1871need to maintaining regular spacing in the input text. To mark both trailing 1872spaces and two or more spaces after a punctuation as an error, use: > 1873 1874 :let nroff_space_errors = 1 1875 1876Another technique to detect extra spacing and other errors that will interfere 1877with the correct typesetting of your file, is to define an eye-catching 1878highlighting definition for the syntax groups "nroffDefinition" and 1879"nroffDefSpecial" in your configuration files. For example: > 1880 1881 hi def nroffDefinition term=italic cterm=italic gui=reverse 1882 hi def nroffDefSpecial term=italic,bold cterm=italic,bold 1883 \ gui=reverse,bold 1884 1885If you want to navigate preprocessor entries in your source file as easily as 1886with section markers, you can activate the following option in your .vimrc 1887file: > 1888 1889 let b:preprocs_as_sections = 1 1890 1891As well, the syntax file adds an extra paragraph marker for the extended 1892paragraph macro (.XP) in the ms package. 1893 1894Finally, there is a |groff.vim| syntax file that can be used for enabling 1895groff syntax highlighting either on a file basis or globally by default. 1896 1897 1898OCAML *ocaml.vim* *ft-ocaml-syntax* 1899 1900The OCaml syntax file handles files having the following prefixes: .ml, 1901.mli, .mll and .mly. By setting the following variable > 1902 1903 :let ocaml_revised = 1 1904 1905you can switch from standard OCaml-syntax to revised syntax as supported 1906by the camlp4 preprocessor. Setting the variable > 1907 1908 :let ocaml_noend_error = 1 1909 1910prevents highlighting of "end" as error, which is useful when sources 1911contain very long structures that Vim does not synchronize anymore. 1912 1913 1914PAPP *papp.vim* *ft-papp-syntax* 1915 1916The PApp syntax file handles .papp files and, to a lesser extend, .pxml 1917and .pxsl files which are all a mixture of perl/xml/html/other using xml 1918as the top-level file format. By default everything inside phtml or pxml 1919sections is treated as a string with embedded preprocessor commands. If 1920you set the variable: > 1921 1922 :let papp_include_html=1 1923 1924in your startup file it will try to syntax-hilight html code inside phtml 1925sections, but this is relatively slow and much too colourful to be able to 1926edit sensibly. ;) 1927 1928The newest version of the papp.vim syntax file can usually be found at 1929http://papp.plan9.de. 1930 1931 1932PASCAL *pascal.vim* *ft-pascal-syntax* 1933 1934Files matching "*.p" could be Progress or Pascal. If the automatic detection 1935doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your 1936startup vimrc: > 1937 1938 :let filetype_p = "pascal" 1939 1940The Pascal syntax file has been extended to take into account some extensions 1941provided by Turbo Pascal, Free Pascal Compiler and GNU Pascal Compiler. 1942Delphi keywords are also supported. By default, Turbo Pascal 7.0 features are 1943enabled. If you prefer to stick with the standard Pascal keywords, add the 1944following line to your startup file: > 1945 1946 :let pascal_traditional=1 1947 1948To switch on Delphi specific constructions (such as one-line comments, 1949keywords, etc): > 1950 1951 :let pascal_delphi=1 1952 1953 1954The option pascal_symbol_operator controls whether symbol operators such as +, 1955*, .., etc. are displayed using the Operator color or not. To colorize symbol 1956operators, add the following line to your startup file: > 1957 1958 :let pascal_symbol_operator=1 1959 1960Some functions are highlighted by default. To switch it off: > 1961 1962 :let pascal_no_functions=1 1963 1964Furthermore, there are specific variables for some compilers. Besides 1965pascal_delphi, there are pascal_gpc and pascal_fpc. Default extensions try to 1966match Turbo Pascal. > 1967 1968 :let pascal_gpc=1 1969 1970or > 1971 1972 :let pascal_fpc=1 1973 1974To ensure that strings are defined on a single line, you can define the 1975pascal_one_line_string variable. > 1976 1977 :let pascal_one_line_string=1 1978 1979If you dislike <Tab> chars, you can set the pascal_no_tabs variable. Tabs 1980will be highlighted as Error. > 1981 1982 :let pascal_no_tabs=1 1983 1984 1985 1986PERL *perl.vim* *ft-perl-syntax* 1987 1988There are a number of possible options to the perl syntax highlighting. 1989 1990If you use POD files or POD segments, you might: > 1991 1992 :let perl_include_pod = 1 1993 1994The reduce the complexity of parsing (and increase performance) you can switch 1995off two elements in the parsing of variable names and contents. > 1996 1997To handle package references in variable and function names not differently 1998from the rest of the name (like 'PkgName::' in '$PkgName::VarName'): > 1999 2000 :let perl_no_scope_in_variables = 1 2001 2002(In Vim 6.x it was the other way around: "perl_want_scope_in_variables" 2003enabled it.) 2004 2005If you do not want complex things like '@{${"foo"}}' to be parsed: > 2006 2007 :let perl_no_extended_vars = 1 2008 2009(In Vim 6.x it was the other way around: "perl_extended_vars" enabled it.) 2010 2011The coloring strings can be changed. By default strings and qq friends will be 2012highlighted like the first line. If you set the variable 2013perl_string_as_statement, it will be highlighted as in the second line. 2014 2015 "hello world!"; qq|hello world|; 2016 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^NN^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^N (unlet perl_string_as_statement) 2017 S^^^^^^^^^^^^SNNSSS^^^^^^^^^^^SN (let perl_string_as_statement) 2018 2019(^ = perlString, S = perlStatement, N = None at all) 2020 2021The syncing has 3 options. The first two switch off some triggering of 2022synchronization and should only be needed in case it fails to work properly. 2023If while scrolling all of a sudden the whole screen changes color completely 2024then you should try and switch off one of those. Let me know if you can figure 2025out the line that causes the mistake. 2026 2027One triggers on "^\s*sub\s*" and the other on "^[$@%]" more or less. > 2028 2029 :let perl_no_sync_on_sub 2030 :let perl_no_sync_on_global_var 2031 2032Below you can set the maximum distance VIM should look for starting points for 2033its attempts in syntax highlighting. > 2034 2035 :let perl_sync_dist = 100 2036 2037If you want to use folding with perl, set perl_fold: > 2038 2039 :let perl_fold = 1 2040 2041If you want to fold blocks in if statements, etc. as well set the following: > 2042 2043 :let perl_fold_blocks = 1 2044 2045To avoid folding packages or subs when perl_fold is let, let the appropriate 2046variable(s): > 2047 2048 :unlet perl_nofold_packages 2049 :unlet perl_nofold_subs 2050 2051 2052 2053PHP3 and PHP4 *php.vim* *php3.vim* *ft-php-syntax* *ft-php3-syntax* 2054 2055[note: previously this was called "php3", but since it now also supports php4 2056it has been renamed to "php"] 2057 2058There are the following options for the php syntax highlighting. 2059 2060If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings: > 2061 2062 let php_sql_query = 1 2063 2064For highlighting the Baselib methods: > 2065 2066 let php_baselib = 1 2067 2068Enable HTML syntax highlighting inside strings: > 2069 2070 let php_htmlInStrings = 1 2071 2072Using the old colorstyle: > 2073 2074 let php_oldStyle = 1 2075 2076Enable highlighting ASP-style short tags: > 2077 2078 let php_asp_tags = 1 2079 2080Disable short tags: > 2081 2082 let php_noShortTags = 1 2083 2084For highlighting parent error ] or ): > 2085 2086 let php_parent_error_close = 1 2087 2088For skipping an php end tag, if there exists an open ( or [ without a closing 2089one: > 2090 2091 let php_parent_error_open = 1 2092 2093Enable folding for classes and functions: > 2094 2095 let php_folding = 1 2096 2097Selecting syncing method: > 2098 2099 let php_sync_method = x 2100 2101x = -1 to sync by search (default), 2102x > 0 to sync at least x lines backwards, 2103x = 0 to sync from start. 2104 2105 2106PLAINTEX *plaintex.vim* *ft-plaintex-syntax* 2107 2108TeX is a typesetting language, and plaintex is the file type for the "plain" 2109variant of TeX. If you never want your *.tex files recognized as plain TeX, 2110see |ft-tex-plugin|. 2111 2112This syntax file has the option > 2113 2114 let g:plaintex_delimiters = 1 2115 2116if you want to highlight brackets "[]" and braces "{}". 2117 2118 2119PPWIZARD *ppwiz.vim* *ft-ppwiz-syntax* 2120 2121PPWizard is a preprocessor for HTML and OS/2 INF files 2122 2123This syntax file has the options: 2124 2125- ppwiz_highlight_defs : determines highlighting mode for PPWizard's 2126 definitions. Possible values are 2127 2128 ppwiz_highlight_defs = 1 : PPWizard #define statements retain the 2129 colors of their contents (e.g. PPWizard macros and variables) 2130 2131 ppwiz_highlight_defs = 2 : preprocessor #define and #evaluate 2132 statements are shown in a single color with the exception of line 2133 continuation symbols 2134 2135 The default setting for ppwiz_highlight_defs is 1. 2136 2137- ppwiz_with_html : If the value is 1 (the default), highlight literal 2138 HTML code; if 0, treat HTML code like ordinary text. 2139 2140 2141PHTML *phtml.vim* *ft-phtml-syntax* 2142 2143There are two options for the phtml syntax highlighting. 2144 2145If you like SQL syntax highlighting inside Strings, use this: > 2146 2147 :let phtml_sql_query = 1 2148 2149For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 2150set "phtml_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 2151 2152 :let phtml_minlines = 200 2153 2154 2155POSTSCRIPT *postscr.vim* *ft-postscr-syntax* 2156 2157There are several options when it comes to highlighting PostScript. 2158 2159First which version of the PostScript language to highlight. There are 2160currently three defined language versions, or levels. Level 1 is the original 2161and base version, and includes all extensions prior to the release of level 2. 2162Level 2 is the most common version around, and includes its own set of 2163extensions prior to the release of level 3. Level 3 is currently the highest 2164level supported. You select which level of the PostScript language you want 2165highlighted by defining the postscr_level variable as follows: > 2166 2167 :let postscr_level=2 2168 2169If this variable is not defined it defaults to 2 (level 2) since this is 2170the most prevalent version currently. 2171 2172Note, not all PS interpreters will support all language features for a 2173particular language level. In particular the %!PS-Adobe-3.0 at the start of 2174PS files does NOT mean the PostScript present is level 3 PostScript! 2175 2176If you are working with Display PostScript, you can include highlighting of 2177Display PS language features by defining the postscr_display variable as 2178follows: > 2179 2180 :let postscr_display=1 2181 2182If you are working with Ghostscript, you can include highlighting of 2183Ghostscript specific language features by defining the variable 2184postscr_ghostscript as follows: > 2185 2186 :let postscr_ghostscript=1 2187 2188PostScript is a large language, with many predefined elements. While it 2189useful to have all these elements highlighted, on slower machines this can 2190cause Vim to slow down. In an attempt to be machine friendly font names and 2191character encodings are not highlighted by default. Unless you are working 2192explicitly with either of these this should be ok. If you want them to be 2193highlighted you should set one or both of the following variables: > 2194 2195 :let postscr_fonts=1 2196 :let postscr_encodings=1 2197 2198There is a stylistic option to the highlighting of and, or, and not. In 2199PostScript the function of these operators depends on the types of their 2200operands - if the operands are booleans then they are the logical operators, 2201if they are integers then they are binary operators. As binary and logical 2202operators can be highlighted differently they have to be highlighted one way 2203or the other. By default they are treated as logical operators. They can be 2204highlighted as binary operators by defining the variable 2205postscr_andornot_binary as follows: > 2206 2207 :let postscr_andornot_binary=1 2208< 2209 2210 *ptcap.vim* *ft-printcap-syntax* 2211PRINTCAP + TERMCAP *ft-ptcap-syntax* *ft-termcap-syntax* 2212 2213This syntax file applies to the printcap and termcap databases. 2214 2215In order for Vim to recognize printcap/termcap files that do not match 2216the patterns *printcap*, or *termcap*, you must put additional patterns 2217appropriate to your system in your |myfiletypefile| file. For these 2218patterns, you must set the variable "b:ptcap_type" to either "print" or 2219"term", and then the 'filetype' option to ptcap. 2220 2221For example, to make Vim identify all files in /etc/termcaps/ as termcap 2222files, add the following: > 2223 2224 :au BufNewFile,BufRead /etc/termcaps/* let b:ptcap_type = "term" | 2225 \ set filetype=ptcap 2226 2227If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which 2228are fixed when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "ptcap_minlines" 2229internal variable to a larger number: > 2230 2231 :let ptcap_minlines = 50 2232 2233(The default is 20 lines.) 2234 2235 2236PROGRESS *progress.vim* *ft-progress-syntax* 2237 2238Files matching "*.w" could be Progress or cweb. If the automatic detection 2239doesn't work for you, or you don't edit cweb at all, use this in your 2240startup vimrc: > 2241 :let filetype_w = "progress" 2242The same happens for "*.i", which could be assembly, and "*.p", which could be 2243Pascal. Use this if you don't use assembly and Pascal: > 2244 :let filetype_i = "progress" 2245 :let filetype_p = "progress" 2246 2247 2248PYTHON *python.vim* *ft-python-syntax* 2249 2250There are four options to control Python syntax highlighting. 2251 2252For highlighted numbers: > 2253 :let python_highlight_numbers = 1 2254 2255For highlighted builtin functions: > 2256 :let python_highlight_builtins = 1 2257 2258For highlighted standard exceptions: > 2259 :let python_highlight_exceptions = 1 2260 2261For highlighted trailing whitespace and mix of spaces and tabs: 2262 :let python_highlight_space_errors = 1 2263 2264If you want all possible Python highlighting (the same as setting the 2265preceding three options): > 2266 :let python_highlight_all = 1 2267 2268 2269QUAKE *quake.vim* *ft-quake-syntax* 2270 2271The Quake syntax definition should work for most any FPS (First Person 2272Shooter) based on one of the Quake engines. However, the command names vary 2273a bit between the three games (Quake, Quake 2, and Quake 3 Arena) so the 2274syntax definition checks for the existence of three global variables to allow 2275users to specify what commands are legal in their files. The three variables 2276can be set for the following effects: 2277 2278set to highlight commands only available in Quake: > 2279 :let quake_is_quake1 = 1 2280 2281set to highlight commands only available in Quake 2: > 2282 :let quake_is_quake2 = 1 2283 2284set to highlight commands only available in Quake 3 Arena: > 2285 :let quake_is_quake3 = 1 2286 2287Any combination of these three variables is legal, but might highlight more 2288commands than are actually available to you by the game. 2289 2290 2291READLINE *readline.vim* *ft-readline-syntax* 2292 2293The readline library is primarily used by the BASH shell, which adds quite a 2294few commands and options to the ones already available. To highlight these 2295items as well you can add the following to your |vimrc| or just type it in the 2296command line before loading a file with the readline syntax: > 2297 let readline_has_bash = 1 2298 2299This will add highlighting for the commands that BASH (version 2.05a and 2300later, and part earlier) adds. 2301 2302 2303REXX *rexx.vim* *ft-rexx-syntax* 2304 2305If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 2306when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "rexx_minlines" internal variable 2307to a larger number: > 2308 :let rexx_minlines = 50 2309This will make the syntax synchronization start 50 lines before the first 2310displayed line. The default value is 10. The disadvantage of using a larger 2311number is that redrawing can become slow. 2312 2313 2314RUBY *ruby.vim* *ft-ruby-syntax* 2315 2316There are a number of options to the Ruby syntax highlighting. 