SGI Freeware 1999 August

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ SGI Freeware 1999 August / SGI Freeware 1999 August.iso / dist / fw_vim.idb / usr / freeware / share / vim / doc / syntax.txt.z / syntax.txt

Wrap

Text File | 1998-10-28 | 56.4 KB | 1,378 lines

*syntax.txt* For Vim version 5.0. Last modification: 1998 Feb 14 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar Syntax highlighting *syntax* *syntax-highlighting* *coloring* Syntax highlighting enables the possibility to show parts of the text in another font or color. Those parts can be specific keywords or text matching a pattern. Vim doesn't parse the whole file (to keep it fast), so the highlighting has its limitations. Lexical highlighting might be a better name, but everybody calls it syntax highlighting, so we'll stick with that. Vim supports syntax highlighting on all terminals. But since most ordinary terminals have very limited highlighting possibilities, it works best in the GUI version, gvim. 1. Quick start |:syn-qstart| 2. Syntax files |:syn-files| 3. Syntax file remarks |:syn-file-remarks| 4. Defining a syntax |:syn-define| 5. :syntax arguments |:syn-arguments| 6. Syntax patterns |:syn-pattern| 7. Synchronizing |:syn-sync| 8. Listing syntax items |:syntax| 9. Highlight command |:highlight| 10. Linking groups |:highlight-link| 11. Cleaning up |:syn-clear| 12. Highlighting tags |tag-highlight| 13. Color xterms |xterm-color| {Vi does not have any of these commands} The syntax highlighting is not available when the |+syntax| feature has been disabled at compile time. ============================================================================== 1. Quick start *:syn-qstart* *:syn-on* For a large number of common languages syntax files have been included. To start using them, type this command: > :syntax on This will enable automatic syntax highlighting. The type of highlighting will be selected using the file name extension, and sometimes using the first line of the file. Include this command in your .vimrc if you always want syntax highlighting, or put it in your .gvimrc if you only want it in the GUI. If you don't want it for B&W terminals, but you do want it for color terminals, put this in your .vimrc: > if &t_Co > 1 > syntax on > endif What this command actually does, is executing the command > source $VIM/syntax/syntax.vim If the VIM environment variable is not set, Vim will try to find the path in another way (see |$VIM|). Normally this will work just fine. If it doesn't, try setting the VIM environment variable to the directory where the Vim stuff is located. For example, if your syntax files are in the "/usr/vim/5.0/syntax" directory, set $VIM to "/usr/vim/5.0". You must do this in the shell, before starting Vim. *:syn-default-override* You can override the default highlight settings, by issuing ":highlight" commands after sourcing "syntax.vim". For example: > syntax on > highlight Constant gui=NONE guibg=grey95 This will change the GUI highlighting for the "Constant" group. See |:highlight| about how to specify highlighting attributes. If you are running in the GUI, you can get white text on a black background with: > highlight Normal guibg=Black guifg=White If you have a black background, use these commands to get better colors (see 'background'): > set background=dark > syntax on NOTE: The syntax files on MS-DOS and Windows have lines that end in <CR><NL>. The files for Unix end in <NL>. This means you should use the right type of file for your system. Although on MS-DOS and Windows the right format is automatically selected if the 'fileformats' option is not empty. To switch off the syntax highlighting: *:syn-off* > :syntax off You can toggle the syntax on/off with this command > :if has("syntax_items") | syntax off | else | syntax on | endif To put this into a mapping, you can use: > map <F7> :if has("syntax_items") <Bar> syntax off <Bar> else <Bar> syntax on <Bar> endif <CR> [using the |<>| notation, type this literally] ============================================================================== 2. Syntax files *:syn-files* The syntax and highlighting commands for one language are normally stored in a syntax file. The name convention is: "{name}.vim". Where {name} is the name of the language, or an abbreviation (to fit the name in 8.3 characters, which is always done, in case the file will be used on a DOS filesystem). Examples: c.vim perl.vim java.vim html.vim cpp.vim sh.vim csh.vim The syntax file can contain any Ex commands, just like a vimrc file. But the idea is that only commands for a specific language are included. When a language is a superset of another language, it may include the other one, for example, the cpp.vim file could include the c.vim file: > :so $VIM/syntax/c.vim The .vim files are normally loaded with an autocommand. For example: > :au BufNewFile,BufReadPost *.c,*.h source $VIM/syntax/c.vim > :au BufNewFile,BufReadPost *.cpp source $VIM/syntax/cpp.vim MAKING YOUR OWN SYNTAX FILES *mysyntaxfile* When you create your own syntax files, and you want to have these automatically used with ":syntax on", do this: 1. Create a file that contains the autocommands to load your syntax file when the right file name or extension is detected. To prevent loading two syntax files (when the extension is used twice), first delete other autocommands for the same extension. You can also include ":highlight" commands in this file, which override the normal highlighting (because the file is sourced after setting the normal highlighting). Example: > augroup syntax > au! BufNewFile,BufReadPost *.bat > au BufNewFile,BufReadPost *.bat so ~/vim/batch.vim > augroup END > highlight Comment gui=bold Let's assume you write this file in "~/vim/mysyntax.vim". 2. In your .vimrc, set the "mysyntaxfile" variable to the file you just created. For example: > :let mysyntaxfile = "~/vim/mysyntax.vim" 3. If your file type can only be detected by inspecting the contents of the file, create another file for doing this. See $VIM/syntax/scripts.vim for examples. Let's assume you write this file in "~/vim/myscripts.vim". Then set the "myscriptsfile" variable to this file name. Example: > :let myscriptsfile = "~/vim/myscripts.vim" Note that this file is only used when no syntax file was loaded by the autocommands, if the file type has not been detected by the file name or extension. Note that "mysyntaxfile" is sourced AFTER defining the default autocommands for the supplied syntax files, so you can override these with your own files. The "myscriptsfile" is loaded before the default checks for syntax files, which also means that your rules override the supplied rules. NAMING CONVENTIONS *group-name* To be able to allow each user to pick his favorite set of colors, there need to be preferred names for highlight groups that are common for many languages. These are the ones that are suggested to be used: *Comment any comment *Constant any constant String a string constant: "this is a string" Character