Vim documentation: syntax
main help file
*syntax.txt* For Vim version 8.0. Last change: 2016 Oct 30
VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
Syntax highlighting *syntax* *syntax-highlighting* *coloring*
Syntax highlighting enables Vim to show parts of the text in another font or
color. Those parts can be specific keywords or text matching a pattern. Vim
doesn't parse the whole file (to keep it fast), so the highlighting has its
limitations. Lexical highlighting might be a better name, but since everybody
calls it syntax highlighting we'll stick with that.
Vim supports syntax highlighting on all terminals. But since most ordinary
terminals have very limited highlighting possibilities, it works best in the
GUI version, gvim.
In the User Manual:
|usr_06.txt| introduces syntax highlighting.
|usr_44.txt| introduces writing a syntax file.
1. Quick start |:syn-qstart|
2. Syntax files |:syn-files|
3. Syntax loading procedure |syntax-loading|
4. Syntax file remarks |:syn-file-remarks|
5. Defining a syntax |:syn-define|
6. :syntax arguments |:syn-arguments|
7. Syntax patterns |:syn-pattern|
8. Syntax clusters |:syn-cluster|
9. Including syntax files |:syn-include|
10. Synchronizing |:syn-sync|
11. Listing syntax items |:syntax|
12. Highlight command |:highlight|
13. Linking groups |:highlight-link|
14. Cleaning up |:syn-clear|
15. Highlighting tags |tag-highlight|
16. Window-local syntax |:ownsyntax|
17. Color xterms |xterm-color|
18. When syntax is slow |:syntime|
{Vi does not have any of these commands}
Syntax highlighting is not available when the |+syntax| feature has been
disabled at compile time.
==============================================================================
1. Quick start *:syn-qstart*
*:syn-enable* *:syntax-enable*
This command switches on syntax highlighting:
:syntax enable
What this command actually does is to execute the command
:source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim
If the VIM environment variable is not set, Vim will try to find
the path in another way (see |$VIMRUNTIME|). Usually this works just
fine. If it doesn't, try setting the VIM environment variable to the
directory where the Vim stuff is located. For example, if your syntax files
are in the "/usr/vim/vim50/syntax" directory, set $VIMRUNTIME to
"/usr/vim/vim50". You must do this in the shell, before starting Vim.
*:syn-on* *:syntax-on*
The ":syntax enable" command will keep your current color settings. This
allows using ":highlight" commands to set your preferred colors before or
after using this command. If you want Vim to overrule your settings with the
defaults, use:
:syntax on
*:hi-normal* *:highlight-normal*
If you are running in the GUI, you can get white text on a black background
with:
:highlight Normal guibg=Black guifg=White
For a color terminal see |:hi-normal-cterm|.
For setting up your own colors syntax highlighting see |syncolor|.
NOTE: The syntax files on MS-DOS and Windows have lines that end in <CR><NL>.
The files for Unix end in <NL>. This means you should use the right type of
file for your system. Although on MS-DOS and Windows the right format is
automatically selected if the 'fileformats' option is not empty.
NOTE: When using reverse video ("gvim -fg white -bg black"), the default value
of 'background' will not be set until the GUI window is opened, which is after
reading the |gvimrc|. This will cause the wrong default highlighting to be
used. To set the default value of 'background' before switching on
highlighting, include the ":gui" command in the YXXYgvimrc|:
:gui " open window and set default for 'background'
:syntax on " start highlighting, use 'background' to set colors
NOTE: Using ":gui" in the |gvimrc| means that "gvim -f" won't start in the
foreground! Use ":gui -f" then.
*g:syntax_on*
You can toggle the syntax on/off with this command:
:if exists("g:syntax_on") | syntax off | else | syntax enable | endif
To put this into a mapping, you can use:
:map <F7> :if exists("g:syntax_on") <Bar>
\ syntax off <Bar>
\ else <Bar>
\ syntax enable <Bar>
\ endif <CR>
[using the |<>| notation, type this literally]
Details:
The ":syntax" commands are implemented by sourcing a file. To see exactly how
this works, look in the file:
command file
:syntax enable $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim
:syntax on $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim
:syntax manual $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/manual.vim
:syntax off $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim
Also see |syntax-loading|.