2317 2318By default, the "end" keyword is colorized according to the opening statement 2319of the block it closes. While useful, this feature can be expensive; if you 2320experience slow redrawing (or you are on a terminal with poor color support) 2321you may want to turn it off by defining the "ruby_no_expensive" variable: > 2322 2323 :let ruby_no_expensive = 1 2324< 2325In this case the same color will be used for all control keywords. 2326 2327If you do want this feature enabled, but notice highlighting errors while 2328scrolling backwards, which are fixed when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting 2329the "ruby_minlines" variable to a value larger than 50: > 2330 2331 :let ruby_minlines = 100 2332< 2333Ideally, this value should be a number of lines large enough to embrace your 2334largest class or module. 2335 2336Highlighting of special identifiers can be disabled by removing the 2337rubyIdentifier highlighting: > 2338 2339 :hi link rubyIdentifier NONE 2340< 2341This will prevent highlighting of special identifiers like "ConstantName", 2342"$global_var", "@@class_var", "@instance_var", "| block_param |", and 2343":symbol". 2344 2345Significant methods of Kernel, Module and Object are highlighted by default. 2346This can be disabled by defining "ruby_no_special_methods": > 2347 2348 :let ruby_no_special_methods = 1 2349< 2350This will prevent highlighting of important methods such as "require", "attr", 2351"private", "raise" and "proc". 2352 2353Ruby operators can be highlighted. This is enabled by defining 2354"ruby_operators": > 2355 2356 :let ruby_operators = 1 2357< 2358Whitespace errors can be highlighted by defining "ruby_space_errors": > 2359 2360 :let ruby_space_errors = 1 2361< 2362This will highlight trailing whitespace and tabs preceded by a space character 2363as errors. This can be refined by defining "ruby_no_trail_space_error" and 2364"ruby_no_tab_space_error" which will ignore trailing whitespace and tabs after 2365spaces respectively. 2366 2367Folding can be enabled by defining "ruby_fold": > 2368 2369 :let ruby_fold = 1 2370< 2371This will set the 'foldmethod' option to "syntax" and allow folding of 2372classes, modules, methods, code blocks, heredocs and comments. 2373 2374Folding of multiline comments can be disabled by defining 2375"ruby_no_comment_fold": > 2376 2377 :let ruby_no_comment_fold = 1 2378< 2379 2380SCHEME *scheme.vim* *ft-scheme-syntax* 2381 2382By default only R5RS keywords are highlighted and properly indented. 2383 2384MzScheme-specific stuff will be used if b:is_mzscheme or g:is_mzscheme 2385variables are defined. 2386 2387Also scheme.vim supports keywords of the Chicken Scheme->C compiler. Define 2388b:is_chicken or g:is_chicken, if you need them. 2389 2390 2391SDL *sdl.vim* *ft-sdl-syntax* 2392 2393The SDL highlighting probably misses a few keywords, but SDL has so many 2394of them it's almost impossibly to cope. 2395 2396The new standard, SDL-2000, specifies that all identifiers are 2397case-sensitive (which was not so before), and that all keywords can be 2398used either completely lowercase or completely uppercase. To have the 2399highlighting reflect this, you can set the following variable: > 2400 :let sdl_2000=1 2401 2402This also sets many new keywords. If you want to disable the old 2403keywords, which is probably a good idea, use: > 2404 :let SDL_no_96=1 2405 2406 2407The indentation is probably also incomplete, but right now I am very 2408satisfied with it for my own projects. 2409 2410 2411SED *sed.vim* *ft-sed-syntax* 2412 2413To make tabs stand out from regular blanks (accomplished by using Todo 2414highlighting on the tabs), define "highlight_sedtabs" by putting > 2415 2416 :let highlight_sedtabs = 1 2417 2418in the vimrc file. (This special highlighting only applies for tabs 2419inside search patterns, replacement texts, addresses or text included 2420by an Append/Change/Insert command.) If you enable this option, it is 2421also a good idea to set the tab width to one character; by doing that, 2422you can easily count the number of tabs in a string. 2423 2424Bugs: 2425 2426 The transform command (y) is treated exactly like the substitute 2427 command. This means that, as far as this syntax file is concerned, 2428 transform accepts the same flags as substitute, which is wrong. 2429 (Transform accepts no flags.) I tolerate this bug because the 2430 involved commands need very complex treatment (95 patterns, one for 2431 each plausible pattern delimiter). 2432 2433 2434SGML *sgml.vim* *ft-sgml-syntax* 2435 2436The coloring scheme for tags in the SGML file works as follows. 2437 2438The <> of opening tags are colored differently than the </> of a closing tag. 2439This is on purpose! For opening tags the 'Function' color is used, while for 2440closing tags the 'Type' color is used (See syntax.vim to check how those are 2441defined for you) 2442 2443Known tag names are colored the same way as statements in C. Unknown tag 2444names are not colored which makes it easy to spot errors. 2445 2446Note that the same is true for argument (or attribute) names. Known attribute 2447names are colored differently than unknown ones. 2448 2449Some SGML tags are used to change the rendering of text. The following tags 2450are recognized by the sgml.vim syntax coloring file and change the way normal 2451text is shown: <varname> <emphasis> <command> <function> <literal> 2452<replaceable> <ulink> and <link>. 2453 2454If you want to change how such text is rendered, you must redefine the 2455following syntax groups: 2456 2457 - sgmlBold 2458 - sgmlBoldItalic 2459 - sgmlUnderline 2460 - sgmlItalic 2461 - sgmlLink for links 2462 2463To make this redefinition work you must redefine them all and define the 2464following variable in your vimrc (this is due to the order in which the files 2465are read during initialization) > 2466 let sgml_my_rendering=1 2467 2468You can also disable this rendering by adding the following line to your 2469vimrc file: > 2470 let sgml_no_rendering=1 2471 2472(Adapted from the html.vim help text by Claudio Fleiner <claudio@fleiner.com>) 2473 2474 2475SH *sh.vim* *ft-sh-syntax* *ft-bash-syntax* *ft-ksh-syntax* 2476 2477This covers the "normal" Unix (Bourne) sh, bash and the Korn shell. 2478 2479Vim attempts to determine which shell type is in use by specifying that 2480various filenames are of specific types: > 2481 2482 ksh : .kshrc* *.ksh 2483 bash: .bashrc* bashrc bash.bashrc .bash_profile* *.bash 2484< 2485If none of these cases pertain, then the first line of the file is examined 2486(ex. /bin/sh /bin/ksh /bin/bash). If the first line specifies a shelltype, 2487then that shelltype is used. However some files (ex. .profile) are known to 2488be shell files but the type is not apparent. Furthermore, on many systems 2489sh is symbolically linked to "bash" (Linux, Windows+cygwin) or "ksh" (Posix). 2490 2491One may specify a global default by instantiating one of the following three 2492variables in your <.vimrc>: 2493 2494 ksh: > 2495 let g:is_kornshell = 1 2496< posix: (using this is the same as setting is_kornshell to 1) > 2497 let g:is_posix = 1 2498< bash: > 2499 let g:is_bash = 1 2500< sh: (default) Bourne shell > 2501 let g:is_sh = 1 2502 2503If there's no "#! ..." line, and the user hasn't availed himself/herself of a 2504default sh.vim syntax setting as just shown, then syntax/sh.vim will assume 2505the Bourne shell syntax. No need to quote RFCs or market penetration 2506statistics in error reports, please -- just select the default version of the 2507sh your system uses in your <.vimrc>. 2508 2509The syntax/sh.vim file provides several levels of syntax-based folding: > 2510 2511 let g:sh_fold_enabled= 0 (default, no syntax folding) 2512 let g:sh_fold_enabled= 1 (enable function folding) 2513 let g:sh_fold_enabled= 2 (enable heredoc folding) 2514 let g:sh_fold_enabled= 4 (enable if/do/for folding) 2515> 2516then various syntax items (HereDocuments and function bodies) become 2517syntax-foldable (see |:syn-fold|). You also may add these together 2518to get multiple types of folding: > 2519 2520 let g:sh_fold_enabled= 3 (enables function and heredoc folding) 2521 2522If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards which are fixed 2523when one redraws with CTRL-L, try setting the "sh_minlines" internal variable 2524to a larger number. Example: > 2525 2526 let sh_minlines = 500 2527 2528This will make syntax synchronization start 500 lines before the first 2529displayed line. The default value is 200. The disadvantage of using a larger 2530number is that redrawing can become slow. 2531 2532If you don't have much to synchronize on, displaying can be very slow. To 2533reduce this, the "sh_maxlines" internal variable can be set. Example: > 2534 2535 let sh_maxlines = 100 2536< 2537The default is to use the twice sh_minlines. Set it to a smaller number to 2538speed up displaying. The disadvantage is that highlight errors may appear. 2539 2540 2541SPEEDUP (AspenTech plant simulator) *spup.vim* *ft-spup-syntax* 2542 2543The Speedup syntax file has some options: 2544 2545- strict_subsections : If this variable is defined, only keywords for 2546 sections and subsections will be highlighted as statements but not 2547 other keywords (like WITHIN in the OPERATION section). 2548 2549- highlight_types : Definition of this variable causes stream types 2550 like temperature or pressure to be highlighted as Type, not as a 2551 plain Identifier. Included are the types that are usually found in 2552 the DECLARE section; if you defined own types, you have to include 2553 them in the syntax file. 2554 2555- oneline_comments : this value ranges from 1 to 3 and determines the 2556 highlighting of # style comments. 2557 2558 oneline_comments = 1 : allow normal Speedup code after an even 2559 number of #s. 2560 2561 oneline_comments = 2 : show code starting with the second # as 2562 error. This is the default setting. 2563 2564 oneline_comments = 3 : show the whole line as error if it contains 2565 more than one #. 2566 2567Since especially OPERATION sections tend to become very large due to 2568PRESETting variables, syncing may be critical. If your computer is 2569fast enough, you can increase minlines and/or maxlines near the end of 2570the syntax file. 2571 2572 2573SQL *sql.vim* *ft-sql-syntax* 2574 *sqlinformix.vim* *ft-sqlinformix-syntax* 2575 *sqlanywhere.vim* *ft-sqlanywhere-syntax* 2576 2577While there is an ANSI standard for SQL, most database engines add their own 2578custom extensions. Vim currently supports the Oracle and Informix dialects of 2579SQL. Vim assumes "*.sql" files are Oracle SQL by default. 2580 2581Vim currently has SQL support for a variety of different vendors via syntax 2582scripts. You can change Vim's default from Oracle to any of the current SQL 2583supported types. You can also easily alter the SQL dialect being used on a 2584buffer by buffer basis. 2585 2586For more detailed instructions see |ft_sql.txt|. 2587 2588 2589TCSH *tcsh.vim* *ft-tcsh-syntax* 2590 2591This covers the shell named "tcsh". It is a superset of csh. See |csh.vim| 2592for how the filetype is detected. 2593 2594Tcsh does not allow \" in strings unless the "backslash_quote" shell variable 2595is set. If you want VIM to assume that no backslash quote constructs exist add 2596this line to your .vimrc: > 2597 2598 :let tcsh_backslash_quote = 0 2599 2600If you notice highlighting errors while scrolling backwards, which are fixed 2601when redrawing with CTRL-L, try setting the "tcsh_minlines" internal variable 2602to a larger number: > 2603 2604 :let tcsh_minlines = 1000 2605 2606This will make the syntax synchronization start 1000 lines before the first 2607displayed line. If you set "tcsh_minlines" to "fromstart", then 2608synchronization is done from the start of the file. The default value for 2609tcsh_minlines is 100. The disadvantage of using a larger number is that 2610redrawing can become slow. 2611 2612 2613TEX *tex.vim* *ft-tex-syntax* 2614 2615 *tex-folding* 2616 Tex: Want Syntax Folding? ~ 2617 2618As of version 28 of <syntax/tex.vim>, syntax-based folding of parts, chapters, 2619sections, subsections, etc are supported. Put > 2620 let g:tex_fold_enabled=1 2621in your <.vimrc>, and :set fdm=syntax. I suggest doing the latter via a 2622modeline at the end of your LaTeX file: > 2623 % vim: fdm=syntax 2624< 2625 *tex-nospell* 2626 Tex: Don't Want Spell Checking In Comments? ~ 2627 2628Some folks like to include things like source code in comments and so would 2629prefer that spell checking be disabled in comments in LaTeX files. To do 2630this, put the following in your <.vimrc>: > 2631 let g:tex_comment_nospell= 1 2632< 2633 *tex-verb* 2634 Tex: Want Spell Checking in Verbatim Zones?~ 2635 2636Often verbatim regions are used for things like source code; seldom does 2637one want source code spell-checked. However, for those of you who do 2638want your verbatim zones spell-checked, put the following in your <.vimrc>: > 2639 let g:tex_verbspell= 1 2640< 2641 *tex-runon* 2642 Tex: Run-on Comments or MathZones ~ 2643 2644The <syntax/tex.vim> highlighting supports TeX, LaTeX, and some AmsTeX. The 2645highlighting supports three primary zones/regions: normal, texZone, and 2646texMathZone. Although considerable effort has been made to have these zones 2647terminate properly, zones delineated by $..$ and $$..$$ cannot be synchronized 2648as there's no difference between start and end patterns. Consequently, a 2649special "TeX comment" has been provided > 2650 %stopzone 2651which will forcibly terminate the highlighting of either a texZone or a 2652texMathZone. 2653 2654 *tex-slow* 2655 Tex: Slow Syntax Highlighting? ~ 2656 2657If you have a slow computer, you may wish to reduce the values for > 2658 :syn sync maxlines=200 2659 :syn sync minlines=50 2660(especially the latter). If your computer is fast, you may wish to 2661increase them. This primarily affects synchronizing (i.e. just what group, 2662if any, is the text at the top of the screen supposed to be in?). 2663 2664 *tex-morecommands* *tex-package* 2665 Tex: Want To Highlight More Commands? ~ 2666 2667LaTeX is a programmable language, and so there are thousands of packages full 2668of specialized LaTeX commands, syntax, and fonts. If you're using such a 2669package you'll often wish that the distributed syntax/tex.vim would support 2670it. However, clearly this is impractical. So please consider using the 2671techniques in |mysyntaxfile-add| to extend or modify the highlighting provided 2672by syntax/tex.vim. 2673 2674 *tex-error* 2675 Tex: Excessive Error Highlighting? ~ 2676 2677The <tex.vim> supports lexical error checking of various sorts. Thus, 2678although the error checking is ofttimes very useful, it can indicate 2679errors where none actually are. If this proves to be a problem for you, 2680you may put in your <.vimrc> the following statement: > 2681 let tex_no_error=1 2682and all error checking by <syntax/tex.vim> will be suppressed. 