a character constant: 'c', '\n' Number a number constant: 234, 0xff Boolean a boolean constant: TRUE, false Float a floating point constant: 2.3e10 *Identifier any variable name Function function name (also: methods for classes) *Statement any statement Conditional if, then, else, endif, switch, etc. Repeat for, do, while, etc. Label case, default, etc. Operator "sizeof", "+", "*", etc. Keyword any other keyword Exception try, catch, throw *PreProc generic Preprocessor Include preprocessor #include Define preprocessor #define Macro same as Define PreCondit preprocessor #if, #else, #endif, etc. *Type int, long, char, etc. StorageClass static, register, volatile, etc. Structure struct, union, enum, etc. Typedef A typedef *Special any special symbol SpecialChar special character in a constant Tag you can use CTRL-] on this Delimiter character that needs attention SpecialComment special things inside a comment Debug debugging statements *Error any erroneous construct *Todo anything that needs extra attention The ones marked with * are the preferred groups, the other are minor groups. For the preferred groups, the "syntax.vim" file contains default highlighting. The minor groups are linked to the preferred groups, so they get the same highlighting. You can override these defaults by giving ":highlight" commands after sourcing the "syntax.vim" file. Note that highlight group names are not case sensitive. "String" and "string" can be used for the same group. The following names are reserved and cannot be used as a group name: NONE ALL ALLBUT contains contained ============================================================================== 3. Syntax file remarks *:syn-file-remarks* *current_syntax-variable* The name of the syntax that has been loaded is stored in the "current_syntax" variable. You can use this if you want to load other settings, depending on which syntax is active. Example: > :au BufReadPost * if current_syntax == "csh" > :au BufReadPost * do-some-things > :au BufReadPost * endif 2HTML *2html.vim* *convert-to-HTML* This is not a syntax file itself, but a script that converts the current window into HTML. A new window is opened, in which the HTML file is built. Warning: This is slow! The resulting file can be written where you want it. You can then view it with any HTML viewer, such as Netscape. The colors should be exactly the same as you see them in Vim. From Netscape you can also print the file (in color)! This only works in the GUI version. When 'tabstop' is not 8, the amount of white space will be wrong. HTML *html.vim* The coloring scheme for tags in the html file works as follows The <> of opening tags are colored differently than the </> of a closing tag. This is on purpose! For opening tags the 'Function' color is used, while for closing tags the 'Type' color is used (See syntax.vim to check how those are defined for you) Known tag names are colores the same way as statements in C. Unknown tag names are colored with the same color as the <> or </> respectively which makes it easy to spot errors Note that the same is true for argument (or attribute names). Known attribute names are colored differently than unknown ones. HTML comments are rather special (see an html reference document for the details), and the syntax coloring scheme will highlight all errors. JavaScript embedded inside html documents is highlighted as 'Special' with statements, comments, strings and so on colored as in standard programming languages. Note that only JavaScript is currently supported, no other scripting language has been added yet. C *c.vim* Most C highlighting is fixed. There is one optional feature: highlighting strings and numbers inside a comment. It can be enabled by adding this line to your vimrc: let c_comment_strings=1 To disable it again, use this: unlet c_comment_strings JAVA *java.vim* The java.vim syntax highlighting file offers several options: In Java 1.0.2 it was never possible to have braces inside parens, so this was flagged as an error. Since Java 1.1 this is possible (with anonymous classes), and therefore is no longer marked as an error. If you prefer the old way, put the following line into your vim startup file: > let java_mark_braces_in_parens_as_errors=1 Function names are not highlighted, as the way to find functions depends on how you write java code. To enable it anyway put the following line in your startup file: > let java_highlight_functions=1 This will only work if you either use two spaces for indentation or tabs. If you use another indentation style but would still want function declarations to be highlighted create your own definitions by changing the definitions in java.vim or by creating your own java.vim which includes the original one and then adds the code to highlight functions. In java 1.1 the functions System.out.println() and System.err.println() should only be used for debugging. Therefor it is possible to highlight debugging statements differently. To do this you must add the following definition in your startup file: > let java_highlight_debug=1 The result will be that those statements are highlighted as 'Special' characters. If you prefer to have them highlighted differently you must define new highlightings for the following groups.: Debug, DebugSpecial, DebugString, DebugBoolean, DebugType which are used for the statement itself, special characters used in debug strings, strings, boolean constants and types (this, super) respectively. I have opted to chose another background for those statements. Javadoc is a program that takes special comments out of java program files and creates html pages. The standard configuration will highlight this html code similarly to html files (see |html.vim|). There are three differences: 1. The title (all characters up to the first '.' which is followed by some white space or to the first '@') is colored differently (to change the color change the group CommentTitle). 2. The text is colored as 'Comment'. 3. HTML comments are colored as 'Special' To turn this feature off add the following line to your startup file: > let java_ignore_javadoc=1 SH *sh.vim* This covers the "normal" Unix sh, bash and the korn shell. If you're working on a system where bash is called sh, you will benefit to define the vim variable 'bash_is_sh' in your '.vimrc' file: > let bash_is_sh = 1 To choose between the two ways to treat single-quotes inside a pair of double-quotes, I have introduced a Vim variable "highlight_balanced_quotes". By default (ie by not declaring this variable) single quotes can be used inside double quotes, and are not highlighted. If you prefer balanced single quotes as I do you just make the statement in your .vimrc file: > let highlight_balanced_quotes = 1 Similar I have introduced another vim variable "highlight_function_name" to be used to enable/disable highlighting of the function-name in function declaration. Default is not to highlight the function name. If you want to highlight functions names, include this in your .vimrc file: > let highlight_function_name = 1 ============================================================================== 4. Defining a syntax *:syn-define* Vim understands three types of syntax items: 1. A keyword. It can only contain keyword characters, according to the 'iskeyword' option. It cannot contain other syntax items. It will only be recognized when it is a complete match (there are no keyword characters before or after the match). "if" would match in "if(a=b)", but not in "ifdef x". 