NOTE: If displaying long lines is slow and switching off syntax highlighting
makes it fast, consider setting the 'synmaxcol' option to a lower value.
==============================================================================
2. Syntax files *:syn-files*
The syntax and highlighting commands for one language are normally stored in
a syntax file. The name convention is: "{name}.vim". Where {name} is the
name of the language, or an abbreviation (to fit the name in 8.3 characters,
a requirement in case the file is used on a DOS filesystem).
Examples:
c.vim perl.vim java.vim html.vim
cpp.vim sh.vim csh.vim
The syntax file can contain any Ex commands, just like a vimrc file. But
the idea is that only commands for a specific language are included. When a
language is a superset of another language, it may include the other one,
for example, the cpp.vim file could include the c.vim file:
:so $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/c.vim
The .vim files are normally loaded with an autocommand. For example:
:au Syntax c runtime! syntax/c.vim
:au Syntax cpp runtime! syntax/cpp.vim
These commands are normally in the file $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/synload.vim.
MAKING YOUR OWN SYNTAX FILES *mysyntaxfile*
When you create your own syntax files, and you want to have Vim use these
automatically with ":syntax enable", do this:
1. Create your user runtime directory. You would normally use the first item
of the 'runtimepath' option. Example for Unix:
mkdir ~/.vim
2. Create a directory in there called "syntax". For Unix:
mkdir ~/.vim/syntax
3. Write the Vim syntax file. Or download one from the internet. Then write
it in your syntax directory. For example, for the "mine" syntax:
:w ~/.vim/syntax/mine.vim
Now you can start using your syntax file manually:
:set syntax=mine
You don't have to exit Vim to use this.
If you also want Vim to detect the type of file, see |new-filetype|.
If you are setting up a system with many users and you don't want each user
to add the same syntax file, you can use another directory from 'runtimepath'.
ADDING TO AN EXISTING SYNTAX FILE *mysyntaxfile-add*
If you are mostly satisfied with an existing syntax file, but would like to
add a few items or change the highlighting, follow these steps:
1. Create your user directory from 'runtimepath', see above.
2. Create a directory in there called "after/syntax". For Unix:
mkdir ~/.vim/after
mkdir ~/.vim/after/syntax
3. Write a Vim script that contains the commands you want to use. For
example, to change the colors for the C syntax:
highlight cComment ctermfg=Green guifg=Green
4. Write that file in the "after/syntax" directory. Use the name of the
syntax, with ".vim" added. For our C syntax:
:w ~/.vim/after/syntax/c.vim
That's it. The next time you edit a C file the Comment color will be
different. You don't even have to restart Vim.
If you have multiple files, you can use the filetype as the directory name.
All the "*.vim" files in this directory will be used, for example:
~/.vim/after/syntax/c/one.vim
~/.vim/after/syntax/c/two.vim
REPLACING AN EXISTING SYNTAX FILE *mysyntaxfile-replace*
If you don't like a distributed syntax file, or you have downloaded a new
version, follow the same steps as for |mysyntaxfile| above. Just make sure
that you write the syntax file in a directory that is early in 'runtimepath'.
Vim will only load the first syntax file found, assuming that it sets
b:current_syntax.
NAMING CONVENTIONS *group-name* *{group-name}* *E669* *W18*
A syntax group name is to be used for syntax items that match the same kind of
thing. These are then linked to a highlight group that specifies the color.
A syntax group name doesn't specify any color or attributes itself.
The name for a highlight or syntax group must consist of ASCII letters, digits
and the underscore. As a regexp: "[a-zA-Z0-9_]*". However, Vim does not give
an error when using other characters.
To be able to allow each user to pick his favorite set of colors, there must
be preferred names for highlight groups that are common for many languages.