2683 2684 *tex-math* 2685 Tex: Need a new Math Group? ~ 2686 2687If you want to include a new math group in your LaTeX, the following 2688code shows you an example as to how you might do so: > 2689 call TexNewMathZone(sfx,mathzone,starform) 2690You'll want to provide the new math group with a unique suffix 2691(currently, A-L and V-Z are taken by <syntax/tex.vim> itself). 2692As an example, consider how eqnarray is set up by <syntax/tex.vim>: > 2693 call TexNewMathZone("D","eqnarray",1) 2694You'll need to change "mathzone" to the name of your new math group, 2695and then to the call to it in .vim/after/syntax/tex.vim. 2696The "starform" variable, if true, implies that your new math group 2697has a starred form (ie. eqnarray*). 2698 2699 *tex-style* 2700 Tex: Starting a New Style? ~ 2701 2702One may use "\makeatletter" in *.tex files, thereby making the use of "@" in 2703commands available. However, since the *.tex file doesn't have one of the 2704following suffices: sty cls clo dtx ltx, the syntax highlighting will flag 2705such use of @ as an error. To solve this: > 2706 2707 :let b:tex_stylish = 1 2708 :set ft=tex 2709 2710Putting "let g:tex_stylish=1" into your <.vimrc> will make <syntax/tex.vim> 2711always accept such use of @. 2712 2713 *tex-cchar* *tex-cole* *tex-conceal* 2714 Tex: Taking Advantage of Conceal Mode~ 2715 2716If you have |'conceallevel'| set to 2 and if your encoding is utf-8, then a 2717number of character sequences can be translated into appropriate utf-8 glyphs, 2718including various accented characters, Greek characters in MathZones, and 2719superscripts and subscripts in MathZones. Not all characters can be made into 2720superscripts or subscripts; the constraint is due to what utf-8 supports. 2721In fact, only a few characters are supported as subscripts. 2722 2723One way to use this is to have vertically split windows (see |CTRL-W_v|); one 2724with |'conceallevel'| at 0 and the other at 2; and both using |'scrollbind'|. 2725 2726 *g:tex_conceal* 2727 Tex: Selective Conceal Mode~ 2728 2729You may selectively use conceal mode by setting g:tex_conceal in your 2730<.vimrc>. By default it is set to "admgs" to enable conceal for the 2731following sets of characters: > 2732 2733 a = accents/ligatures 2734 d = delimiters 2735 m = math symbols 2736 g = Greek 2737 s = superscripts/subscripts 2738< 2739By leaving one or more of these out, the associated conceal-character 2740substitution will not be made. 2741 2742 2743TF *tf.vim* *ft-tf-syntax* 2744 2745There is one option for the tf syntax highlighting. 2746 2747For syncing, minlines defaults to 100. If you prefer another value, you can 2748set "tf_minlines" to the value you desire. Example: > 2749 2750 :let tf_minlines = your choice 2751 2752 2753VIM *vim.vim* *ft-vim-syntax* 2754 *g:vimsyn_minlines* *g:vimsyn_maxlines* 2755There is a trade-off between more accurate syntax highlighting versus screen 2756updating speed. To improve accuracy, you may wish to increase the 2757g:vimsyn_minlines variable. The g:vimsyn_maxlines variable may be used to 2758improve screen updating rates (see |:syn-sync| for more on this). > 2759 2760 g:vimsyn_minlines : used to set synchronization minlines 2761 g:vimsyn_maxlines : used to set synchronization maxlines 2762< 2763 (g:vim_minlines and g:vim_maxlines are deprecated variants of 2764 these two options) 2765 2766 *g:vimsyn_embed* 2767The g:vimsyn_embed option allows users to select what, if any, types of 2768embedded script highlighting they wish to have. > 2769 2770 g:vimsyn_embed == 0 : don't embed any scripts 2771 g:vimsyn_embed =~ 'm' : embed mzscheme (but only if vim supports it) 2772 g:vimsyn_embed =~ 'p' : embed perl (but only if vim supports it) 2773 g:vimsyn_embed =~ 'P' : embed python (but only if vim supports it) 2774 g:vimsyn_embed =~ 'r' : embed ruby (but only if vim supports it) 2775 g:vimsyn_embed =~ 't' : embed tcl (but only if vim supports it) 2776< 2777By default, g:vimsyn_embed is "mpPr"; ie. syntax/vim.vim will support 2778highlighting mzscheme, perl, python, and ruby by default. Vim's has("tcl") 2779test appears to hang vim when tcl is not truly available. Thus, by default, 2780tcl is not supported for embedding (but those of you who like tcl embedded in 2781their vim syntax highlighting can simply include it in the g:vimembedscript 2782option). 2783 *g:vimsyn_folding* 2784 2785Some folding is now supported with syntax/vim.vim: > 2786 2787 g:vimsyn_folding == 0 or doesn't exist: no syntax-based folding 2788 g:vimsyn_folding =~ 'a' : augroups 2789 g:vimsyn_folding =~ 'f' : fold functions 2790 g:vimsyn_folding =~ 'm' : fold mzscheme script 2791 g:vimsyn_folding =~ 'p' : fold perl script 2792 g:vimsyn_folding =~ 'P' : fold python script 2793 g:vimsyn_folding =~ 'r' : fold ruby script 2794 g:vimsyn_folding =~ 't' : fold tcl script 2795 2796 *g:vimsyn_noerror* 2797Not all error highlighting that syntax/vim.vim does may be correct; VimL is a 2798difficult language to highlight correctly. A way to suppress error 2799highlighting is to put the following line in your |vimrc|: > 2800 2801 let g:vimsyn_noerror = 1 2802< 2803 2804 2805XF86CONFIG *xf86conf.vim* *ft-xf86conf-syntax* 2806 2807The syntax of XF86Config file differs in XFree86 v3.x and v4.x. Both 2808variants are supported. Automatic detection is used, but is far from perfect. 2809You may need to specify the version manually. Set the variable 2810xf86conf_xfree86_version to 3 or 4 according to your XFree86 version in 2811your .vimrc. Example: > 2812 :let xf86conf_xfree86_version=3 2813When using a mix of versions, set the b:xf86conf_xfree86_version variable. 2814 2815Note that spaces and underscores in option names are not supported. Use 2816"SyncOnGreen" instead of "__s yn con gr_e_e_n" if you want the option name 2817highlighted. 2818 2819 2820XML *xml.vim* *ft-xml-syntax* 2821 2822Xml namespaces are highlighted by default. This can be inhibited by 2823setting a global variable: > 2824 2825 :let g:xml_namespace_transparent=1 2826< 2827 *xml-folding* 2828The xml syntax file provides syntax |folding| (see |:syn-fold|) between 2829start and end tags. This can be turned on by > 2830 2831 :let g:xml_syntax_folding = 1 2832 :set foldmethod=syntax 2833 2834Note: syntax folding might slow down syntax highlighting significantly, 2835especially for large files. 2836 2837 2838X Pixmaps (XPM) *xpm.vim* *ft-xpm-syntax* 2839 2840xpm.vim creates its syntax items dynamically based upon the contents of the 2841XPM file. Thus if you make changes e.g. in the color specification strings, 2842you have to source it again e.g. with ":set syn=xpm". 2843 2844To copy a pixel with one of the colors, yank a "pixel" with "yl" and insert it 2845somewhere else with "P". 2846 2847Do you want to draw with the mouse? Try the following: > 2848 :function! GetPixel() 2849 : let c = getline(".")[col(".") - 1] 2850 : echo c 2851 : exe "noremap <LeftMouse> <LeftMouse>r".c 2852 : exe "noremap <LeftDrag> <LeftMouse>r".c 2853 :endfunction 2854 :noremap <RightMouse> <LeftMouse>:call GetPixel()<CR> 2855 :set guicursor=n:hor20 " to see the color beneath the cursor 2856This turns the right button into a pipette and the left button into a pen. 2857It will work with XPM files that have one character per pixel only and you 2858must not click outside of the pixel strings, but feel free to improve it. 2859 2860It will look much better with a font in a quadratic cell size, e.g. for X: > 2861 :set guifont=-*-clean-medium-r-*-*-8-*-*-*-*-80-* 2862 2863============================================================================== 28645. Defining a syntax *:syn-define* *E410* 2865 2866Vim understands three types of syntax items: 2867 28681. Keyword 2869 It can only contain keyword characters, according to the 'iskeyword' 2870 option. It cannot contain other syntax items. It will only match with a 2871 complete word (there are no keyword characters before or after the match). 2872 The keyword "if" would match in "if(a=b)", but not in "ifdef x", because 2873 "(" is not a keyword character and "d" is. 2874 28752. Match 2876 This is a match with a single regexp pattern. 2877 28783. Region 2879 This starts at a match of the "start" regexp pattern and ends with a match 2880 with the "end" regexp pattern. Any other text can appear in between. A 2881 "skip" regexp pattern can be used to avoid matching the "end" pattern. 2882 2883Several syntax ITEMs can be put into one syntax GROUP. For a syntax group 2884you can give highlighting attributes. For example, you could have an item 2885to define a "/* .. */" comment and another one that defines a "// .." comment, 2886and put them both in the "Comment" group. You can then specify that a 2887"Comment" will be in bold font and have a blue color. You are free to make 2888one highlight group for one syntax item, or put all items into one group. 2889This depends on how you want to specify your highlighting attributes. Putting 2890each item in its own group results in having to specify the highlighting 2891for a lot of groups. 2892 2893Note that a syntax group and a highlight group are similar. For a highlight 2894group you will have given highlight attributes. These attributes will be used 2895for the syntax group with the same name. 2896 2897In case more than one item matches at the same position, the one that was 2898defined LAST wins. Thus you can override previously defined syntax items by 2899using an item that matches the same text. But a keyword always goes before a 2900match or region. And a keyword with matching case always goes before a 2901keyword with ignoring case. 2902 2903 2904PRIORITY *:syn-priority* 2905 2906When several syntax items may match, these rules are used: 2907 29081. When multiple Match or Region items start in the same position, the item 2909 defined last has priority. 29102. A Keyword has priority over Match and Region items. 29113. An item that starts in an earlier position has priority over items that 2912 start in later positions. 2913 2914 2915DEFINING CASE *:syn-case* *E390* 2916 2917:sy[ntax] case [match | ignore] 2918 This defines if the following ":syntax" commands will work with 2919 matching case, when using "match", or with ignoring case, when using 2920 "ignore". Note that any items before this are not affected, and all 2921 items until the next ":syntax case" command are affected. 2922 2923 2924SPELL CHECKING *:syn-spell* 2925 2926:sy[ntax] spell [toplevel | notoplevel | default] 2927 This defines where spell checking is to be done for text that is not 2928 in a syntax item: 2929 2930 toplevel: Text is spell checked. 2931 notoplevel: Text is not spell checked. 2932 default: When there is a @Spell cluster no spell checking. 2933 2934 For text in syntax items use the @Spell and @NoSpell clusters 2935 |spell-syntax|. When there is no @Spell and no @NoSpell cluster then 2936 spell checking is done for "default" and "toplevel". 2937 2938 To activate spell checking the 'spell' option must be set. 2939 2940 2941DEFINING KEYWORDS *:syn-keyword* 2942 2943:sy[ntax] keyword {group-name} [{options}] {keyword} .. [{options}] 2944 2945 This defines a number of keywords. 2946 2947 {group-name} Is a syntax group name such as "Comment". 2948 [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. 2949 {keyword} .. Is a list of keywords which are part of this group. 2950 2951 Example: > 2952 :syntax keyword Type int long char 2953< 2954 The {options} can be given anywhere in the line. They will apply to 2955 all keywords given, also for options that come after a keyword. 2956 These examples do exactly the same: > 2957 :syntax keyword Type contained int long char 2958 :syntax keyword Type int long contained char 2959 :syntax keyword Type int long char contained 2960< *E789* 2961 When you have a keyword with an optional tail, like Ex commands in 2962 Vim, you can put the optional characters inside [], to define all the 2963 variations at once: > 2964 :syntax keyword vimCommand ab[breviate] n[ext] 2965< 2966 Don't forget that a keyword can only be recognized if all the 2967 characters are included in the 'iskeyword' option. If one character 2968 isn't, the keyword will never be recognized. 2969 Multi-byte characters can also be used. These do not have to be in 2970 'iskeyword'. 2971 2972 A keyword always has higher priority than a match or region, the 2973 keyword is used if more than one item matches. Keywords do not nest 2974 and a keyword can't contain anything else. 2975 2976 Note that when you have a keyword that is the same as an option (even 2977 one that isn't allowed here), you can not use it. Use a match 2978 instead. 2979 2980 The maximum length of a keyword is 80 characters. 2981 2982 The same keyword can be defined multiple times, when its containment 2983 differs. For example, you can define the keyword once not contained 2984 and use one highlight group, and once contained, and use a different 2985 highlight group. Example: > 2986 :syn keyword vimCommand tag 2987 :syn keyword vimSetting contained tag 2988< When finding "tag" outside of any syntax item, the "vimCommand" 2989 highlight group is used. When finding "tag" in a syntax item that 2990 contains "vimSetting", the "vimSetting" group is used. 2991 2992 2993DEFINING MATCHES *:syn-match* 2994 2995:sy[ntax] match {group-name} [{options}] [excludenl] {pattern} [{options}] 2996 2997 This defines one match. 2998 2999 {group-name} A syntax group name such as "Comment". 3000 [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. 3001 [excludenl] Don't make a pattern with the end-of-line "$" 3002 extend a containing match or region. Must be 3003 given before the pattern. |:syn-excludenl| 3004 {pattern} The search pattern that defines the match. 3005 See |:syn-pattern| below. 3006 Note that the pattern may match more than one 3007 line, which makes the match depend on where 3008 Vim starts searching for the pattern. You 3009 need to make sure syncing takes care of this. 3010 3011 Example (match a character constant): > 3012 :syntax match Character /'.'/hs=s+1,he=e-1 3013< 3014 3015DEFINING REGIONS *:syn-region* *:syn-start* *:syn-skip* *:syn-end* 3016 *E398* *E399* 3017:sy[ntax] region {group-name} [{options}] 3018 [matchgroup={group-name}] 3019 [keepend] 3020 [extend] 3021 [excludenl] 3022 start={start_pattern} .. 3023 [skip={skip_pattern}] 3024 end={end_pattern} .. 3025 [{options}] 3026 3027 This defines one region. It may span several lines. 3028 3029 {group-name} A syntax group name such as "Comment". 3030 [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. 3031 [matchgroup={group-name}] The syntax group to use for the following 3032 start or end pattern matches only. Not used 3033 for the text in between the matched start and 3034 end patterns. Use NONE to reset to not using 3035 a different group for the start or end match. 3036 See |:syn-matchgroup|. 3037 keepend Don't allow contained matches to go past a 3038 match with the end pattern. See 3039 |:syn-keepend|. 3040 extend Override a "keepend" for an item this region 3041 is contained in. See |:syn-extend|. 3042 excludenl Don't make a pattern with the end-of-line "$" 3043 extend a containing match or item. Only 3044 useful for end patterns. Must be given before 3045 the patterns it applies to. |:syn-excludenl| 3046 start={start_pattern} The search pattern that defines the start of 3047 the region. See |:syn-pattern| below. 