2. A match. This is a match with a single regexp pattern. It must be within one line. 3. A region. This starts at a match of the start regexp pattern and ends with a match with the end regexp pattern. A skip regexp pattern can be used to avoid matching the end pattern. Several syntax ITEMs can be put into one syntax GROUP. For a syntax group you can give highlighting attributes. For example, you could have an item to define a "/* .. */" comment and another one that defines a "// .." comment, and put them both in the "Comment" group. You can then specify that a "Comment" will be in bold font and have a blue color. You are free to make one highlight group for one syntax item, or put all items into one group. This depends on how you want to specify your highlighting attributes. Putting each item in its own group results in having to specify the highlighting for a lot of groups. Note that a syntax group and a highlight group are similar. For a highlight group you will have given highlight attributes. These attributes will be used for the syntax group with the same name. In case more than one item matches at the same position, the one that was defined LAST wins. Thus you can override previously defined syntax items by using an item that matches the same text. But a keyword always goes before a match or region. And a keyword with matching case always goes before a keyword with ignoring case. DEFINING CASE *:syn-case* :syntax case [match|ignore] This defines if the following ":syntax" commands will work with matching case, when using "match", or with ignoring case, when using "ignore". Note that any items before this are not affected, and all items until the next ":syntax case" command are affected. DEFINING KEYWORDS *:syn-keyword* :syntax keyword {group-name} [{options}] {keyword} .. [{options}] This defines a number of keywords. {group-name} Is a syntax group name such as "Comment". [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. {keyword} .. Is a list of keywords which are part of this group. Example: > :syntax keyword Type int long char The {options} can be given anywhere in the line. They will apply to all keywords given, also for options that come after a keyword. These examples do exactly the same: > :syntax keyword Type contained int long char > :syntax keyword Type int long contained char > :syntax keyword Type int long char contained When you have a keyword with an optional tail, like Ex commands in Vim, you can put the optional characters inside [], to define all the variations at once: > :syntax keyword VimCommand ab[breviate] n[ext] A keyword always has higher priority than a match or region, the keyword is used if more than one item matches. Keywords do not nest and a keyword can't contain anything else. Note that when you have a keyword that is the same as an option (even one that isn't allowed here), you can not use it. Use a match instead. The maximum length of a keyword is 80 characters. The same keyword can be defined multiple times, when its containment differs. For example, you can define the keyword once not contained and use one highlight group, and once contained, and use a different highlight group. Example: > :syn keyword vimCommand tag > :syn keyword vimSetting contained tag When finding "tag" outside of any syntax item, the "vimCommand" highlight group is used. When finding "tag" in a syntax item that contains "vimSetting", the "vimSetting" group is used. DEFINING MATCHES *:syn-match* :syntax match {group-name} [{options}] {pattern} [{options}] This defines one match. {group-name} A syntax group name such as "Comment". [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. {pattern} The search pattern that defines the match. See |:syn-pattern| below. Example (match a character constant): > :syntax match Character /'.'/s+1e-1 DEFINING REGIONS *:syn-region* *:syn-start* *:syn-skip* *:syn-end* :syntax region {group-name} [{options}] [matchgroup={group_name}] [keepend] start={start_pattern} .. [skip={skip_pattern}] end={end_pattern} .. [{options}] This defines one region. It may span several lines. {group-name} A syntax group name such as "Comment". [{options}] See |:syn-arguments| below. [matchgroup={group-name}] The syntax group to use for the following start or end pattern matches only. Not used for the text in between the matched start and end patterns. Use NONE to reset to not using a different group for the start or end match. See |:syn-matchgroup|. keepend Don't allow contained matches to go past a match with the end pattern. See |:syn-keepend|. start={start_pattern} The search pattern that defines the start of the region. See |:syn-pattern| below. skip={skip_pattern} The search pattern that defines text inside the region where not to look for the end pattern. See |:syn-pattern| below. end={end_pattern} The search pattern that defines the end of the region. See |:syn-pattern| below. Example: > :syntax region String start=+"+ skip=+\\"+ end=+"+ The start/skip/end patterns and the options can be given in any order. There can be zero or one skip pattern. There must be one or more start and end patterns. This means that you can omit the skip pattern, but you must give at least one start and one end pattern. It is allowed to have white space before and after the equal sign (although it mostly looks better without white space). When more than one start pattern is given, a match with one of these is sufficient. This means there is an OR relation between the start patterns. The first one that matches is used. The same is true for the end patterns. The search for the end pattern starts at the start of the region. This implies that it can also match inside the start pattern! Note: The decision to start a region is only based on a matching start pattern. There is no check for a matching end pattern. This does NOT work: :syn region First start="(" end="." :syn region Second start="(" end=";" The Second always matches before the First (last defined pattern has higher priority). The Second region then continues until the next ';', no matter if there is a '.' before it. *:syn-keepend* By default, a contained match can obscure a match for the end pattern. This is useful for nesting. For example, a region that starts with "{" and ends with "}", can contain another region. An encountered "}" will then end the contained region, but not the outer region: { starts outer "{}" region { starts contained "{}" region } ends contained "{}" region } ends outer "{} region If you don't want this, the "keepend" argument will make the matching of an end pattern of the outer region also end any contained item. This makes it impossible to nest the same region, but allows for contained items to highlight parts of the end pattern, without causing that to skip the match with the end pattern. Example: > :syn match VimComment +"[^"]\+$+ > :syn region VimCommand start="set" end="$" contains VimComment keepend The "keepend" makes the VimCommand always end at the end of the line, even though the contained VimComment includes a match with the <EOL>. When "keepend" is not used, a match with an end pattern is retried after each contained match. When "keepend" is included, the first encountered match with an end pattern is used, truncating any contained matches. *:syn-matchgroup* "matchgroup" can be used to highlight the start and/or end pattern differently than the body of the region. Example: > :syntax region String matchgroup=Quote start=+"+ skip=+\\"+ end=+"+ This will highlight the quotes with the "Quote" group, and the text in between with the "String" group. The "matchgroup" is used for all start and end patterns that follow, until the next "matchgroup". Use "matchgroup=NONE" to go back to not using a matchgroup. It is not possible to have a contained match in a start or end pattern that is highlighted with "matchgroup". When using "transparent", it does not apply to a start or end pattern that is highlighted with "matchgroup". ============================================================================== 5. :syntax arguments *:syn-arguments* The :syntax commands that define syntax items take a number of arguments. The common ones are explained here. The arguments may be given in any order and may be mixed with patterns. Not all commands accept all arguments. This table shows which arguments can be used for each command: contained nextgroup skip* transparent contains oneline ~ :syntax keyword yes yes yes - - - :syntax match yes yes yes yes yes - :syntax region yes yes yes yes yes yes contained *:syn-contained* When the "contained" argument is given, this item will not be recognized at the top level, but only when it is mentioned in the "contains" field of another match. Example: > :syntax keyword Todo TODO contained > :syntax match Comment "//.*" contains=Todo transparent *:syn-transparent* If the "transparent" argument is given, this item will not be highlighted itself, but will take the highlighting of the item it is contained in. This is useful for syntax items that don't need any highlighting but are used only to skip over a part of the text. The same groups as the item it is contained in are used, unless a "contains" argument is given too. oneline *:syn-oneline* The "oneline" argument indicates that the region does not cross a line boundary. It must match completely in the current line. However, when the region has a contained item that does cross a line boundary, it continues on the next line anyway. A contained item can be used to recognize a line continuation pattern. contains={groupname},.. *:syn-contains* The "contains" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names. These groups will be allowed to begin inside the item (they may extend past the containing group's end). This allows for recursive nesting of matches and regions. If there is no "contains" argument, no groups will be contained in this item. The group names do not need to be defined before they can be used here. contains=ALL If the only item in the contains list is "ALL", then all groups will be accepted inside the item. contains=ALLBUT,{group-name},.. If the first item in the contains list is "ALLBUT", then all groups will be accepted inside the item, except the ones that are listed, and the "contained" items. Example: > :syntax region Block start="{" end="}" ... contains=ALLBUT,Function The {group-name} in the "contains" list can be a pattern. All group names that match the pattern will be included (or excluded, if "ALLBUT" is used). The pattern cannot contain white space or a ','. Example: > ... contains=Comment.*,Keyw[0-3] nextgroup={groupname},.. *:syn-nextgroup* The "nextgroup" argument is followed by a list of syntax group names, separated by commas (just like with "contains", so you can also use patterns). If the "nextgroup" argument is given, the mentioned syntax groups will be tried for a match, after the match or region ends. If none of the groups have a match, highlighting continues normally. If there is a match, this group will used, even when it is not mentioned in the "contains" field of the current group. This is like giving the mentioned group priority over all other groups. Example: > :syntax match ccFoobar "Foo.\{-}Bar" contains=ccFoo > :syntax match ccFoo "Foo" contained nextgroup=ccFiller > :syntax region ccFiller start="." matchgroup=ccBar end="Bar" contained This will highlight "Foo" and "Bar" differently, and only when there is a "Bar" after "Foo". In the text line below, "f" shows where ccFoo is used for highlighting, and "bbb" where ccBar is used. > Foo asdfasd Bar asdf Foo asdf Bar asdf > fff bbb fff bbb Note the use of ".\{-}" to skip as little as possible until the next Bar. when ".*" would be used, the "asdf" in between "Bar" and "Foo" would be highlighted according to the "ccFoobar" group, because the ccFooBar match would include the first "Foo" and the last "Bar" in the line (see |pattern|). skipwhite *:syn-skipwhite* skipnl *:syn-skipnl* skipempty *:syn-skipempty* These arguments are only used in combination with "nextgroup". They can be used to allow the next group to match after skipping some text: skipwhite skip over space and Tab characters skipnl skip over the end of a line skipempty skip over empty lines (implies a "skipnl") When "skipwhite" is present, the white space is only skipped if there is no next group that matches the white space. When "skipnl" is present, the match with nextgroup may be found in the next line. This only happens when the current item ends at the end of the current line! When "skipnl" is not present, the nextgroup will only be found after the current item in the same line. When skipping text while looking for a next group, the matches for other groups are ignored. Only when no next group matches, other items are tried for a match again. This means that matching a next group and skipping white space and <EOL>s has a higher priority than other items. Example: > syn match ifstart "if.*" nextgroup=ifline skipwhite skipempty > syn match ifline "endif" contained > syn match ifline "[^ \t].*" nextgroup=ifline skipwhite skipempty contained Note that the last match, which matches any non-white text, is put last, otherwise the "endif" of the indent would never match, because the "[^ \t].