These are the suggested group names (if syntax highlighting works properly
you can see the actual color, except for "Ignore"):
*Comment any comment
*Constant any constant
String a string constant: "this is a string"
Character a character constant: 'c', '\n'
Number a number constant: 234, 0xff
Boolean a boolean constant: TRUE, false
Float a floating point constant: 2.3e10
*Identifier any variable name
Function function name (also: methods for classes)
*Statement any statement
Conditional if, then, else, endif, switch, etc.
Repeat for, do, while, etc.
Label case, default, etc.
Operator "sizeof", "+", "*", etc.
Keyword any other keyword
Exception try, catch, throw
*PreProc generic Preprocessor
Include preprocessor #include
Define preprocessor #define
Macro same as Define
PreCondit preprocessor #if, #else, #endif, etc.
*Type int, long, char, etc.
StorageClass static, register, volatile, etc.
Structure struct, union, enum, etc.
Typedef A typedef
*Special any special symbol
SpecialChar special character in a constant
Tag you can use CTRL-] on this
Delimiter character that needs attention
SpecialComment special things inside a comment
Debug debugging statements
*Underlined text that stands out, HTML links
*Ignore left blank, hidden |hl-Ignore|
*Error any erroneous construct
*Todo anything that needs extra attention; mostly the
keywords TODO FIXME and XXX
The names marked with * are the preferred groups; the others are minor groups.
For the preferred groups, the "syntax.vim" file contains default highlighting.
The minor groups are linked to the preferred groups, so they get the same
highlighting. You can override these defaults by using ":highlight" commands
after sourcing the "syntax.vim" file.
Note that highlight group names are not case sensitive. "String" and "string"
can be used for the same group.
The following names are reserved and cannot be used as a group name:
NONE ALL ALLBUT contains contained
*hl-Ignore*
When using the Ignore group, you may also consider using the conceal
mechanism. See |conceal|.
==============================================================================
3. Syntax loading procedure *syntax-loading*
This explains the details that happen when the command ":syntax enable" is
issued. When Vim initializes itself, it finds out where the runtime files are
located. This is used here as the variable |$VIMRUNTIME|.
":syntax enable" and ":syntax on" do the following:
Source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim
|
+- Clear out any old syntax by sourcing $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/nosyntax.vim
|
+- Source first syntax/synload.vim in 'runtimepath'
| |
| +- Setup the colors for syntax highlighting. If a color scheme is
| | defined it is loaded again with ":colors {name}". Otherwise
| | ":runtime! syntax/syncolor.vim" is used. ":syntax on" overrules
| | existing colors, ":syntax enable" only sets groups that weren't
| | set yet.
| |
| +- Set up syntax autocmds to load the appropriate syntax file when
| | the 'syntax' option is set. *synload-1*
| |
| +- Source the user's optional file, from the |mysyntaxfile| variable.
| This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only. *synload-2*
|
+- Do ":filetype on", which does ":runtime! filetype.vim". It loads any
| filetype.vim files found. It should always Source
| $VIMRUNTIME/filetype.vim, which does the following.
| |
| +- Install autocmds based on suffix to set the 'filetype' option
| | This is where the connection between file name and file type is
| | made for known file types. *synload-3*
| |
| +- Source the user's optional file, from the *myfiletypefile*
| | variable. This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only.
| | *synload-4*
| |
| +- Install one autocommand which sources scripts.vim when no file
| | type was detected yet. *synload-5*
| |
| +- Source $VIMRUNTIME/menu.vim, to setup the Syntax menu. |menu.vim|
|
+- Install a FileType autocommand to set the 'syntax' option when a file
| type has been detected. *synload-6*
|
+- Execute syntax autocommands to start syntax highlighting for each
already loaded buffer.