3048 skip={skip_pattern} The search pattern that defines text inside 3049 the region where not to look for the end 3050 pattern. See |:syn-pattern| below. 3051 end={end_pattern} The search pattern that defines the end of 3052 the region. See |:syn-pattern| below. 3053 3054 Example: > 3055 :syntax region String start=+"+ skip=+\\"+ end=+"+ 3056< 3057 The start/skip/end patterns and the options can be given in any order. 3058 There can be zero or one skip pattern. There must be one or more 3059 start and end patterns. This means that you can omit the skip 3060 pattern, but you must give at least one start and one end pattern. It 3061 is allowed to have white space before and after the equal sign 3062 (although it mostly looks better without white space). 3063 3064 When more than one start pattern is given, a match with one of these 3065 is sufficient. This means there is an OR relation between the start 3066 patterns. The last one that matches is used. The same is true for 3067 the end patterns. 3068 3069 The search for the end pattern starts right after the start pattern. 3070 Offsets are not used for this. This implies that the match for the 3071 end pattern will never overlap with the start pattern. 3072 3073 The skip and end pattern can match across line breaks, but since the 3074 search for the pattern can start in any line it often does not do what 3075 you want. The skip pattern doesn't avoid a match of an end pattern in 3076 the next line. Use single-line patterns to avoid trouble. 3077 3078 Note: The decision to start a region is only based on a matching start 3079 pattern. There is no check for a matching end pattern. This does NOT 3080 work: > 3081 :syn region First start="(" end=":" 3082 :syn region Second start="(" end=";" 3083< The Second always matches before the First (last defined pattern has 3084 higher priority). The Second region then continues until the next 3085 ';', no matter if there is a ':' before it. Using a match does work: > 3086 :syn match First "(\_.\{-}:" 3087 :syn match Second "(\_.\{-};" 3088< This pattern matches any character or line break with "\_." and 3089 repeats that with "\{-}" (repeat as few as possible). 3090 3091 *:syn-keepend* 3092 By default, a contained match can obscure a match for the end pattern. 3093 This is useful for nesting. For example, a region that starts with 3094 "{" and ends with "}", can contain another region. An encountered "}" 3095 will then end the contained region, but not the outer region: 3096 { starts outer "{}" region 3097 { starts contained "{}" region 3098 } ends contained "{}" region 3099 } ends outer "{} region 3100 If you don't want this, the "keepend" argument will make the matching 3101 of an end pattern of the outer region also end any contained item. 3102 This makes it impossible to nest the same region, but allows for 3103 contained items to highlight parts of the end pattern, without causing 3104 that to skip the match with the end pattern. Example: > 3105 :syn match vimComment +"[^"]\+$+ 3106 :syn region vimCommand start="set" end="$" contains=vimComment keepend 3107< The "keepend" makes the vimCommand always end at the end of the line, 3108 even though the contained vimComment includes a match with the <EOL>. 3109 3110 When "keepend" is not used, a match with an end pattern is retried 3111 after each contained match. When "keepend" is included, the first 3112 encountered match with an end pattern is used, truncating any 3113 contained matches. 3114 *:syn-extend* 3115 The "keepend" behavior can be changed by using the "extend" argument. 3116 When an item with "extend" is contained in an item that uses 3117 "keepend", the "keepend" is ignored and the containing region will be 3118 extended. 3119 This can be used to have some contained items extend a region while 3120 others don't. Example: > 3121 3122 :syn region htmlRef start=+<a>+ end=+</a>+ keepend contains=htmlItem,htmlScript 3123 :syn match htmlItem +<[^>]*>+ contained 3124 :syn region htmlScript start=+<script+ end=+</script[^>]*>+ contained extend 3125 3126< Here the htmlItem item does not make the htmlRef item continue 3127 further, it is only used to highlight the <> items. The htmlScript 3128 item does extend the htmlRef item. 3129 3130 Another example: > 3131 :syn region xmlFold start="<a>" end="</a>" fold transparent keepend extend 3132< This defines a region with "keepend", so that its end cannot be 3133 changed by contained items, like when the "</a>" is matched to 3134 highlight it differently. But when the xmlFold region is nested (it 3135 includes itself), the "extend" applies, so that the "</a>" of a nested 3136 region only ends that region, and not the one it is contained in. 3137 3138 *:syn-excludenl* 3139 When a pattern for a match or end pattern of a region includes a '$' 3140 to match the end-of-line, it will make a region item that it is 3141 contained in continue on the next line. For example, a match with 3142 "\\$" (backslash at the end of the line) can make a region continue 3143 that would normally stop at the end of the line. This is the default 3144 behavior. If this is not wanted, there are two ways to avoid it: 3145 1. Use "keepend" for the containing item. This will keep all 3146 contained matches from extending the match or region. It can be 3147 used when all contained items must not extend the containing item. 3148 2. Use "excludenl" in the contained item. This will keep that match 3149 from extending the containing match or region. It can be used if 3150 only some contained items must not extend the containing item. 3151 "excludenl" must be given before the pattern it applies to. 3152 3153 *:syn-matchgroup* 3154 "matchgroup" can be used to highlight the start and/or end pattern 3155 differently than the body of the region. Example: > 3156 :syntax region String matchgroup=Quote start=+"+ skip=+\\"+ end=+"+ 3157< This will highlight the quotes with the "Quote" group, and the text in 3158 between with the "String" group. 3159 The "matchgroup" is used for all start and end patterns that follow, 3160 until the next "matchgroup". Use "matchgroup=NONE" to go back to not 3161 using a matchgroup. 3162 3163 In a start or end pattern that is highlighted with "matchgroup" the 3164 contained items of the region are not used. This can be used to avoid 3165 that a contained item matches in the start or end pattern match. When 3166 using "transparent", this does not apply to a start or end pattern 3167 match that is highlighted with "matchgroup". 3168 3169 Here is an example, which highlights three levels of parentheses in 3170 different colors: > 3171 :sy region par1 matchgroup=par1 start=/(/ end=/)/ contains=par2 3172 :sy region par2 matchgroup=par2 start=/(/ end=/)/ contains=par3 contained 3173 :sy region par3 matchgroup=par3 start=/(/ end=/)/ contains=par1 contained 3174 :hi par1 ctermfg=red guifg=red 3175 :hi par2 ctermfg=blue guifg=blue 3176 :hi par3 ctermfg=darkgreen guifg=darkgreen 3177 3178============================================================================== 31796. :syntax arguments *:syn-arguments* 3180 3181The :syntax commands that define syntax items take a number of arguments. 3182The common ones are explained here. The arguments may be given in any order 3183and may be mixed with patterns. 3184 3185Not all commands accept all arguments. This table shows which arguments 3186can not be used for all commands: 3187 *E395* 3188 contains oneline fold display extend concealends~ 3189:syntax keyword - - - - - - 3190:syntax match yes - yes yes yes - 3191:syntax region yes yes yes yes yes yes 3192 3193These arguments can be used for all three commands: 3194 conceal 3195 cchar 3196 contained 3197 containedin 3198 nextgroup 3199 transparent 3200 skipwhite 3201 skipnl 3202 skipempty 3203 3204conceal *conceal* *:syn-conceal* 3205 3206When the "conceal" argument is given, the item is marked as concealable. 3207Whether or not it is actually concealed depends on the value of the 3208'conceallevel' option. The 'concealcursor' option is used to decide whether 3209concealable items in the current line are displayed unconcealed to be able to 3210edit the line. 3211 3212concealends *:syn-concealends* 3213 3214When the "concealends" argument is given, the start and end matches of 3215the region, but not the contents of the region, are marked as concealable. 3216Whether or not they are actually concealed depends on the setting on the 3217'conceallevel' option. The ends of a region can only be concealed separately 3218in this way when they have their own highlighting via "matchgroup" 3219 3220cchar *:syn-cchar* 3221 3222The "cchar" argument defines the character shown in place of the item 3223when it is concealed (setting "cchar" only makes sense when the conceal 3224argument is given.) If "cchar" is not set then the default conceal 3225character defined in the 'listchars' option is used. Example: > 3226 :syntax match Entity "&" conceal cchar=& 3227See |hl-Conceal| for highlighting. 3228 3229contained *:syn-contained* 3230 3231When the "contained" argument is given, this item will not be recognized at 3232the top level, but only when it is mentioned in the "contains" field of 3233another match. Example: > 3234 :syntax keyword Todo TODO contained 3235 :syntax match Comment "//.*" contains=Todo 3236 3237 3238display *:syn-display* 3239 3240If the "display" argument is given, this item will be skipped when the 3241detected highlighting will not be displayed. This will speed up highlighting, 3242by skipping this item when only finding the syntax state for the text that is 3243to be displayed. 3244 3245Generally, you can use "display" for match and region items that meet these 3246conditions: 3247- The item does not continue past the end of a line. Example for C: A region 3248 for a "/*" comment can't contain "display", because it continues on the next 3249 line. 3250- The item does not contain items that continue past the end of the line or 3251 make it continue on the next line. 3252- The item does not change the size of any item it is contained in. Example 3253 for C: A match with "\\$" in a preprocessor match can't have "display", 3254 because it may make that preprocessor match shorter. 3255- The item does not allow other items to match that didn't match otherwise, 3256 and that item may extend the match too far. Example for C: A match for a 3257 "//" comment can't use "display", because a "/*" inside that comment would 3258 match then and start a comment which extends past the end of the line. 3259 3260Examples, for the C language, where "display" can be used: 3261- match with a number 3262- match with a label 3263 3264 3265transparent *:syn-transparent* 3266 3267If the "transparent" argument is given, this item will not be highlighted 3268itself, but will take the highlighting of the item it is contained in. This 3269is useful for syntax items that don't need any highlighting but are used 3270only to skip over a part of the text. 3271 3272The "contains=" argument is also inherited from the item it is contained in, 3273unless a "contains" argument is given for the transparent item itself. To 3274avoid that unwanted items are contained, use "contains=NONE". Example, which 3275highlights words in strings, but makes an exception for "vim": > 3276 :syn match myString /'[^']*'/ contains=myWord,myVim 3277 :syn match myWord /\<[a-z]*\>/ contained 3278 :syn match myVim /\<vim\>/ transparent contained contains=NONE 3279 :hi link myString String 3280 :hi link myWord Comment 3281Since the "myVim" match comes after "myWord" it is the preferred match (last 3282match in the same position overrules an earlier one). The "transparent" 3283argument makes the "myVim" match use the same highlighting as "myString". But 3284it does not contain anything. If the "contains=NONE" argument would be left 3285out, then "myVim" would use the contains argument from myString and allow 3286"myWord" to be contained, which will be highlighted as a Constant. This 3287happens because a contained match doesn't match inside itself in the same 3288position, thus the "myVim" match doesn't overrule the "myWord" match here. 3289 3290When you look at the colored text, it is like looking at layers of contained 3291items. The contained item is on top of the item it is contained in, thus you 3292see the contained item. When a contained item is transparent, you can look 3293through, thus you see the item it is contained in. In a picture: 3294 3295 look from here 3296 3297 | | | | | | 3298 V V V V V V 3299 3300 xxxx yyy more contained items 3301 .................... contained item (transparent) 3302 ============================= first item 3303 3304The 'x', 'y' and '=' represent a highlighted syntax item. The '.' represent a 3305transparent group. 3306 3307What you see is: 3308 3309 =======xxxx=======yyy======== 3310 3311Thus you look through the transparent "....". 3312 3313 3314oneline *:syn-oneline* 3315 3316The "oneline" argument indicates that the region does not cross a line 3317boundary. It must match completely in the current line. However, when the 3318region has a contained item that does cross a line boundary, it continues on 3319the next line anyway. A contained item can be used to recognize a line 3320continuation pattern. But the "end" pattern must still match in the first 3321line, otherwise the region doesn't even start. 3322 3323When the start pattern includes a "\n" to match an end-of-line, the end 3324pattern must be found in the same line as where the start pattern ends. The 3325end pattern may also include an end-of-line. Thus the "oneline" argument 3326means that the end of the start pattern and the start of the end pattern must 3327be within one line. This can't be changed by a skip pattern that matches a 3328line break. 3329 3330 3331fold *:syn-fold* 3332 3333The "fold" argument makes the fold level increase by one for this item. 3334Example: > 3335 :syn region myFold start="{" end="}" transparent fold 3336 :syn sync fromstart 3337 :set foldmethod=syntax 3338This will make each {} block form one fold. 3339 3340The fold will start on the line where the item starts, and end where the item 3341ends. If the start and end are within the same line, there is no fold. 3342The 'foldnestmax' option limits the nesting of syntax folds. 3343{not available when Vim was compiled without |+folding| feature} 3344 3345 3346 *:syn-contains* *E405* *E406* *E407* *E408* *E409* 3347contains={groupname},.. 3348 3349The "contains" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names. These 3350groups will be allowed to begin inside the item (they may extend past the 3351containing group's end). This allows for recursive nesting of matches and 3352regions. If there is no "contains" argument, no groups will be contained in 3353this item. The group names do not need to be defined before they can be used 3354here. 3355 3356contains=ALL 3357 If the only item in the contains list is "ALL", then all 3358 groups will be accepted inside the item. 3359 3360contains=ALLBUT,{group-name},.. 3361 If the first item in the contains list is "ALLBUT", then all 3362 groups will be accepted inside the item, except the ones that 3363 are listed. Example: > 3364 :syntax region Block start="{" end="}" ... contains=ALLBUT,Function 3365 3366contains=TOP 3367 If the first item in the contains list is "TOP", then all 3368 groups will be accepted that don't have the "contained" 3369 argument. 3370contains=TOP,{group-name},.. 3371 Like "TOP", but excluding the groups that are listed. 