*" would match first. Note that this example doesn't work for nested "if"s. You need to add "contains" arguments to make that work (omitted for simplicity of the example). ============================================================================== 6. Syntax patterns *:syn-pattern* In the syntax commands, a pattern must be surrounded by two identical characters. This is like it works for the ":s" command. The most common to use is the double quote. But if the pattern contains a double quote, you can use another character that is not used in the pattern. Examples: > :syntax region Comment start="/\*" end="\*/" > :syntax region String start=+"+ end=+"+ skip=+\\"+ See |pattern| for the explanation of what a pattern is. Syntax patterns are always interpreted like the 'magic' options is set, no matter what the actual value of 'magic' is. And the patterns are interpreted like the 'l' flag is not included in 'cpoptions'. This was done to make syntax files portable and independent of 'compatible' and 'magic' settings. Try to avoid patterns that can match an empty string, such as "[a-z]*". This slows down the highlighting a lot, because it matches everywhere. The pattern can be followed by a character offset. This can be used to change the highlighted part, and to change the text area included in the match or region (which only matters when trying to match other items). Both are relative to the matched pattern. The character offset for a skip pattern can be used to tell where to continue looking for an end pattern. The offset takes the form of "{what}={offset}" The {what} can be one of six strings: ms Match Start offset for the start of the matched text me Match End offset for the end of the matched text hs Highlight Start offset for where the highlighting starts he Highlight End offset for where the highlighting ends rs Region Start offset for where the body of a region starts re Region End offset for where the body of a region ends lc Leading Context offset past "leading context" of pattern The {offset} can be: s start of the matched pattern s+{nr} start of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the right s-{nr} start of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the left e end of the matched pattern e+{nr} end of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the right e-{nr} end of the matched pattern plus {nr} chars to the left {nr} (for "lc" only): start matching {nr} chars to the left Examples: "ms=s+1", "hs=e-2", "lc=3". Although all offsets are accepted after any pattern, they are not always meaningful. This table shows which offsets are actually used: ms me hs he rs re lc ~ match item yes yes yes yes - - yes region item start yes - yes - yes - yes region item skip - yes - - - - - region item end - yes - yes - yes - Offsets can be concatenated, with a ',' in between. Example: > syn match String /".*"/hs=s+1,he=e-1 some "string" text ^^^^^^ highlighted Notes: - There must be no white space between the pattern and the character offset(s). - The highlighted area will never be outside of the matched text. - A negative offset for an end pattern may not always work, because the end pattern may be detected when the highlighting should already have stopped. Example (match a comment but don't highlight the /* and */): > :syntax region Comment start="/\*"hs=e+1 end="\*/"he=s-1 /* this is a comment */ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ highlighted A more complicated Example: > :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 abcfoostringbarabc mmmmmmmmmmm match ssrrrreee highlight start/region/end ("Foo", "Exa" and "Bar") Leading context *:syn-lc* *:syn-leading* *:syn-context* The "lc" offset specifies leading context -- a part of the pattern that must be present, but is not considered part of the match. An offset of "lc=n" will cause Vim to step back n columns before attempting the pattern match, allowing characters which have already been matched in previous patterns to also be used as leading context for this match. This can be used, for instance, to specify that an "escaping" character must not precede the match: > :syn match ZNoBackslash "[^\\]z"ms=s+1 > :syn match WNoBackslash "[^\\]w"lc=1 > :syn match Underline "_\+" ___zzzz ___wwww ^^^ ^^^ matches Underline ^ ^ matches ZNoBackslash ^^^^ matches WNoBackslash The "ms" offset is automatically set to the same value as the "lc" offset, unless you set "ms" explicitly. ============================================================================== 7. Synchronizing *:syn-sync* Vim wants to be able to start redrawing in any position in the document. To make this possible it needs to know the syntax item at the position where redrawing starts. :syntax sync [ccomment [group-name] | minlines={N} | ...] There are three ways to synchronize: 1. Based on C-style comments. Vim understands how C-comments work and can figure out if the current line starts inside or outside a comment. 2. Jumping back a certain number of lines and start parsing there. 3. Searching backwards in the text for a pattern to sync on. For all three methods, the line range where the parsing can start is limited by "minlines" and "maxlines". If the "minlines={N}" argument is given, the parsing always starts at least that many lines backwards. This can be used if the parsing may take a few lines before it's correct, or when it's not possible to use syncing. If the "maxlines={N}" argument is given, the number of lines that are searched for a comment or syncing pattern is restricted to N lines backwards (after adding "minlines". This is useful if you have few things to sync on and a slow machine. Example: > :syntax sync ccomment maxlines=500 First syncing method: For the first method, only the "ccomment" argument needs to be given. Example: > :syntax sync ccomment When Vim finds that the line where displaying starts is inside a C-style comment, the first region syntax item with the group-name "Comment" will be used. This requires that there is a region with the group-name "Comment"! An alternate group name can be specified, for example: > :syntax sync ccomment javaComment The "maxlines" argument can be used to restrict the search to a number of lines. The "minlines" argument can be used to at least start a number of lines back (e.g., for when there is some construct that only takes a few lines, but it hard to sync on). Note: Syncing on a C comment doesn't work properly when strings are used that cross al line and contain a "*/". Since letting strings cross a line is a bad programming habit (many compilers give a warning message), and the chance of a "*/" appearing inside a comment is very small, this restriction is hardly ever noticed. Second syncing method: For the second method, only the "lines={N}" argument needs to be given. Vim will subtract {N} from the line number and start parsing there. This means {N} extra lines need to be parsed, which makes this method a bit slower. Example: > :syntax sync lines=50 "lines" and "minlines" are equivalent. Third syncing method: The idea is to synchronize on the end of a few specific regions, called a sync pattern. Only regions can cross lines, so when we find the end of some region, we