Upon loading a file, Vim finds the relevant syntax file as follows:
Loading the file triggers the BufReadPost autocommands.
|
+- If there is a match with one of the autocommands from |synload-3|
| (known file types) or |synload-4| (user's file types), the 'filetype'
| option is set to the file type.
|
+- The autocommand at |synload-5| is triggered. If the file type was not
| found yet, then scripts.vim is searched for in 'runtimepath'. This
| should always load $VIMRUNTIME/scripts.vim, which does the following.
| |
| +- Source the user's optional file, from the *myscriptsfile*
| | variable. This is for backwards compatibility with Vim 5.x only.
| |
| +- If the file type is still unknown, check the contents of the file,
| again with checks like "getline(1) =~ pattern" as to whether the
| file type can be recognized, and set 'filetype'.
|
+- When the file type was determined and 'filetype' was set, this
| triggers the FileType autocommand |synload-6| above. It sets
| 'syntax' to the determined file type.
|
+- When the 'syntax' option was set above, this triggers an autocommand
| from |synload-1| (and |synload-2|). This find the main syntax file in
| 'runtimepath', with this command:
| runtime! syntax/<name>.vim
|
+- Any other user installed FileType or Syntax autocommands are
triggered. This can be used to change the highlighting for a specific
syntax.
==============================================================================
4. Syntax file remarks *:syn-file-remarks*
*b:current_syntax-variable*
Vim stores the name of the syntax that has been loaded in the
"b:current_syntax" variable. You can use this if you want to load other
settings, depending on which syntax is active. Example:
:au BufReadPost * if b:current_syntax == "csh"
:au BufReadPost * do-some-things
:au BufReadPost * endif
2HTML *2html.vim* *convert-to-HTML*
This is not a syntax file itself, but a script that converts the current
window into HTML. Vim opens a new window in which it builds the HTML file.
After you save the resulting file, you can view it with any browser. The
colors should be exactly the same as you see them in Vim. With
|g:html_line_ids| you can jump to specific lines by adding (for example) #L123
or #123 to the end of the URL in your browser's address bar. And with
|g:html_dynamic_folds| enabled, you can show or hide the text that is folded
in Vim.
You are not supposed to set the 'filetype' or 'syntax' option to "2html"!
Source the script to convert the current file:
:runtime! syntax/2html.vim
Many variables affect the output of 2html.vim; see below. Any of the on/off
options listed below can be enabled or disabled by setting them explicitly to
the desired value, or restored to their default by removing the variable using
|:unlet|.
Remarks:
- Some truly ancient browsers may not show the background colors.
- From most browsers you can also print the file (in color)!
- The latest TOhtml may actually work with older versions of Vim, but some
features such as conceal support will not function, and the colors may be
incorrect for an old Vim without GUI support compiled in.
Here is an example how to run the script over all .c and .h files from a
Unix shell:
for f in *.[ch]; do gvim -f +"syn on" +"run! syntax/2html.vim" +"wq" +"q" $f; done
*g:html_start_line* *g:html_end_line*
To restrict the conversion to a range of lines, use a range with the |:TOhtml|
command below, or set "g:html_start_line" and "g:html_end_line" to the first
and last line to be converted. Example, using the last set Visual area:
:let g:html_start_line = line("'<")
:let g:html_end_line = line("'>")
:runtime! syntax/2html.vim
*:TOhtml*
:[range]TOhtml The ":TOhtml" command is defined in a standard plugin.
This command will source |2html.vim| for you. When a
range is given, this command sets |g:html_start_line|
and |g:html_end_line| to the start and end of the
range, respectively. Default range is the entire
buffer.
If the current window is part of a |diff|, unless
|g:html_diff_one_file| is set, :TOhtml will convert
all windows which are part of the diff in the current
tab and place them side-by-side in a <table> element
in the generated HTML. With |g:html_line_ids| you can
jump to lines in specific windows with (for example)
#W1L42 for line 42 in the first diffed window, or
#W3L87 for line 87 in the third.
Examples:
:10,40TOhtml " convert lines 10-40 to html
:'<,'>TOhtml " convert current/last visual selection
:TOhtml " convert entire buffer
*g:html_diff_one_file*
Default: 0.
When 0, and using |:TOhtml| all windows involved in a |diff| in the current tab
page are converted to HTML and placed side-by-side in a <table> element. When
1, only the current buffer is converted.
Example:
let g:html_diff_one_file = 1
*g:html_whole_filler*
Default: 0.
When 0, if |g:html_diff_one_file| is 1, a sequence of more than 3 filler lines
is displayed as three lines with the middle line mentioning the total number
of inserted lines.