3372 3373contains=CONTAINED 3374 If the first item in the contains list is "CONTAINED", then 3375 all groups will be accepted that have the "contained" 3376 argument. 3377contains=CONTAINED,{group-name},.. 3378 Like "CONTAINED", but excluding the groups that are 3379 listed. 3380 3381 3382The {group-name} in the "contains" list can be a pattern. All group names 3383that match the pattern will be included (or excluded, if "ALLBUT" is used). 3384The pattern cannot contain white space or a ','. Example: > 3385 ... contains=Comment.*,Keyw[0-3] 3386The matching will be done at moment the syntax command is executed. Groups 3387that are defined later will not be matched. Also, if the current syntax 3388command defines a new group, it is not matched. Be careful: When putting 3389syntax commands in a file you can't rely on groups NOT being defined, because 3390the file may have been sourced before, and ":syn clear" doesn't remove the 3391group names. 3392 3393The contained groups will also match in the start and end patterns of a 3394region. If this is not wanted, the "matchgroup" argument can be used 3395|:syn-matchgroup|. The "ms=" and "me=" offsets can be used to change the 3396region where contained items do match. Note that this may also limit the 3397area that is highlighted 3398 3399 3400containedin={groupname}... *:syn-containedin* 3401 3402The "containedin" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names. The 3403item will be allowed to begin inside these groups. This works as if the 3404containing item has a "contains=" argument that includes this item. 3405 3406The {groupname}... can be used just like for "contains", as explained above. 3407 3408This is useful when adding a syntax item afterwards. An item can be told to 3409be included inside an already existing item, without changing the definition 3410of that item. For example, to highlight a word in a C comment after loading 3411the C syntax: > 3412 :syn keyword myword HELP containedin=cComment contained 3413Note that "contained" is also used, to avoid that the item matches at the top 3414level. 3415 3416Matches for "containedin" are added to the other places where the item can 3417appear. A "contains" argument may also be added as usual. Don't forget that 3418keywords never contain another item, thus adding them to "containedin" won't 3419work. 3420 3421 3422nextgroup={groupname},.. *:syn-nextgroup* 3423 3424The "nextgroup" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names, 3425separated by commas (just like with "contains", so you can also use patterns). 3426 3427If the "nextgroup" argument is given, the mentioned syntax groups will be 3428tried for a match, after the match or region ends. If none of the groups have 3429a match, highlighting continues normally. If there is a match, this group 3430will be used, even when it is not mentioned in the "contains" field of the 3431current group. This is like giving the mentioned group priority over all 3432other groups. Example: > 3433 :syntax match ccFoobar "Foo.\{-}Bar" contains=ccFoo 3434 :syntax match ccFoo "Foo" contained nextgroup=ccFiller 3435 :syntax region ccFiller start="." matchgroup=ccBar end="Bar" contained 3436 3437This will highlight "Foo" and "Bar" differently, and only when there is a 3438"Bar" after "Foo". In the text line below, "f" shows where ccFoo is used for 3439highlighting, and "bbb" where ccBar is used. > 3440 3441 Foo asdfasd Bar asdf Foo asdf Bar asdf 3442 fff bbb fff bbb 3443 3444Note the use of ".\{-}" to skip as little as possible until the next Bar. 3445when ".*" would be used, the "asdf" in between "Bar" and "Foo" would be 3446highlighted according to the "ccFoobar" group, because the ccFooBar match 3447would include the first "Foo" and the last "Bar" in the line (see |pattern|). 3448 3449 3450skipwhite *:syn-skipwhite* 3451skipnl *:syn-skipnl* 3452skipempty *:syn-skipempty* 3453 3454These arguments are only used in combination with "nextgroup". They can be 3455used to allow the next group to match after skipping some text: 3456 skipwhite skip over space and tab characters 3457 skipnl skip over the end of a line 3458 skipempty skip over empty lines (implies a "skipnl") 3459 3460When "skipwhite" is present, the white space is only skipped if there is no 3461next group that matches the white space. 3462 3463When "skipnl" is present, the match with nextgroup may be found in the next 3464line. This only happens when the current item ends at the end of the current 3465line! When "skipnl" is not present, the nextgroup will only be found after 3466the current item in the same line. 3467 3468When skipping text while looking for a next group, the matches for other 3469groups are ignored. Only when no next group matches, other items are tried 3470for a match again. This means that matching a next group and skipping white 3471space and <EOL>s has a higher priority than other items. 3472 3473Example: > 3474 :syn match ifstart "\<if.*" nextgroup=ifline skipwhite skipempty 3475 :syn match ifline "[^ \t].*" nextgroup=ifline skipwhite skipempty contained 3476 :syn match ifline "endif" contained 3477Note that the "[^ \t].*" match matches all non-white text. Thus it would also 3478match "endif". Therefore the "endif" match is put last, so that it takes 3479precedence. 3480Note that this example doesn't work for nested "if"s. You need to add 3481"contains" arguments to make that work (omitted for simplicity of the 3482example). 3483 3484IMPLICIT CONCEAL *:syn-conceal-implicit* 3485 3486:sy[ntax] conceal [on|off] 3487 This defines if the following ":syntax" commands will define keywords, 3488 matches or regions with the "conceal" flag set. After ":syn conceal 3489 on", all subsequent ":syn keyword", ":syn match" or ":syn region" 3490 defined will have the "conceal" flag set implicitly. ":syn conceal 3491 off" returns to the normal state where the "conceal" flag must be 3492 given explicitly. 3493 3494============================================================================== 34957. Syntax patterns *:syn-pattern* *E401* *E402* 3496 3497In the syntax commands, a pattern must be surrounded by two identical 3498characters. This is like it works for the ":s" command. The most common to 3499use is the double quote. But if the pattern contains a double quote, you can 3500use another character that is not used in the pattern. Examples: > 3501 :syntax region Comment start="/\*" end="\*/" 3502 :syntax region String start=+"+ end=+"+ skip=+\\"+ 3503 3504See |pattern| for the explanation of what a pattern is. Syntax patterns are 3505always interpreted like the 'magic' option is set, no matter what the actual 3506value of 'magic' is. And the patterns are interpreted like the 'l' flag is 3507not included in 'cpoptions'. This was done to make syntax files portable and 3508independent of 'compatible' and 'magic' settings. 3509 3510Try to avoid patterns that can match an empty string, such as "[a-z]*". 3511This slows down the highlighting a lot, because it matches everywhere. 3512 3513 *:syn-pattern-offset* 3514The pattern can be followed by a character offset. This can be used to 3515change the highlighted part, and to change the text area included in the 3516match or region (which only matters when trying to match other items). Both 3517are relative to the matched pattern. The character offset for a skip 3518pattern can be used to tell where to continue looking for an end pattern. 3519 3520The offset takes the form of "{what}={offset}" 3521The {what} can be one of seven strings: 3522 3523ms Match Start offset for the start of the matched text 3524me Match End offset for the end of the matched text 3525hs Highlight Start offset for where the highlighting starts 3526he Highlight End offset for where the highlighting ends 3527rs Region Start offset for where the body of a region starts 3528re Region End offset for where the body of a region ends 3529lc Leading Context offset past "leading context" of pattern 3530 3531The {offset} can be: 3532 3533s start of the matched pattern 3534s+{nr} start of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the right 3535s-{nr} start of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the left 3536e end of the matched pattern 3537e+{nr} end of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the right 3538e-{nr} end of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the left 3539{nr} (for "lc" only): start matching {nr} chars to the left 3540 3541Examples: "ms=s+1", "hs=e-2", "lc=3". 3542 3543Although all offsets are accepted after any pattern, they are not always 3544meaningful. This table shows which offsets are actually used: 3545 3546 ms me hs he rs re lc ~ 3547match item yes yes yes yes - - yes 3548region item start yes - yes - yes - yes 3549region item skip - yes - - - - yes 3550region item end - yes - yes - yes yes 3551 3552Offsets can be concatenated, with a ',' in between. Example: > 3553 :syn match String /"[^"]*"/hs=s+1,he=e-1 3554< 3555 some "string" text 3556 ^^^^^^ highlighted 3557 3558Notes: 3559- There must be no white space between the pattern and the character 3560 offset(s). 3561- The highlighted area will never be outside of the matched text. 3562- A negative offset for an end pattern may not always work, because the end 3563 pattern may be detected when the highlighting should already have stopped. 3564- Before Vim 7.2 the offsets were counted in bytes instead of characters. 3565 This didn't work well for multi-byte characters, so it was changed with the 3566 Vim 7.2 release. 3567- The start of a match cannot be in a line other than where the pattern 3568 matched. This doesn't work: "a\nb"ms=e. You can make the highlighting 3569 start in another line, this does work: "a\nb"hs=e. 3570 3571Example (match a comment but don't highlight the /* and */): > 3572 :syntax region Comment start="/\*"hs=e+1 end="\*/"he=s-1 3573< 3574 /* this is a comment */ 3575 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ highlighted 3576 3577A more complicated Example: > 3578 :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 3579< 3580 abcfoostringbarabc 3581 mmmmmmmmmmm match 3582 sssrrreee highlight start/region/end ("Foo", "Exa" and "Bar") 3583 3584Leading context *:syn-lc* *:syn-leading* *:syn-context* 3585 3586Note: This is an obsolete feature, only included for backwards compatibility 3587with previous Vim versions. It's now recommended to use the |/\@<=| construct 3588in the pattern. 3589 3590The "lc" offset specifies leading context -- a part of the pattern that must 3591be present, but is not considered part of the match. An offset of "lc=n" will 3592cause Vim to step back n columns before attempting the pattern match, allowing 3593characters which have already been matched in previous patterns to also be 3594used as leading context for this match. This can be used, for instance, to 3595specify that an "escaping" character must not precede the match: > 3596 3597 :syn match ZNoBackslash "[^\\]z"ms=s+1 3598 :syn match WNoBackslash "[^\\]w"lc=1 3599 :syn match Underline "_\+" 3600< 3601 ___zzzz ___wwww 3602 ^^^ ^^^ matches Underline 3603 ^ ^ matches ZNoBackslash 3604 ^^^^ matches WNoBackslash 3605 3606The "ms" offset is automatically set to the same value as the "lc" offset, 3607unless you set "ms" explicitly. 3608 3609 3610Multi-line patterns *:syn-multi-line* 3611 3612The patterns can include "\n" to match an end-of-line. Mostly this works as 3613expected, but there are a few exceptions. 3614 3615When using a start pattern with an offset, the start of the match is not 3616allowed to start in a following line. The highlighting can start in a 3617following line though. Using the "\zs" item also requires that the start of 3618the match doesn't move to another line. 3619 3620The skip pattern can include the "\n", but the search for an end pattern will 3621continue in the first character of the next line, also when that character is 3622matched by the skip pattern. This is because redrawing may start in any line 3623halfway a region and there is no check if the skip pattern started in a 3624previous line. For example, if the skip pattern is "a\nb" and an end pattern 3625is "b", the end pattern does match in the second line of this: > 3626 x x a 3627 b x x 3628Generally this means that the skip pattern should not match any characters 3629after the "\n". 3630 3631 3632External matches *:syn-ext-match* 3633 3634These extra regular expression items are available in region patterns: 3635 3636 */\z(* */\z(\)* *E50* *E52* 3637 \z(\) Marks the sub-expression as "external", meaning that it is can 3638 be accessed from another pattern match. Currently only usable 3639 in defining a syntax region start pattern. 3640 3641 */\z1* */\z2* */\z3* */\z4* */\z5* 3642 \z1 ... \z9 */\z6* */\z7* */\z8* */\z9* *E66* *E67* 3643 Matches the same string that was matched by the corresponding 3644 sub-expression in a previous start pattern match. 3645 3646Sometimes the start and end patterns of a region need to share a common 3647sub-expression. A common example is the "here" document in Perl and many Unix 3648shells. This effect can be achieved with the "\z" special regular expression 3649items, which marks a sub-expression as "external", in the sense that it can be 3650referenced from outside the pattern in which it is defined. The here-document 3651example, for instance, can be done like this: > 3652 :syn region hereDoc start="<<\z(\I\i*\)" end="^\z1$" 3653 3654As can be seen here, the \z actually does double duty. In the start pattern, 3655it marks the "\(\I\i*\)" sub-expression as external; in the end pattern, it 3656changes the \1 back-reference into an external reference referring to the 3657first external sub-expression in the start pattern. External references can 3658also be used in skip patterns: > 3659 :syn region foo start="start \(\I\i*\)" skip="not end \z1" end="end \z1" 3660 3661Note that normal and external sub-expressions are completely orthogonal and 3662indexed separately; for instance, if the pattern "\z(..\)\(..\)" is applied 3663to the string "aabb", then \1 will refer to "bb" and \z1 will refer to "aa". 3664Note also that external sub-expressions cannot be accessed as back-references 3665within the same pattern like normal sub-expressions. If you want to use one 3666sub-expression as both a normal and an external sub-expression, you can nest 3667the two, as in "\(\z(...\)\)". 3668 3669Note that only matches within a single line can be used. Multi-line matches 3670cannot be referred to. 3671 3672============================================================================== 36738. Syntax clusters *:syn-cluster* *E400* 3674 3675:sy[ntax] cluster {cluster-name} [contains={group-name}..] 3676 [add={group-name}..] 3677 [remove={group-name}..] 3678 3679This command allows you to cluster a list of syntax groups together under a 3680single name. 3681 3682 contains={group-name}.. 3683 The cluster is set to the specified list of groups. 3684 add={group-name}.. 3685 The specified groups are added to the cluster. 3686 remove={group-name}.. 3687 The specified groups are removed from the cluster. 3688 3689A cluster so defined may be referred to in a contains=.., containedin=.., 3690nextgroup=.., add=.. or remove=.. list with a "@" prefix. You can also use 3691this notation to implicitly declare a cluster before specifying its contents. 