might be able to know in which syntax item we are. The search starts in the line just above the one where redrawing starts. From there the search continues backwards in the file. This works just like the non-syncing syntax ltems. You can use contained matches, nextgroup, etc. But there are a few differences: - Keywords cannot be used. - The syntax items with the "sync" keyword form a completely separated group of syntax items. You can't mix syncing groups and non-syncing groups. - The matching works backwards in the buffer (line by line), instead of forwards. - A line continuation pattern can be given. It is used to decide which group of lines need to be searched like they were one line. This means that the search for a match with the specified items starts in the first of the consecutive that contain the continuation pattern. - When using "nextgroup" or "contains", this only works within one line (or group of continuated lines). - When a match with a sync pattern is found, the rest of the line (or group of continuated lines) is searched for another match. The last match is used. This is used when a line can contain both the start end the end of a region (e.g., in a C-comment like /* this */, the last "*/" is used). There are two ways how a match with a sync pattern can be used: 1. Parsing for highlighting starts where redrawing starts (and where the search for the sync pattern started). The syntax group that is expected to be valid there must be specified. This works well when the regions that cross lines cannot contain other regions. 2. Parsing for highlighting continues just after the match. The syntax group that is expected to be present just after the match must be specified. This can be used when the previous method doesn't work well. It's much slower, because more text needs to be parsed. Both types of sync patterns can be used at the same time. Besides the sync patterns, other matches and regions can be specified, to avoid finding unwanted matches. [The reason that the sync patterns are given separately, is that mostly the search for the sync point can be much simpler than figuring out the highlighting. The reduced number of patterns means it will go (much) faster.] :syntax sync match {group-name} grouphere {sync-group-name} .. Define a match that is used for syncing. {sync-group-name} is the name of a syntax group that follows just after the match. Parsing of the text for highlighting starts just after the match. A region must exist for this sync-group-name. The first one defined will be used. "NONE" can be used for when there is no syntax group after the match. :syntax sync match {group-name} groupthere {sync-group-name} .. Like "grouphere", but {sync-group-name} is the name of a syntax group that is to be used at the start of the line where searching for the sync point started. The text between the match and the start of the sync pattern searching is assumed not to change the syntax highlighting. For example, in C you could search backwards for "/*" and "*/". If "/*" is found first, you know that you are inside a comment, so the "groupthere" is "cComment". If "*/" is found first, you know that you are not in a comment, so the "groupthere" is "NONE". (in practice it's a bit more complicated, because the "*/" and "*/" could appear inside a string. That's left as an exercise to the reader...). :syntax sync match .. :syntax sync region .. Without a "groupthere" argument. Define a region or match that is skipped while searching for a sync point. :syntax sync linecont {pattern} When {pattern} matches in a line, it is considered to continue in the next line. This means that the search for a sync point will consider the lines to be concatenated. If the "maxlines={N}" argument is given too, the number of lines that are searched for a match is restricted to N. This is useful if you have very few things to sync on and a slow machine. Example: > :syntax sync maxlines=100 You can clear all sync settings with: > :syntax sync clear You can clear specific sync patterns with: > :syntax sync clear {group-name} .. ============================================================================== 8. Listing syntax items *:syntax* *:sy* *:syn* This commands lists all the syntax items: :syntax [list] To show the syntax items for one syntax group: :syntax list {group-name} See above for other arguments for the ":syntax" command. Note that the ":syntax" command can be abbreviated to ":sy", although ":syn" is mostly used, because it looks better. ============================================================================== 9. Highlight command *:highlight* There are two types of highlight groups: - The ones used for specific languages. For these the name starts with the name of the language. Many of these don't have any attributes, but are linked to a group of the second type. - The ones used for all languages. These are also used for the 'highlight' option. :highlight List all the current highlight groups that have attributes set. :highlight {group-name} List one highlight group. :highlight clear {group-name} :highlight {group-name} NONE Disable the highlighting for one highlight group. :highlight {group-name} {key}={arg} .. Add a highlight group, or change the highlighting for an existing group. See below for the arguments |highlight-args|. Normally a highlight group is added once, in the *.vim file. This sets the default values for the highlighting. After that, you can use additional highlight commands to change the arguments that you want to set to non-default values. The value "NONE" can be used to switch the value off or go back to the default value. Example. The syntax.vim file contains this line: > hi Comment term=bold ctermfg=Cyan guifg=#80a0ff You can change this by giving another ":highlight: command: > hi Comment gui=bold Note that all settings that are not included remain the same, only the specified field is used, and settings are merged with previous ones. So, the result is like this single command has been used: > hi Comment term=bold ctermfg=Cyan guifg=#80a0ff gui=bold *highlight-args* There are three types of terminals for highlighting: term a normal terminal (vt100, xterm) cterm a color terminal (MS-DOS console, color-xterm, these have the "Co" termcap entry) gui the GUI For each type the highlighting can be given. This makes it possible to use the same syntax file on all terminals, and use the optimal highlighting. 