When 1, always display all inserted lines as if |g:html_diff_one_file| were
not set.
:let g:html_whole_filler = 1
*TOhtml-performance* *g:html_no_progress*
Default: 0.
When 0, display a progress bar in the statusline for each major step in the
2html.vim conversion process.
When 1, do not display the progress bar. This offers a minor speed improvement
but you won't have any idea how much longer the conversion might take; for big
files it can take a long time!
Example:
let g:html_no_progress = 1
You can obtain better performance improvements by also instructing Vim to not
run interactively, so that too much time is not taken to redraw as the script
moves through the buffer, switches windows, and the like:
vim -E -s -c "let g:html_no_progress=1" -c "syntax on" -c "set ft=c" -c "runtime syntax/2html.vim" -cwqa myfile.c
Note that the -s flag prevents loading your .vimrc and any plugins, so you
need to explicitly source/enable anything that will affect the HTML
conversion. See |-E| and |-s-ex| for details. It is probably best to create a
script to replace all the -c commands and use it with the -u flag instead of
specifying each command separately.
*g:html_number_lines*
Default: current 'number' setting.
When 0, buffer text is displayed in the generated HTML without line numbering.
When 1, a column of line numbers is added to the generated HTML with the same
highlighting as the line number column in Vim (|hl-LineNr|).
Force line numbers even if 'number' is not set:
:let g:html_number_lines = 1
Force to omit the line numbers:
:let g:html_number_lines = 0
Go back to the default to use 'number' by deleting the variable:
:unlet g:html_number_lines
*g:html_line_ids*
Default: 1 if |g:html_number_lines| is set, 0 otherwise.
When 1, adds an HTML id attribute to each line number, or to an empty <span>
inserted for that purpose if no line numbers are shown. This ID attribute
takes the form of L123 for single-buffer HTML pages, or W2L123 for diff-view
pages, and is used to jump to a specific line (in a specific window of a diff
view). Javascript is inserted to open any closed dynamic folds
(|g:html_dynamic_folds|) containing the specified line before jumping. The
javascript also allows omitting the window ID in the url, and the leading L.
For example:
page.html#L123 jumps to line 123 in a single-buffer file
page.html#123 does the same
diff.html#W1L42 jumps to line 42 in the first window in a diff
diff.html#42 does the same
*g:html_use_css*
Default: 1.
When 1, generate valid HTML 4.01 markup with CSS1 styling, supported in all
modern browsers and most old browsers.
When 0, generate <font> tags and similar outdated markup. This is not
recommended but it may work better in really old browsers, email clients,
forum posts, and similar situations where basic CSS support is unavailable.
Example:
:let g:html_use_css = 0
*g:html_ignore_conceal*
Default: 0.
When 0, concealed text is removed from the HTML and replaced with a character
from |:syn-cchar| or 'listchars' as appropriate, depending on the current
value of 'conceallevel'.
When 1, include all text from the buffer in the generated HTML, even if it is
YXXYconceal|ed.
Either of the following commands will ensure that all text in the buffer is
included in the generated HTML (unless it is folded):
:let g:html_ignore_conceal = 1
:setl conceallevel=0
*g:html_ignore_folding*
Default: 0.
When 0, text in a closed fold is replaced by the text shown for the fold in
Vim (|fold-foldtext|). See |g:html_dynamic_folds| if you also want to allow
the user to expand the fold as in Vim to see the text inside.
When 1, include all text from the buffer in the generated HTML; whether the
text is in a fold has no impact at all. |g:html_dynamic_folds| has no effect.
Either of these commands will ensure that all text in the buffer is included
in the generated HTML (unless it is concealed):
zR
:let g:html_ignore_folding = 1
*g:html_dynamic_folds*
Default: 0.
When 0, text in a closed fold is not included at all in the generated HTML.
When 1, generate javascript to open a fold and show the text within, just like
in Vim.
Setting this variable to 1 causes 2html.vim to always use CSS for styling,
regardless of what |g:html_use_css| is set to.
This variable is ignored when |g:html_ignore_folding| is set.