3692 3693Example: > 3694 :syntax match Thing "# [^#]\+ #" contains=@ThingMembers 3695 :syntax cluster ThingMembers contains=ThingMember1,ThingMember2 3696 3697As the previous example suggests, modifications to a cluster are effectively 3698retroactive; the membership of the cluster is checked at the last minute, so 3699to speak: > 3700 :syntax keyword A aaa 3701 :syntax keyword B bbb 3702 :syntax cluster AandB contains=A 3703 :syntax match Stuff "( aaa bbb )" contains=@AandB 3704 :syntax cluster AandB add=B " now both keywords are matched in Stuff 3705 3706This also has implications for nested clusters: > 3707 :syntax keyword A aaa 3708 :syntax keyword B bbb 3709 :syntax cluster SmallGroup contains=B 3710 :syntax cluster BigGroup contains=A,@SmallGroup 3711 :syntax match Stuff "( aaa bbb )" contains=@BigGroup 3712 :syntax cluster BigGroup remove=B " no effect, since B isn't in BigGroup 3713 :syntax cluster SmallGroup remove=B " now bbb isn't matched within Stuff 3714 3715============================================================================== 37169. Including syntax files *:syn-include* *E397* 3717 3718It is often useful for one language's syntax file to include a syntax file for 3719a related language. Depending on the exact relationship, this can be done in 3720two different ways: 3721 3722 - If top-level syntax items in the included syntax file are to be 3723 allowed at the top level in the including syntax, you can simply use 3724 the |:runtime| command: > 3725 3726 " In cpp.vim: 3727 :runtime! syntax/c.vim 3728 :unlet b:current_syntax 3729 3730< - If top-level syntax items in the included syntax file are to be 3731 contained within a region in the including syntax, you can use the 3732 ":syntax include" command: 3733 3734:sy[ntax] include [@{grouplist-name}] {file-name} 3735 3736 All syntax items declared in the included file will have the 3737 "contained" flag added. In addition, if a group list is specified, 3738 all top-level syntax items in the included file will be added to 3739 that list. > 3740 3741 " In perl.vim: 3742 :syntax include @Pod <sfile>:p:h/pod.vim 3743 :syntax region perlPOD start="^=head" end="^=cut" contains=@Pod 3744< 3745 When {file-name} is an absolute path (starts with "/", "c:", "$VAR" 3746 or "<sfile>") that file is sourced. When it is a relative path 3747 (e.g., "syntax/pod.vim") the file is searched for in 'runtimepath'. 3748 All matching files are loaded. Using a relative path is 3749 recommended, because it allows a user to replace the included file 3750 with his own version, without replacing the file that does the ":syn 3751 include". 3752 3753============================================================================== 375410. Synchronizing *:syn-sync* *E403* *E404* 3755 3756Vim wants to be able to start redrawing in any position in the document. To 3757make this possible it needs to know the syntax state at the position where 3758redrawing starts. 3759 3760:sy[ntax] sync [ccomment [group-name] | minlines={N} | ...] 3761 3762There are four ways to synchronize: 37631. Always parse from the start of the file. 3764 |:syn-sync-first| 37652. Based on C-style comments. Vim understands how C-comments work and can 3766 figure out if the current line starts inside or outside a comment. 3767 |:syn-sync-second| 37683. Jumping back a certain number of lines and start parsing there. 3769 |:syn-sync-third| 37704. Searching backwards in the text for a pattern to sync on. 3771 |:syn-sync-fourth| 3772 3773 *:syn-sync-maxlines* *:syn-sync-minlines* 3774For the last three methods, the line range where the parsing can start is 3775limited by "minlines" and "maxlines". 3776 3777If the "minlines={N}" argument is given, the parsing always starts at least 3778that many lines backwards. This can be used if the parsing may take a few 3779lines before it's correct, or when it's not possible to use syncing. 3780 3781If the "maxlines={N}" argument is given, the number of lines that are searched 3782for a comment or syncing pattern is restricted to N lines backwards (after 3783adding "minlines"). This is useful if you have few things to sync on and a 3784slow machine. Example: > 3785 :syntax sync ccomment maxlines=500 3786< 3787 *:syn-sync-linebreaks* 3788When using a pattern that matches multiple lines, a change in one line may 3789cause a pattern to no longer match in a previous line. This means has to 3790start above where the change was made. How many lines can be specified with 3791the "linebreaks" argument. For example, when a pattern may include one line 3792break use this: > 3793 :syntax sync linebreaks=1 3794The result is that redrawing always starts at least one line before where a 3795change was made. The default value for "linebreaks" is zero. Usually the 3796value for "minlines" is bigger than "linebreaks". 3797 3798 3799First syncing method: *:syn-sync-first* 3800> 3801 :syntax sync fromstart 3802 3803The file will be parsed from the start. This makes syntax highlighting 3804accurate, but can be slow for long files. Vim caches previously parsed text, 3805so that it's only slow when parsing the text for the first time. However, 3806when making changes some part of the next needs to be parsed again (worst 3807case: to the end of the file). 3808 3809Using "fromstart" is equivalent to using "minlines" with a very large number. 3810 3811 3812Second syncing method: *:syn-sync-second* *:syn-sync-ccomment* 3813 3814For the second method, only the "ccomment" argument needs to be given. 3815Example: > 3816 :syntax sync ccomment 3817 3818When Vim finds that the line where displaying starts is inside a C-style 3819comment, the last region syntax item with the group-name "Comment" will be 3820used. This requires that there is a region with the group-name "Comment"! 3821An alternate group name can be specified, for example: > 3822 :syntax sync ccomment javaComment 3823This means that the last item specified with "syn region javaComment" will be 3824used for the detected C comment region. This only works properly if that 3825region does have a start pattern "\/*" and an end pattern "*\/". 3826 3827The "maxlines" argument can be used to restrict the search to a number of 3828lines. The "minlines" argument can be used to at least start a number of 3829lines back (e.g., for when there is some construct that only takes a few 3830lines, but it hard to sync on). 3831 3832Note: Syncing on a C comment doesn't work properly when strings are used 3833that cross a line and contain a "*/". Since letting strings cross a line 3834is a bad programming habit (many compilers give a warning message), and the 3835chance of a "*/" appearing inside a comment is very small, this restriction 3836is hardly ever noticed. 3837 3838 3839Third syncing method: *:syn-sync-third* 3840 3841For the third method, only the "minlines={N}" argument needs to be given. 3842Vim will subtract {N} from the line number and start parsing there. This 3843means {N} extra lines need to be parsed, which makes this method a bit slower. 3844Example: > 3845 :syntax sync minlines=50 3846 3847"lines" is equivalent to "minlines" (used by older versions). 3848 3849 3850Fourth syncing method: *:syn-sync-fourth* 3851 3852The idea is to synchronize on the end of a few specific regions, called a 3853sync pattern. Only regions can cross lines, so when we find the end of some 3854region, we might be able to know in which syntax item we are. The search 3855starts in the line just above the one where redrawing starts. From there 3856the search continues backwards in the file. 3857 3858This works just like the non-syncing syntax items. You can use contained 3859matches, nextgroup, etc. But there are a few differences: 3860- Keywords cannot be used. 3861- The syntax items with the "sync" keyword form a completely separated group 3862 of syntax items. You can't mix syncing groups and non-syncing groups. 3863- The matching works backwards in the buffer (line by line), instead of 3864 forwards. 3865- A line continuation pattern can be given. It is used to decide which group 3866 of lines need to be searched like they were one line. This means that the 3867 search for a match with the specified items starts in the first of the 3868 consecutive that contain the continuation pattern. 3869- When using "nextgroup" or "contains", this only works within one line (or 3870 group of continued lines). 3871- When using a region, it must start and end in the same line (or group of 3872 continued lines). Otherwise the end is assumed to be at the end of the 3873 line (or group of continued lines). 3874- When a match with a sync pattern is found, the rest of the line (or group of 3875 continued lines) is searched for another match. The last match is used. 3876 This is used when a line can contain both the start end the end of a region 3877 (e.g., in a C-comment like /* this */, the last "*/" is used). 3878 3879There are two ways how a match with a sync pattern can be used: 38801. Parsing for highlighting starts where redrawing starts (and where the 3881 search for the sync pattern started). The syntax group that is expected 3882 to be valid there must be specified. This works well when the regions 3883 that cross lines cannot contain other regions. 38842. Parsing for highlighting continues just after the match. The syntax group 3885 that is expected to be present just after the match must be specified. 3886 This can be used when the previous method doesn't work well. It's much 3887 slower, because more text needs to be parsed. 3888Both types of sync patterns can be used at the same time. 3889 3890Besides the sync patterns, other matches and regions can be specified, to 3891avoid finding unwanted matches. 3892 3893[The reason that the sync patterns are given separately, is that mostly the 3894search for the sync point can be much simpler than figuring out the 3895highlighting. The reduced number of patterns means it will go (much) 3896faster.] 3897 3898 *syn-sync-grouphere* *E393* *E394* 3899 :syntax sync match {sync-group-name} grouphere {group-name} "pattern" .. 3900 3901 Define a match that is used for syncing. {group-name} is the 3902 name of a syntax group that follows just after the match. Parsing 3903 of the text for highlighting starts just after the match. A region 3904 must exist for this {group-name}. The first one defined will be used. 3905 "NONE" can be used for when there is no syntax group after the match. 3906 3907 *syn-sync-groupthere* 3908 :syntax sync match {sync-group-name} groupthere {group-name} "pattern" .. 3909 3910 Like "grouphere", but {group-name} is the name of a syntax group that 3911 is to be used at the start of the line where searching for the sync 3912 point started. The text between the match and the start of the sync 3913 pattern searching is assumed not to change the syntax highlighting. 3914 For example, in C you could search backwards for "/*" and "*/". If 3915 "/*" is found first, you know that you are inside a comment, so the 3916 "groupthere" is "cComment". If "*/" is found first, you know that you 3917 are not in a comment, so the "groupthere" is "NONE". (in practice 3918 it's a bit more complicated, because the "/*" and "*/" could appear 3919 inside a string. That's left as an exercise to the reader...). 3920 3921 :syntax sync match .. 3922 :syntax sync region .. 3923 3924 Without a "groupthere" argument. Define a region or match that is 3925 skipped while searching for a sync point. 3926 3927 *syn-sync-linecont* 3928 :syntax sync linecont {pattern} 3929 3930 When {pattern} matches in a line, it is considered to continue in 3931 the next line. This means that the search for a sync point will 3932 consider the lines to be concatenated. 3933 3934If the "maxlines={N}" argument is given too, the number of lines that are 3935searched for a match is restricted to N. This is useful if you have very 3936few things to sync on and a slow machine. Example: > 3937 :syntax sync maxlines=100 3938 3939You can clear all sync settings with: > 3940 :syntax sync clear 3941 3942You can clear specific sync patterns with: > 3943 :syntax sync clear {sync-group-name} .. 3944 3945============================================================================== 394611. Listing syntax items *:syntax* *:sy* *:syn* *:syn-list* 3947 3948This command lists all the syntax items: > 3949 3950 :sy[ntax] [list] 3951 3952To show the syntax items for one syntax group: > 3953 3954 :sy[ntax] list {group-name} 3955 3956To list the syntax groups in one cluster: *E392* > 3957 3958 :sy[ntax] list @{cluster-name} 3959 3960See above for other arguments for the ":syntax" command. 3961 3962Note that the ":syntax" command can be abbreviated to ":sy", although ":syn" 3963is mostly used, because it looks better. 3964 3965============================================================================== 396612. Highlight command *:highlight* *:hi* *E28* *E411* *E415* 3967 3968There are three types of highlight groups: 3969- The ones used for specific languages. For these the name starts with the 3970 name of the language. Many of these don't have any attributes, but are 3971 linked to a group of the second type. 3972- The ones used for all syntax languages. 3973- The ones used for the 'highlight' option. 3974 *hitest.vim* 3975You can see all the groups currently active with this command: > 3976 :so $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/hitest.vim 3977This will open a new window containing all highlight group names, displayed 3978in their own color. 3979 3980 *:colo* *:colorscheme* *E185* 3981:colo[rscheme] Output the name of the currently active color scheme. 3982 This is basically the same as > 3983 :echo g:colors_name 3984< In case g:colors_name has not been defined :colo will 3985 output "default". When compiled without the |+eval| 3986 feature it will output "unknown". 3987 3988:colo[rscheme] {name} Load color scheme {name}. This searches 'runtimepath' 3989 for the file "colors/{name}.vim. The first one that 3990 is found is loaded. 3991 To see the name of the currently active color scheme: > 3992 :colo 3993< The name is also stored in the g:colors_name variable. 3994 Doesn't work recursively, thus you can't use 3995 ":colorscheme" in a color scheme script. 3996 After the color scheme has been loaded the 3997 |ColorScheme| autocommand event is triggered. 3998 For info about writing a colorscheme file: > 3999 :edit $VIMRUNTIME/colors/README.txt 4000 4001:hi[ghlight] List all the current highlight groups that have 4002 attributes set. 4003 4004:hi[ghlight] {group-name} 4005 List one highlight group. 4006 4007:hi[ghlight] clear Reset all highlighting to the defaults. Removes all 4008 highlighting for groups added by the user! 4009 Uses the current value of 'background' to decide which 4010 default colors to use. 4011 4012:hi[ghlight] clear {group-name} 4013:hi[ghlight] {group-name} NONE 4014 Disable the highlighting for one highlight group. It 4015 is _not_ set back to the default colors. 4016 4017:hi[ghlight] [default] {group-name} {key}={arg} .. 4018 Add a highlight group, or change the highlighting for 4019 an existing group. 4020 See |highlight-args| for the {key}={arg} arguments. 4021 See |:highlight-default| for the optional [default] 4022 argument. 4023 4024Normally a highlight group is added once when starting up. This sets the 4025default values for the highlighting. After that, you can use additional 4026highlight commands to change the arguments that you want to set to non-default 4027values. The value "NONE" can be used to switch the value off or go back to 4028the default value. 