1. highlight arguments for normal terminals term={attr-list} *attr-list* *highlight-term* attr-list is a comma separated list (without spaces) of the following items (in any order): bold underline reverse inverse same as reverse italic standout NONE no attributes used (used to reset it) Note that "bold" can be used here and by using a bold font. They have the same effect. start={term-list} *highlight-start* stop={term-list} *term-list* *highlight-stop* These lists of terminal codes can be used to get non-standard attributes on a terminal. The escape sequence specified with the "start" argument is written before the characters in the highlighted area. It can be anything that you want to send to the terminal to highlight this area. The escape sequence specified with the "stop" argument is written after the highlighted area. This should undo the "start" argument. Otherwise the screen will look messed up. The {term-list} can have two forms: 1. A string with escape sequences. This is any string of characters, except that it can't start with "t_" and blanks are not allowed. The <> notation is recognized here, so you can use things like "<Esc>" and "<Space>". Example: start=<Esc>[27h;<Esc>[<Space>r; 2. A list of terminal codes. Each terminal code has the form "t_xx", where "xx" is the name of the termcap entry. The codes have to be separated with commas. White space is not allowed. Example: start=t_C1,t_BL The terminal codes must exist for this to work. 2. highlight arguments for color terminals cterm={attr-list} *highlight-cterm* See above for the description of {attr-list} |attr-list|. The "cterm" argument is likely to be different from "term", when colors are used. For example, in a normal terminal comments could be underlined, in a color terminal they can be made Blue. Note: Many terminals (e.g., DOS console) can't mix these attributes with coloring. Use only one of "cterm=" OR "ctermfg=" OR "ctermbg=". ctermfg={color-nr} *highlight-ctermfg* ctermbg={color-nr} *highlight-ctermbg* The {color-nr} argument is a color number. Its range is zero to (not including) the number given by the termcap entry "Co". The actual color with this number depends on the type of terminal and its settings. Sometimes the color also depends on the settings of "cterm". For example, on some systems "cterm=bold ctermfg=3" gives another color, on others you just get color 3. For an xterm this depends on your resources, and is a bit unpredictable. See your xterm documentation for the defaults. The colors for a color-xterm can be changed from the .Xdefaults file. Unfortunately this means that it's not possible to get the same colors for each user. See |xterm-color| for info about color xterms. The MSDOS standard colors are fixed (in a console window), so these have been used for the names. But the meaning of color names in X11 are fixed, so these color settings have been used, to make the highlighting settings portable (complicated, isn't it?). The following names are recognized, with the color number used: NR-16 NR-8 COLOR NAME ~ *cterm-colors* 0 0 Black 1 4 DarkBlue 2 2 DarkGreen 3 6 DarkCyan 4 1 DarkRed 5 5 DarkMagenta 6 3 Brown 7 7 LightGray, LightGrey, Gray, Grey 8 0* DarkGray, DarkGrey 9 4* Blue, LightBlue 10 2* Green, LightGreen 11 6* Cyan, LightCyan 12 1* Red, LightRed 13 5* Magenta, LightMagenta 14 3* Yellow 15 7* White The number under "NR-16" is used for 16-color terminals ('t_Co' greater than or equal to 16). The number under "NR-8" is used for 8-color terminals ('t_Co' less than 16). The '*' indicates that the bold attribute is set for ctermfg. In many 8-color terminals (e.g., "linux"), this causes the bright colors to appear. This doesn't work for background colors! Without the '*' the bold attribute is removed. If you want to set the bold attribute in a different way, put a "cterm=" argument AFTER the "ctermfg=" or "cterbg=" argument. Or use a number instead of a color name. The case of the color names is ignored. Note that for some color terminals these names may result in the wrong colors! When setting the "ctermfg" or "ctermbg" colors for the Normal group, these will become the colors used for the non-highlighted text. When setting the "ctermbg" color for the Normal group, the 'background' option will be adjusted automatically. This causes the highlight groups that depend on 'background' to change! This means you should set the colors for Normal first, before setting other colors. When you have set "ctermfg" or "ctermbg" for the Normal group, Vim needs to reset the color when exiting. This is done with the "op" termcap entry |t_op|. If this doesn't work correctly, try setting the 't_op' option in your .vimrc. 3. highlight arguments for the GUI gui={attr-list} *highlight-gui* These give the attributes to use in the GUI mode. See |attr-list| for a description. Note that "bold" can be used here and by using a bold font. They have the same effect. font={font-name} *highlight-font* font-name is the name of a font, as it is used on the system Vim runs on. For X11 this is a complicated name, for example: > font=-misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--14-130-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1 The font-name "NONE" can be used to revert to the default font. When setting the font for the "Normal" group, this becomes the default font (until the 'guifont' option is changed; the last one set is used). All fonts used should be of the same character size as the default font! Otherwise redrawing problems will occur. guifg={color-name} *highlight-guifg* guibg={color-name} *highlight-guibg* These give the foreground (guifg) and background (guibg) color to use in the GUI. There are a few special names: NONE no color (transparant) bg use normal background color background use normal background color fg use normal foreground color foreground use normal foreground color To use a color name with an embedded space or other special character, put it in single quotes. The single quote cannot be used then. Example: > :hi comment guifg='salmon pink' *gui-colors* Suggested color names (these are available on most systems): Red LightRed DarkRed Green LightGreen DarkGreen SeaGreen Blue LightBlue DarkBlue SlateBlue Cyan LightCyan DarkCyan Magenta LightMagenta DarkMagenta Yellow LightYellow Brown Gray LightGray DarkGray Black White Orange Purple Violet In the Win32 GUI version, additional system colors are available. See |win32-colors|. You can also specify a color by its Red, Green and Blue values. The format is "#rrggbb", where "rr" is the Red value "bb" is the Blue value "gg" is the Green value All values are hexadecimal, range from "00" to "ff". Examples: > :highlight Comment guifg=#11f0c3 guibg=#ff00ff *highlight-default* These are the default highlighting groups. These groups are used by the 'highlight' option default. See |'highlight'| for where each group is used. Cursor guibg=Green *hl-Cursor* Highlighting for the character under the cursor. Directory term=bold ctermfg=Blue guifg=Blue *hl-Directory* IncSearch links to |hl-Visual| *hl-IncSearch* ModeMsg term=bold cterm=bold gui=bold *hl-ModeMsg* *hl-MoreMsg* MoreMsg term=bold cterm=bold ctermfg=Green gui=bold guifg=Green *hl-Question* Question term=standout cterm=bold ctermfg=Green gui=bold guifg=Green SpecialKey term=bold ctermfg=Blue guifg=Blue *hl-SpecialKey* StatusLine term=reverse cterm=reverse gui=reverse *hl-StatusLine* *hl-Title* Title term=bold cterm=bold ctermfg=Blue gui=bold guifg=Blue Visual term=reverse cterm=reverse gui=reverse *hl-Visual* WarningMsg term=standout