:let g:html_dynamic_folds = 1
*g:html_no_foldcolumn*
Default: 0.
When 0, if |g:html_dynamic_folds| is 1, generate a column of text similar to
Vim's foldcolumn (|fold-foldcolumn|) the user can click on to toggle folds
open or closed. The minimum width of the generated text column is the current
'foldcolumn' setting.
When 1, do not generate this column; instead, hovering the mouse cursor over
folded text will open the fold as if |g:html_hover_unfold| were set.
:let g:html_no_foldcolumn = 1
*TOhtml-uncopyable-text* *g:html_prevent_copy*
Default: empty string.
This option prevents certain regions of the generated HTML from being copied,
when you select all text in document rendered in a browser and copy it. Useful
for allowing users to copy-paste only the source text even if a fold column or
line numbers are shown in the generated content. Specify regions to be
affected in this way as follows:
f: fold column
n: line numbers (also within fold text)
t: fold text
d: diff filler
Example, to make the fold column and line numbers uncopyable:
:let g:html_prevent_copy = "fn"
This feature is currently implemented by inserting read-only <input> elements
into the markup to contain the uncopyable areas. This does not work well in
all cases. When pasting to some applications which understand HTML, the
<input> elements also get pasted. But plain-text paste destinations should
always work.
*g:html_no_invalid*
Default: 0.
When 0, if |g:html_prevent_copy| is non-empty, an invalid attribute is
intentionally inserted into the <input> element for the uncopyable areas. This
increases the number of applications you can paste to without also pasting the
<input> elements. Specifically, Microsoft Word will not paste the <input>
elements if they contain this invalid attribute.
When 1, no invalid markup is ever intentionally inserted, and the generated
page should validate. However, be careful pasting into Microsoft Word when
|g:html_prevent_copy| is non-empty; it can be hard to get rid of the <input>
elements which get pasted.
*g:html_hover_unfold*
Default: 0.
When 0, the only way to open a fold generated by 2html.vim with
|g:html_dynamic_folds| set, is to click on the generated fold column.
When 1, use CSS 2.0 to allow the user to open a fold by moving the mouse
cursor over the displayed fold text. This is useful to allow users with
disabled javascript to view the folded text.
Note that old browsers (notably Internet Explorer 6) will not support this
feature. Browser-specific markup for IE6 is included to fall back to the
normal CSS1 styling so that the folds show up correctly for this browser, but
they will not be openable without a foldcolumn.
:let g:html_hover_unfold = 1
*g:html_id_expr*
Default: ""
Dynamic folding and jumping to line IDs rely on unique IDs within the document
to work. If generated HTML is copied into a larger document, these IDs are no
longer guaranteed to be unique. Set g:html_id_expr to an expression Vim can
evaluate to get a unique string to append to each ID used in a given document,
so that the full IDs will be unique even when combined with other content in a
larger HTML document. Example, to append _ and the buffer number to each ID:
:let g:html_id_expr = '"_".bufnr("%")'
To append a string "_mystring" to the end of each ID:
:let g:html_id_expr = '"_mystring"'
Note, when converting a diff view to HTML, the expression will only be
evaluated for the first window in the diff, and the result used for all the
windows.
*TOhtml-wrap-text* *g:html_pre_wrap*
Default: current 'wrap' setting.
When 0, if |g:html_no_pre| is 0 or unset, the text in the generated HTML does
not wrap at the edge of the browser window.
When 1, if |g:html_use_css| is 1, the CSS 2.0 "white-space:pre-wrap" value is
used, causing the text to wrap at whitespace at the edge of the browser
window.
Explicitly enable text wrapping:
:let g:html_pre_wrap = 1
Explicitly disable wrapping:
:let g:html_pre_wrap = 0
Go back to default, determine wrapping from 'wrap' setting:
:unlet g:html_pre_wrap
*g:html_no_pre*
Default: 0.
When 0, buffer text in the generated HTML is surrounded by <pre>...</pre>
tags. Series of whitespace is shown as in Vim without special markup, and tab
characters can be included literally (see |g:html_expand_tabs|).