4029 4030A simple way to change colors is with the |:colorscheme| command. This loads 4031a file with ":highlight" commands such as this: > 4032 4033 :hi Comment gui=bold 4034 4035Note that all settings that are not included remain the same, only the 4036specified field is used, and settings are merged with previous ones. So, the 4037result is like this single command has been used: > 4038 :hi Comment term=bold ctermfg=Cyan guifg=#80a0ff gui=bold 4039< 4040 *:highlight-verbose* 4041When listing a highlight group and 'verbose' is non-zero, the listing will 4042also tell where it was last set. Example: > 4043 :verbose hi Comment 4044< Comment xxx term=bold ctermfg=4 guifg=Blue ~ 4045 Last set from /home/mool/vim/vim7/runtime/syntax/syncolor.vim ~ 4046 4047When ":hi clear" is used then the script where this command is used will be 4048mentioned for the default values. See |:verbose-cmd| for more information. 4049 4050 *highlight-args* *E416* *E417* *E423* 4051There are three types of terminals for highlighting: 4052term a normal terminal (vt100, xterm) 4053cterm a color terminal (MS-DOS console, color-xterm, these have the "Co" 4054 termcap entry) 4055gui the GUI 4056 4057For each type the highlighting can be given. This makes it possible to use 4058the same syntax file on all terminals, and use the optimal highlighting. 4059 40601. highlight arguments for normal terminals 4061 4062 *bold* *underline* *undercurl* 4063 *inverse* *italic* *standout* 4064term={attr-list} *attr-list* *highlight-term* *E418* 4065 attr-list is a comma separated list (without spaces) of the 4066 following items (in any order): 4067 bold 4068 underline 4069 undercurl not always available 4070 reverse 4071 inverse same as reverse 4072 italic 4073 standout 4074 NONE no attributes used (used to reset it) 4075 4076 Note that "bold" can be used here and by using a bold font. They 4077 have the same effect. 4078 "undercurl" is a curly underline. When "undercurl" is not possible 4079 then "underline" is used. In general "undercurl" is only available in 4080 the GUI. The color is set with |highlight-guisp|. 4081 4082start={term-list} *highlight-start* *E422* 4083stop={term-list} *term-list* *highlight-stop* 4084 These lists of terminal codes can be used to get 4085 non-standard attributes on a terminal. 4086 4087 The escape sequence specified with the "start" argument 4088 is written before the characters in the highlighted 4089 area. It can be anything that you want to send to the 4090 terminal to highlight this area. The escape sequence 4091 specified with the "stop" argument is written after the 4092 highlighted area. This should undo the "start" argument. 4093 Otherwise the screen will look messed up. 4094 4095 The {term-list} can have two forms: 4096 4097 1. A string with escape sequences. 4098 This is any string of characters, except that it can't start with 4099 "t_" and blanks are not allowed. The <> notation is recognized 4100 here, so you can use things like "<Esc>" and "<Space>". Example: 4101 start=<Esc>[27h;<Esc>[<Space>r; 4102 4103 2. A list of terminal codes. 4104 Each terminal code has the form "t_xx", where "xx" is the name of 4105 the termcap entry. The codes have to be separated with commas. 4106 White space is not allowed. Example: 4107 start=t_C1,t_BL 4108 The terminal codes must exist for this to work. 4109 4110 41112. highlight arguments for color terminals 4112 4113cterm={attr-list} *highlight-cterm* 4114 See above for the description of {attr-list} |attr-list|. 4115 The "cterm" argument is likely to be different from "term", when 4116 colors are used. For example, in a normal terminal comments could 4117 be underlined, in a color terminal they can be made Blue. 4118 Note: Many terminals (e.g., DOS console) can't mix these attributes 4119 with coloring. Use only one of "cterm=" OR "ctermfg=" OR "ctermbg=". 4120 4121ctermfg={color-nr} *highlight-ctermfg* *E421* 4122ctermbg={color-nr} *highlight-ctermbg* 4123 The {color-nr} argument is a color number. Its range is zero to 4124 (not including) the number given by the termcap entry "Co". 4125 The actual color with this number depends on the type of terminal 4126 and its settings. Sometimes the color also depends on the settings of 4127 "cterm". For example, on some systems "cterm=bold ctermfg=3" gives 4128 another color, on others you just get color 3. 4129 4130 For an xterm this depends on your resources, and is a bit 4131 unpredictable. See your xterm documentation for the defaults. The 4132 colors for a color-xterm can be changed from the .Xdefaults file. 4133 Unfortunately this means that it's not possible to get the same colors 4134 for each user. See |xterm-color| for info about color xterms. 4135 4136 The MSDOS standard colors are fixed (in a console window), so these 4137 have been used for the names. But the meaning of color names in X11 4138 are fixed, so these color settings have been used, to make the 4139 highlighting settings portable (complicated, isn't it?). The 4140 following names are recognized, with the color number used: 4141 4142 *cterm-colors* 4143 NR-16 NR-8 COLOR NAME ~ 4144 0 0 Black 4145 1 4 DarkBlue 4146 2 2 DarkGreen 4147 3 6 DarkCyan 4148 4 1 DarkRed 4149 5 5 DarkMagenta 4150 6 3 Brown, DarkYellow 4151 7 7 LightGray, LightGrey, Gray, Grey 4152 8 0* DarkGray, DarkGrey 4153 9 4* Blue, LightBlue 4154 10 2* Green, LightGreen 4155 11 6* Cyan, LightCyan 4156 12 1* Red, LightRed 4157 13 5* Magenta, LightMagenta 4158 14 3* Yellow, LightYellow 4159 15 7* White 4160 4161 The number under "NR-16" is used for 16-color terminals ('t_Co' 4162 greater than or equal to 16). The number under "NR-8" is used for 4163 8-color terminals ('t_Co' less than 16). The '*' indicates that the 4164 bold attribute is set for ctermfg. In many 8-color terminals (e.g., 4165 "linux"), this causes the bright colors to appear. This doesn't work 4166 for background colors! Without the '*' the bold attribute is removed. 4167 If you want to set the bold attribute in a different way, put a 4168 "cterm=" argument AFTER the "ctermfg=" or "ctermbg=" argument. Or use 4169 a number instead of a color name. 4170 4171 The case of the color names is ignored. 4172 Note that for 16 color ansi style terminals (including xterms), the 4173 numbers in the NR-8 column is used. Here '*' means 'add 8' so that Blue 4174 is 12, DarkGray is 8 etc. 4175 4176 Note that for some color terminals these names may result in the wrong 4177 colors! 4178 4179 *:hi-normal-cterm* 4180 When setting the "ctermfg" or "ctermbg" colors for the Normal group, 4181 these will become the colors used for the non-highlighted text. 4182 Example: > 4183 :highlight Normal ctermfg=grey ctermbg=darkblue 4184< When setting the "ctermbg" color for the Normal group, the 4185 'background' option will be adjusted automatically. This causes the 4186 highlight groups that depend on 'background' to change! This means 4187 you should set the colors for Normal first, before setting other 4188 colors. 4189 When a colorscheme is being used, changing 'background' causes it to 4190 be reloaded, which may reset all colors (including Normal). First 4191 delete the "g:colors_name" variable when you don't want this. 4192 4193 When you have set "ctermfg" or "ctermbg" for the Normal group, Vim 4194 needs to reset the color when exiting. This is done with the "op" 4195 termcap entry |t_op|. If this doesn't work correctly, try setting the 4196 't_op' option in your .vimrc. 4197 *E419* *E420* 4198 When Vim knows the normal foreground and background colors, "fg" and 4199 "bg" can be used as color names. This only works after setting the 4200 colors for the Normal group and for the MS-DOS console. Example, for 4201 reverse video: > 4202 :highlight Visual ctermfg=bg ctermbg=fg 4203< Note that the colors are used that are valid at the moment this 4204 command are given. If the Normal group colors are changed later, the 4205 "fg" and "bg" colors will not be adjusted. 4206 4207 42083. highlight arguments for the GUI 4209 4210gui={attr-list} *highlight-gui* 4211 These give the attributes to use in the GUI mode. 4212 See |attr-list| for a description. 4213 Note that "bold" can be used here and by using a bold font. They 4214 have the same effect. 4215 Note that the attributes are ignored for the "Normal" group. 4216 4217font={font-name} *highlight-font* 4218 font-name is the name of a font, as it is used on the system Vim 4219 runs on. For X11 this is a complicated name, for example: > 4220 font=-misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--14-130-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1 4221< 4222 The font-name "NONE" can be used to revert to the default font. 4223 When setting the font for the "Normal" group, this becomes the default 4224 font (until the 'guifont' option is changed; the last one set is 4225 used). 4226 The following only works with Motif and Athena, not with other GUIs: 4227 When setting the font for the "Menu" group, the menus will be changed. 4228 When setting the font for the "Tooltip" group, the tooltips will be 4229 changed. 4230 All fonts used, except for Menu and Tooltip, should be of the same 4231 character size as the default font! Otherwise redrawing problems will 4232 occur. 4233 4234guifg={color-name} *highlight-guifg* 4235guibg={color-name} *highlight-guibg* 4236guisp={color-name} *highlight-guisp* 4237 These give the foreground (guifg), background (guibg) and special 4238 (guisp) color to use in the GUI. "guisp" is used for undercurl. 4239 There are a few special names: 4240 NONE no color (transparent) 4241 bg use normal background color 4242 background use normal background color 4243 fg use normal foreground color 4244 foreground use normal foreground color 4245 To use a color name with an embedded space or other special character, 4246 put it in single quotes. The single quote cannot be used then. 4247 Example: > 4248 :hi comment guifg='salmon pink' 4249< 4250 *gui-colors* 4251 Suggested color names (these are available on most systems): 4252 Red LightRed DarkRed 4253 Green LightGreen DarkGreen SeaGreen 4254 Blue LightBlue DarkBlue SlateBlue 4255 Cyan LightCyan DarkCyan 4256 Magenta LightMagenta DarkMagenta 4257 Yellow LightYellow Brown DarkYellow 4258 Gray LightGray DarkGray 4259 Black White 4260 Orange Purple Violet 4261 4262 In the Win32 GUI version, additional system colors are available. See 4263 |win32-colors|. 4264 4265 You can also specify a color by its Red, Green and Blue values. 4266 The format is "#rrggbb", where 4267 "rr" is the Red value 4268 "gg" is the Green value 4269 "bb" is the Blue value 4270 All values are hexadecimal, range from "00" to "ff". Examples: > 4271 :highlight Comment guifg=#11f0c3 guibg=#ff00ff 4272< 4273 *highlight-groups* *highlight-default* 4274These are the default highlighting groups. These groups are used by the 4275'highlight' option default. Note that the highlighting depends on the value 4276of 'background'. You can see the current settings with the ":highlight" 4277command. 4278 *hl-ColorColumn* 4279ColorColumn used for the columns set with 'colorcolumn' 4280 *hl-Conceal* 4281Conceal placeholder characters substituted for concealed 4282 text (see 'conceallevel') 4283 *hl-Cursor* 4284Cursor the character under the cursor 4285 *hl-CursorIM* 4286CursorIM like Cursor, but used when in IME mode |CursorIM| 4287 *hl-CursorColumn* 4288CursorColumn the screen column that the cursor is in when 'cursorcolumn' is 4289 set 4290 *hl-CursorLine* 4291CursorLine the screen line that the cursor is in when 'cursorline' is 4292 set 4293 *hl-Directory* 4294Directory directory names (and other special names in listings) 4295 *hl-DiffAdd* 4296DiffAdd diff mode: Added line |diff.txt| 4297 *hl-DiffChange* 4298DiffChange diff mode: Changed line |diff.txt| 4299 *hl-DiffDelete* 4300DiffDelete diff mode: Deleted line |diff.txt| 4301 *hl-DiffText* 4302DiffText diff mode: Changed text within a changed line |diff.txt| 4303 *hl-ErrorMsg* 4304ErrorMsg error messages on the command line 4305 *hl-VertSplit* 4306VertSplit the column separating vertically split windows 4307 *hl-Folded* 4308Folded line used for closed folds 4309 *hl-FoldColumn* 4310FoldColumn 'foldcolumn' 4311 *hl-SignColumn* 4312SignColumn column where |signs| are displayed 4313 *hl-IncSearch* 4314IncSearch 'incsearch' highlighting; also used for the text replaced with 4315 ":s///c" 4316 *hl-LineNr* 4317LineNr Line number for ":number" and ":#" commands, and when 'number' 4318 or 'relativenumber' option is set. 4319 *hl-MatchParen* 4320MatchParen The character under the cursor or just before it, if it 4321 is a paired bracket, and its match. |pi_paren.txt| 4322 4323 *hl-ModeMsg* 4324ModeMsg 'showmode' message (e.g., "-- INSERT --") 4325 *hl-MoreMsg* 4326MoreMsg |more-prompt| 4327 *hl-NonText* 4328NonText '~' and '@' at the end of the window, characters from 4329 'showbreak' and other characters that do not really exist in 4330 the text (e.g., ">" displayed when a double-wide character 4331 doesn't fit at the end of the line). 4332 *hl-Normal* 4333Normal normal text 4334 *hl-Pmenu* 4335Pmenu Popup menu: normal item. 4336 *hl-PmenuSel* 4337PmenuSel Popup menu: selected item. 4338 *hl-PmenuSbar* 4339PmenuSbar Popup menu: scrollbar. 4340 *hl-PmenuThumb* 4341PmenuThumb Popup menu: Thumb of the scrollbar. 4342 *hl-Question* 4343Question |hit-enter| prompt and yes/no questions 4344 *hl-Search* 4345Search Last search pattern highlighting (see 'hlsearch'). 4346 Also used for highlighting the current line in the quickfix 4347 window and similar items that need to stand out. 4348 *hl-SpecialKey* 4349SpecialKey Meta and special keys listed with ":map", also for text used 4350 to show unprintable characters in the text, 'listchars'. 4351 Generally: text that is displayed differently from what it 4352 really is. 4353 *hl-SpellBad* 4354SpellBad Word that is not recognized by the spellchecker. |spell| 4355 This will be combined with the highlighting used otherwise. 4356 *hl-SpellCap* 4357SpellCap Word that should start with a capital. |spell| 4358 This will be combined with the highlighting used otherwise. 4359 *hl-SpellLocal* 4360SpellLocal Word that is recognized by the spellchecker as one that is 4361 used in another region. |spell| 4362 This will be combined with the highlighting used otherwise. 4363 *hl-SpellRare* 4364SpellRare Word that is recognized by the spellchecker as one that is 4365 hardly ever used. |spell| 4366 This will be combined with the highlighting used otherwise. 4367 *hl-StatusLine* 4368StatusLine status line of current window 4369 *hl-StatusLineNC* 4370StatusLineNC status lines of not-current windows 4371 Note: if this is equal to "StatusLine" Vim will use "^^^" in 4372 the status line of the current window. 4373 *hl-TabLine* 4374TabLine tab pages line, not active tab page label 4375 *hl-TabLineFill* 4376TabLineFill tab pages line, where there are no labels 4377 *hl-TabLineSel* 4378TabLineSel tab pages line, active tab page label 4379 *hl-Title* 4380Title titles for output from ":set all", ":autocmd" etc. 4381 *hl-Visual* 4382Visual Visual mode selection 4383 *hl-VisualNOS* 4384VisualNOS Visual mode selection when vim is "Not Owning the Selection". 4385 Only X11 Gui's |gui-x11| and |xterm-clipboard| supports this. 4386 *hl-WarningMsg* 4387WarningMsg warning messages 4388 *hl-WildMenu* 4389WildMenu current match in 'wildmenu' completion 4390 4391 *hl-User1* *hl-User1..9* *hl-User9* 4392The 'statusline' syntax allows the use of 9 different highlights in the 4393statusline and ruler (via 'rulerformat'). The names are User1 to User9. 4394 4395For the GUI you can use the following groups to set the colors for the menu, 4396scrollbars and tooltips. They don't have defaults. This doesn't work for the 4397Win32 GUI. Only three highlight arguments have any effect here: font, guibg, 4398and guifg. 4399 4400 *hl-Menu* 4401Menu Current font, background and foreground colors of the menus. 