ctermfg=Red guifg=Red *hl-WarningMsg* NonText term=bold cterm=bold gui=bold guifg=Blue *hl-NonText* When 'background' is set to "light", these groups are used additionally: Normal term=NONE cterm=NONE gui=NONE *hl-Normal* Highlighting for the normal text. LineNr term=underline ctermfg=Brown guifg=Brown *hl-LineNr* ErrorMsg term=standout ctermbg=LightRed guibg=Orange *hl-ErrorMsg* Search term=reverse ctermbg=Yellow guibg=Yellow *hl-Search* When 'background' is set to "dark", these groups are used additionally: Normal term=NONE cterm=NONE guibg=Black guifg=White *hl-Normal-dark* LineNr term=underline ctermfg=Yellow guifg=Yellow *hl-LineNr-dark* ErrorMsg term=standout ctermbg=LightRed ctermfg=Black guibg=Orange guifg=Black *hl-ErrorMsg-dark* Search term=reverse ctermbg=Yellow ctermfg=Yellow guibg=Yellow guifg=Black *hl-Search-dark* For the GUI you can use these groups to set the colors for the menu and scrollbars. They don't have defaults. This doesn't work for the Win32 GUI. Menu *hl-Menu* Scrollbar *hl-Scrollbar* ============================================================================== 10. Linking groups *:highlight-link* When you want to use the same highlighting for several syntax groups, you can do this more easily by linking the groups into one common highlight group, and give the color attributes only for that group. :highlight[!] link {from-group} {to-group} Notes: - If the {from-group} and/or {to-group} doesn't exist, it is created. You don't get an error message for a non-existing group. - If the {to-group} is "NONE", the link is removed from the {from-group}. - As soon as you use a ":highlight" command for a linked group, the link is removed. - If there are already highlight settings for the {from-group}, the link is not made, unless the '!' is given. For a ":highlight link" command in a sourced file, you don't get an error message. This can be used to skip links for groups that already have settings. ============================================================================== 11. Cleaning up *:syn-clear* If you want to clear the syntax stuff for the current buffer, you can use this command: > :syntax clear This command should be used when you want to switch off syntax highlighting, or when you want to switch to using another syntax. It's a good idea to include this command at the beginning of a syntax file. If you want to disable syntax highlighting for all buffers, you need to remove the autocommands that load the syntax files: > :syntax off What this command actually does, is executing the command > source $VIM/syntax/nosyntax.vim See the "nosyntax.vim" file for details. Note that for this to work $VIM must be valid. See |$VIM|. To clean up specific syntax groups for the current buffer: > :syntax clear {group-name} .. This removes all patterns and keywords for {group-name}. ============================================================================== 12. Highlighting tags *tag-highlight* If you want to highlight all the tags in your file, you can use the following mappings. <F11> -- Generate tags.vim file, and highlight tags. <F12> -- Just highlight tags based on existing tags.vim file. > map <F11> :sp tags<CR>:%s/^$[^ :]*:$\=$[^ ]*$.*/syntax keyword Tag \2/<CR>:wq! tags.vim<CR>/^<CR><F12> > map <F12> :so tags.vim<CR> WARNING: The longer the tags file, the slower this will be, and the more memory Vim will consume. Only highlighting typedefs, unions and structs can be done too. For this you must use Exhuberant ctags (included with Vim). Put these lines in your Makefile: # Make a highlight file for types. Requires Exhuberant ctags and awk types: types.vim types.vim: *.[ch] ctags -i=gstuS -o- *.[ch] |\ awk 'BEGIN{printf("syntax keyword Type\t")}\ {printf("%s ", $$1)}END{print ""}' > $@ And put these lines in your .vimrc: > " load the types.vim highlighting file, if it exists > autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] let fname = expand('<afile>:p:h') . '/types.vim' > autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] if file_readable(fname) > autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] exe 'so ' . fname > autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.[ch] endif ============================================================================== 13. Color xterms *xterm-color* *color-xterm* Most color xterms have only eight colors. They should work with these settings for without |+terminfo|: > :set t_Co=8 > :set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%dm > :set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%dm And with |+terminfo|: > :set t_Co=8 > :set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%p1%dm > :set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%p1%dm [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] To test your color setup, a file has been included in the Vim distribution. To use it, execute these commands: > :e $VIM/syntax/colortest.vim > :so % Some versions of xterm (and other terminals, like the linux console) can output lighter foreground colors, even though the number of colors is defined at 8. Therefore Vim sets the "cterm=bold" attribute for light foreground colors, when 't_Co' is 8. To get 16 colors, get the newest xterm version (which should be included with Xfree86 3.3). You can also find the latest version at: http://www.clark.net/pub/dickey/xterm You probably have to enable 16 colors when running configure: ./configure --disable-bold-color If you only get 8 colors, check the xterm compilation settings. This xterm should work with these settings without |+terminfo|: > :set t_Co=16 > :set t_Sf=<Esc>[3%dm > :set t_Sb=<Esc>[4%dm Vim will recognize these settings, and automatically translate cterm colors of 8 and above to "<Esc>[9%dm" and "<Esc>[10%dm". When the |+terminfo| feature is used, these settings should work: > :set t_Co=16 > :set t_AB=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{40}%+%e%p1%{92}%+%;%dm > :set t_AF=<Esc>[%?%p1%{8}%<%t%p1%{30}%+%e%p1%{82}%+%;%dm [<Esc> is a real escape, type CTRL-V <Esc>] Or just set the TERM environment variable to "xterm-16color" and try if that works. You probably want to use these X resouces (put them in your ~/.Xdefaults file): XTerm*color0: #000000 XTerm*color1: #c00000 XTerm*color2: #008000 XTerm*color3: #808000 XTerm*color4: #0000c0 XTerm*color5: #c000c0 XTerm*color6: #008080 XTerm*color7: #c0c0c0 XTerm*color8: #808080 XTerm*color9: #ff6060 XTerm*color10: #00ff00 XTerm*color11: #ffff00 XTerm*color12: #8080ff XTerm*color13: #ff40ff XTerm*color14: #00ffff XTerm*color15: #ffffff Xterm*cursorColor: Black [Note: The cursorColor is required to work around a bug, which changes the cursor color to the color of the last drawn text. This has been fixed by a newer version of xterm, but not everybody is using yet] To get these right away, reload the .Xdefaults file to the X Option database Manager (you only need to do this when you just changed the .Xdefaults file): > xrdb -merge ~/.Xdefaults vim:tw=78:ts=8:sw=4