When 1 (not recommended), the <pre> tags are omitted, and a plain <div> is
used instead. Whitespace is replaced by a series of character
references, and <br> is used to end each line. This is another way to allow
text in the generated HTML is wrap (see |g:html_pre_wrap|) which also works in
old browsers, but may cause noticeable differences between Vim's display and
the rendered page generated by 2html.vim.
:let g:html_no_pre = 1
*g:html_expand_tabs*
Default: 1 if 'tabstop' is 8, 'expandtab' is 0, and no fold column or line
numbers occur in the generated HTML;
0 otherwise.
When 0, <Tab> characters in the buffer text are replaced with an appropriate
number of space characters, or references if |g:html_no_pre| is 1.
When 1, if |g:html_no_pre| is 0 or unset, <Tab> characters in the buffer text
are included as-is in the generated HTML. This is useful for when you want to
allow copy and paste from a browser without losing the actual whitespace in
the source document. Note that this can easily break text alignment and
indentation in the HTML, unless set by default.
Force |2html.vim| to keep <Tab> characters:
:let g:html_expand_tabs = 0
Force tabs to be expanded:
:let g:html_expand_tabs = 1
*TOhtml-encoding-detect* *TOhtml-encoding*
It is highly recommended to set your desired encoding with
|g:html_use_encoding| for any content which will be placed on a web server.
If you do not specify an encoding, |2html.vim| uses the preferred IANA name
for the current value of 'fileencoding' if set, or 'encoding' if not.
'encoding' is always used for certain 'buftype' values. 'fileencoding' will be
set to match the chosen document encoding.
Automatic detection works for the encodings mentioned specifically by name in
|encoding-names|, but TOhtml will only automatically use those encodings with
wide browser support. However, you can override this to support specific
encodings that may not be automatically detected by default (see options
below. See http://www.iana.org/assignments/character-sets for the IANA names.
Note, by default all Unicode encodings are converted to UTF-8 with no BOM in
the generated HTML, as recommended by W3C:
http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-choosing-encodings
http://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-byte-order-mark
*g:html_use_encoding*
Default: none, uses IANA name for current 'fileencoding' as above.
To overrule all automatic charset detection, set g:html_use_encoding to the
name of the charset to be used. It is recommended to set this variable to
something widely supported, like UTF-8, for anything you will be hosting on a
webserver:
:let g:html_use_encoding = "UTF-8"
You can also use this option to omit the line that specifies the charset
entirely, by setting g:html_use_encoding to an empty string (NOT recommended):
:let g:html_use_encoding = ""
To go back to the automatic mechanism, delete the |g:html_use_encoding|
variable:
:unlet g:html_use_encoding
*g:html_encoding_override*
Default: none, autoload/tohtml.vim contains default conversions for encodings
mentioned by name at |encoding-names|.
This option allows |2html.vim| to detect the correct 'fileencoding' when you
specify an encoding with |g:html_use_encoding| which is not in the default
list of conversions.
This is a dictionary of charset-encoding pairs that will replace existing
pairs automatically detected by TOhtml, or supplement with new pairs.
Detect the HTML charset "windows-1252" as the encoding "8bit-cp1252":
:let g:html_encoding_override = {'windows-1252': '8bit-cp1252'}
*g:html_charset_override*
Default: none, autoload/tohtml.vim contains default conversions for encodings
mentioned by name at |encoding-names| and which have wide
browser support.
This option allows |2html.vim| to detect the HTML charset for any
'fileencoding' or 'encoding' which is not detected automatically. You can also
use it to override specific existing encoding-charset pairs. For example,
TOhtml will by default use UTF-8 for all Unicode/UCS encodings. To use UTF-16
and UTF-32 instead, use:
:let g:html_charset_override = {'ucs-4': 'UTF-32', 'utf-16': 'UTF-16'}
Note that documents encoded in either UTF-32 or UTF-16 have known
compatibility problems with some major browsers.