4402 Also used for the toolbar. 4403 Applicable highlight arguments: font, guibg, guifg. 4404 4405 NOTE: For Motif and Athena the font argument actually 4406 specifies a fontset at all times, no matter if 'guifontset' is 4407 empty, and as such it is tied to the current |:language| when 4408 set. 4409 4410 *hl-Scrollbar* 4411Scrollbar Current background and foreground of the main window's 4412 scrollbars. 4413 Applicable highlight arguments: guibg, guifg. 4414 4415 *hl-Tooltip* 4416Tooltip Current font, background and foreground of the tooltips. 4417 Applicable highlight arguments: font, guibg, guifg. 4418 4419 NOTE: For Motif and Athena the font argument actually 4420 specifies a fontset at all times, no matter if 'guifontset' is 4421 empty, and as such it is tied to the current |:language| when 4422 set. 4423 4424============================================================================== 442513. Linking groups *:hi-link* *:highlight-link* *E412* *E413* 4426 4427When you want to use the same highlighting for several syntax groups, you 4428can do this more easily by linking the groups into one common highlight 4429group, and give the color attributes only for that group. 4430 4431To set a link: 4432 4433 :hi[ghlight][!] [default] link {from-group} {to-group} 4434 4435To remove a link: 4436 4437 :hi[ghlight][!] [default] link {from-group} NONE 4438 4439Notes: *E414* 4440- If the {from-group} and/or {to-group} doesn't exist, it is created. You 4441 don't get an error message for a non-existing group. 4442- As soon as you use a ":highlight" command for a linked group, the link is 4443 removed. 4444- If there are already highlight settings for the {from-group}, the link is 4445 not made, unless the '!' is given. For a ":highlight link" command in a 4446 sourced file, you don't get an error message. This can be used to skip 4447 links for groups that already have settings. 4448 4449 *:hi-default* *:highlight-default* 4450The [default] argument is used for setting the default highlighting for a 4451group. If highlighting has already been specified for the group the command 4452will be ignored. Also when there is an existing link. 4453 4454Using [default] is especially useful to overrule the highlighting of a 4455specific syntax file. For example, the C syntax file contains: > 4456 :highlight default link cComment Comment 4457If you like Question highlighting for C comments, put this in your vimrc file: > 4458 :highlight link cComment Question 4459Without the "default" in the C syntax file, the highlighting would be 4460overruled when the syntax file is loaded. 4461 4462============================================================================== 446314. Cleaning up *:syn-clear* *E391* 4464 4465If you want to clear the syntax stuff for the current buffer, you can use this 4466command: > 4467 :syntax clear 4468 4469This command should be used when you want to switch off syntax highlighting, 4470or when you want to switch to using another syntax. It's normally not needed 4471in a syntax file itself, because syntax is cleared by the autocommands that 4472load the syntax file. 4473The command also deletes the "b:current_syntax" variable, since no syntax is 4474loaded after this command. 4475 4476If you want to disable syntax highlighting for all buffers, you need to remove 4477the autocommands that load the syntax files: > 4478 :syntax off 4479 4480What this command actually does, is executing the command > 4481 :source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim 4482See the "nosyntax.vim" file for details. Note that for this to work 4483$VIMRUNTIME must be valid. See |$VIMRUNTIME|. 4484 4485To clean up specific syntax groups for the current buffer: > 4486 :syntax clear {group-name} .. 4487This removes all patterns and keywords for {group-name}. 4488 4489To clean up specific syntax group lists for the current buffer: > 4490 :syntax clear @{grouplist-name} .. 4491This sets {grouplist-name}'s contents to an empty list. 4492 4493 *:syntax-reset* *:syn-reset* 4494If you have changed the colors and messed them up, use this command to get the 4495defaults back: > 4496 4497 :syntax reset 4498 4499This doesn't change the colors for the 'highlight' option. 4500 4501Note that the syntax colors that you set in your vimrc file will also be reset 4502back to their Vim default. 4503Note that if you are using a color scheme, the colors defined by the color 4504scheme for syntax highlighting will be lost. 4505 4506What this actually does is: > 4507 4508 let g:syntax_cmd = "reset" 4509 runtime! syntax/syncolor.vim 4510 4511Note that this uses the 'runtimepath' option. 4512 4513 *syncolor* 4514If you want to use different colors for syntax highlighting, you can add a Vim 4515script file to set these colors. Put this file in a directory in 4516'runtimepath' which comes after $VIMRUNTIME, so that your settings overrule 4517the default colors. This way these colors will be used after the ":syntax 4518reset" command. 4519 4520For Unix you can use the file ~/.vim/after/syntax/syncolor.vim. Example: > 4521 4522 if &background == "light" 4523 highlight comment ctermfg=darkgreen guifg=darkgreen 4524 else 4525 highlight comment ctermfg=green guifg=green 4526 endif 4527 4528 *E679* 4529Do make sure this syncolor.vim script does not use a "syntax on", set the 4530'background' option or uses a "colorscheme" command, because it results in an 4531endless loop. 4532 4533Note that when a color scheme is used, there might be some confusion whether 4534your defined colors are to be used or the colors from the scheme. This 4535depends on the color scheme file. See |:colorscheme|. 4536 4537 *syntax_cmd* 4538The "syntax_cmd" variable is set to one of these values when the 4539syntax/syncolor.vim files are loaded: 4540 "on" ":syntax on" command. Highlight colors are overruled but 4541 links are kept 4542 "enable" ":syntax enable" command. Only define colors for groups that 4543 don't have highlighting yet. Use ":syntax default". 4544 "reset" ":syntax reset" command or loading a color scheme. Define all 4545 the colors. 4546 "skip" Don't define colors. Used to skip the default settings when a 4547 syncolor.vim file earlier in 'runtimepath' has already set 4548 them. 4549 4550============================================================================== 455115. Highlighting tags *tag-highlight* 4552 4553If you want to highlight all the tags in your file, you can use the following 4554mappings. 4555 4556 <F11> -- Generate tags.vim file, and highlight tags. 4557 <F12> -- Just highlight tags based on existing tags.vim file. 4558> 4559 :map <F11> :sp tags<CR>:%s/^\([^ :]*:\)\=\([^ ]*\).*/syntax keyword Tag \2/<CR>:wq! tags.vim<CR>/^<CR><F12> 4560 :map <F12> :so tags.vim<CR> 4561 4562WARNING: The longer the tags file, the slower this will be, and the more 4563memory Vim will consume. 4564 4565Only highlighting typedefs, unions and structs can be done too. For this you 4566must use Exuberant ctags (found at http://ctags.sf.net). 4567 4568Put these lines in your Makefile: 4569 4570# Make a highlight file for types. Requires Exuberant ctags and awk 4571types: types.vim 4572types.vim: *.[ch] 4573 ctags --c-kinds=gstu -o- *.[ch] |\ 4574 awk 'BEGIN{printf("syntax keyword Type\t")}\ 4575 {printf("%s ", $$1)}END{print ""}' > $@ 4576 4577And put these lines in your .vimrc: > 4578 4579 " load the types.vim highlighting file, if it exists 4580 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] let fname = expand('<afile>:p:h') . '/types.vim' 4581 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] if filereadable(fname) 4582 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] exe 'so ' . fname 4583 autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] endif 4584 4585============================================================================== 458616. Window-local syntax *:ownsyntax* 4587 4588Normally all windows on a buffer share the same syntax settings. It is 4589possible, however, to set a particular window on a file to have its own 4590private syntax setting. A possible example would be to edit LaTeX source 4591with conventional highlighting in one window, while seeing the same source 4592highlighted differently (so as to hide control sequences and indicate bold, 4593italic etc regions) in another. The 'scrollbind' option is useful here. 4594 4595To set the current window to have the syntax "foo", separately from all other 4596windows on the buffer: > 4597 :ownsyntax foo 4598< *w:current_syntax* 4599This will set the "w:current_syntax" variable to "foo". The value of 4600"b:current_syntax" does not change. This is implemented by saving and 4601restoring "b:current_syntax", since the syntax files do set 4602"b:current_syntax". The value set by the syntax file is assigned to 4603"w:current_syntax". 4604 4605Once a window has its own syntax, syntax commands executed from other windows 4606on the same buffer (including :syntax clear) have no effect. Conversely, 4607syntax commands executed from that window do not effect other windows on the 4608same buffer. 4609 4610A window with its own syntax reverts to normal behavior when another buffer 4611is loaded into that window or the file is reloaded. 4612When splitting the window, the new window will use the original syntax. 4613 4614============================================================================== 461516. Color xterms *xterm-color* *color-xterm* 4616 4617Most color xterms have only eight colors. If you don't get colors with the 4618default setup, it should work with these lines in your .vimrc: > 4619 :if &term =~ "xterm" 4620 : if has("terminfo") 4621 : set t_Co=8 4622 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%p1%dm 4623 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%p1%dm 4624 : else 4625 : set t_Co=8 4626 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%dm 4627 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%dm 4628 : endif 4629 :endif 4630< [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] 4631 4632You might want to change the first "if" to match the name of your terminal, 4633e.g. "dtterm" instead of "xterm". 4634 4635Note: Do these settings BEFORE doing ":syntax on". Otherwise the colors may 4636be wrong. 4637 *xiterm* *rxvt* 4638The above settings have been mentioned to work for xiterm and rxvt too. 4639But for using 16 colors in an rxvt these should work with terminfo: > 4640 :set t_AB=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t25;%p1%{40}%+%e5;%p1%{32}%+%;%dm 4641 :set t_AF=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t22;%p1%{30}%+%e1;%p1%{22}%+%;%dm 4642< 4643 *colortest.vim* 4644To test your color setup, a file has been included in the Vim distribution. 4645To use it, execute this command: > 4646 :runtime syntax/colortest.vim 4647 4648Some versions of xterm (and other terminals, like the Linux console) can 4649output lighter foreground colors, even though the number of colors is defined 4650at 8. Therefore Vim sets the "cterm=bold" attribute for light foreground 4651colors, when 't_Co' is 8. 4652 4653 *xfree-xterm* 4654To get 16 colors or more, get the newest xterm version (which should be 4655included with XFree86 3.3 and later). You can also find the latest version 4656at: > 4657 http://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.html 4658Here is a good way to configure it. This uses 88 colors and enables the 4659termcap-query feature, which allows Vim to ask the xterm how many colors it 4660supports. > 4661 ./configure --disable-bold-color --enable-88-color --enable-tcap-query 4662If you only get 8 colors, check the xterm compilation settings. 4663(Also see |UTF8-xterm| for using this xterm with UTF-8 character encoding). 4664 4665This xterm should work with these lines in your .vimrc (for 16 colors): > 4666 :if has("terminfo") 4667 : set t_Co=16 4668 : set t_AB=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{40}%+%e%p1%{92}%+%;%dm 4669 : set t_AF=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{30}%+%e%p1%{82}%+%;%dm 4670 :else 4671 : set t_Co=16 4672 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%dm 4673 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%dm 4674 :endif 4675< [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] 4676 4677Without |+terminfo|, Vim will recognize these settings, and automatically 4678translate cterm colors of 8 and above to "<Esc>[9%dm" and "<Esc>[10%dm". 4679Colors above 16 are also translated automatically. 4680 4681For 256 colors this has been reported to work: > 4682 4683 :set t_AB=<Esc>[48;5;%dm 4684 :set t_AF=<Esc>[38;5;%dm 4685 4686Or just set the TERM environment variable to "xterm-color" or "xterm-16color" 4687and try if that works. 4688 4689You probably want to use these X resources (in your ~/.Xdefaults file): 4690 XTerm*color0: #000000 4691 XTerm*color1: #c00000 4692 XTerm*color2: #008000 4693 XTerm*color3: #808000 4694 XTerm*color4: #0000c0 4695 XTerm*color5: #c000c0 4696 XTerm*color6: #008080 4697 XTerm*color7: #c0c0c0 4698 XTerm*color8: #808080 4699 XTerm*color9: #ff6060 4700 XTerm*color10: #00ff00 4701 XTerm*color11: #ffff00 4702 XTerm*color12: #8080ff 4703 XTerm*color13: #ff40ff 4704 XTerm*color14: #00ffff 4705 XTerm*color15: #ffffff 4706 Xterm*cursorColor: Black 4707 4708[Note: The cursorColor is required to work around a bug, which changes the 4709cursor color to the color of the last drawn text. This has been fixed by a 4710newer version of xterm, but not everybody is using it yet.] 4711 4712To get these right away, reload the .Xdefaults file to the X Option database 4713Manager (you only need to do this when you just changed the .Xdefaults file): > 4714 xrdb -merge ~/.Xdefaults 4715< 4716 *xterm-blink* *xterm-blinking-cursor* 4717To make the cursor blink in an xterm, see tools/blink.c. Or use Thomas 4718Dickey's xterm above patchlevel 107 (see above for where to get it), with 4719these resources: 4720 XTerm*cursorBlink: on 4721 XTerm*cursorOnTime: 400 4722 XTerm*cursorOffTime: 250 4723 XTerm*cursorColor: White 4724 4725 *hpterm-color* 4726These settings work (more or less) for an hpterm, which only supports 8 4727foreground colors: > 4728 :if has("terminfo") 4729 : set t_Co=8 4730 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[&v%p1%dS 4731 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[&v7S 4732 :else 4733 : set t_Co=8 4734 : set t_Sf=<Esc>[&v%dS 4735 : set t_Sb=<Esc>[&v7S 4736 :endif 4737< [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] 4738 4739 *Eterm* *enlightened-terminal* 4740These settings have been reported to work for the Enlightened terminal 4741emulator, or Eterm. They might work for all xterm-like terminals that use the 4742bold attribute to get bright colors. Add an ":if" like above when needed. > 4743 :set t_Co=16 4744 :set t_AF=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t3%p1%d%e%p1%{22}%+%d;1%;m 4745 :set t_AB=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t4%p1%d%e%p1%{32}%+%d;1%;m 4746< 4747 *TTpro-telnet* 4748These settings should work for TTpro telnet. Tera Term Pro is a freeware / 4749open-source program for MS-Windows. > 4750 set t_Co=16 4751 set t_AB=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{40}%+%e%p1%{32}%+5;%;%dm 4752 set t_AF=^[[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{30}%+%e%p1%{22}%+1;%;%dm 4753Also make sure TTpro's Setup / Window / Full Color is enabled, and make sure 4754that Setup / Font / Enable Bold is NOT enabled. 4755(info provided by John Love-Jensen <eljay@Adobe.COM>) 4756 4757 vim:tw=78:sw=4:ts=8:ft=help:norl: 4758