*g:html_font*
Default: "monospace"
You can specify the font or fonts used in the converted document using
g:html_font. If this option is set to a string, then the value will be
surrounded with single quotes. If this option is set to a list then each list
item is surrounded by single quotes and the list is joined with commas. Either
way, "monospace" is added as the fallback generic family name and the entire
result used as the font family (using CSS) or font face (if not using CSS).
Examples:
" font-family: 'Consolas', monospace;
:let g:html_font = "Consolas"
" font-family: 'DejaVu Sans Mono', 'Consolas', monospace;
:let g:html_font = ["DejaVu Sans Mono", "Consolas"]
*convert-to-XML* *convert-to-XHTML* *g:html_use_xhtml*
Default: 0.
When 0, generate standard HTML 4.01 (strict when possible).
When 1, generate XHTML 1.0 instead (XML compliant HTML).
:let g:html_use_xhtml = 1
ABEL *abel.vim* *ft-abel-syntax*
ABEL highlighting provides some user-defined options. To enable them, assign
any value to the respective variable. Example:
:let abel_obsolete_ok=1
To disable them use ":unlet". Example:
:unlet abel_obsolete_ok
Variable Highlight
abel_obsolete_ok obsolete keywords are statements, not errors
abel_cpp_comments_illegal do not interpret '//' as inline comment leader
ADA
See |ft-ada-syntax|
ANT *ant.vim* *ft-ant-syntax*
The ant syntax file provides syntax highlighting for javascript and python
by default. Syntax highlighting for other script languages can be installed
by the function AntSyntaxScript(), which takes the tag name as first argument
and the script syntax file name as second argument. Example:
:call AntSyntaxScript('perl', 'perl.vim')
will install syntax perl highlighting for the following ant code
<script language = 'perl'><![CDATA[
# everything inside is highlighted as perl
]]></script>
See |mysyntaxfile-add| for installing script languages permanently.
APACHE *apache.vim* *ft-apache-syntax*
The apache syntax file provides syntax highlighting depending on Apache HTTP
server version, by default for 1.3.x. Set "apache_version" to Apache version
(as a string) to get highlighting for another version. Example:
:let apache_version = "2.0"
*asm.vim* *asmh8300.vim* *nasm.vim* *masm.vim* *asm68k*
ASSEMBLY *ft-asm-syntax* *ft-asmh8300-syntax* *ft-nasm-syntax*
*ft-masm-syntax* *ft-asm68k-syntax* *fasm.vim*
Files matching "*.i" could be Progress or Assembly. If the automatic detection
doesn't work for you, or you don't edit Progress at all, use this in your
startup vimrc:
:let filetype_i = "asm"
Replace "asm" with the type of assembly you use.
There are many types of assembly languages that all use the same file name
extensions. Therefore you will have to select the type yourself, or add a
line in the assembly file that Vim will recognize. Currently these syntax
files are included:
asm GNU assembly (the default)
asm68k Motorola 680x0 assembly
asmh8300 Hitachi H-8300 version of GNU assembly
ia64 Intel Itanium 64
fasm Flat assembly http://flatassembler.net
masm Microsoft assembly (probably works for any 80x86)
nasm Netwide assembly
tasm Turbo Assembly (with opcodes 80x86 up to Pentium, and
MMX)
pic PIC assembly (currently for PIC16F84)
The most flexible is to add a line in your assembly file containing:
asmsyntax=nasm
Replace "nasm" with the name of the real assembly syntax. This line must be
one of the first five lines in the file. No non-white text must be
immediately before or after this text. Note that specifying asmsyntax=foo is
equivalent to setting ft=foo in a |modeline|, and that in case of a conflict
between the two settings the one from the modeline will take precedence (in
particular, if you have ft=asm in the modeline, you will get the GNU syntax
highlighting regardless of what is specified as asmsyntax).
The syntax type can always be overruled for a specific buffer by setting the
b:asmsyntax variable:
:let b:asmsyntax = "nasm"
If b:asmsyntax is not set, either automatically or by hand, then the value of
the global variable asmsyntax is used. This can be seen as a default assembly
language:
:let asmsyntax = "nasm"
As a last resort, if nothing is defined, the "asm" syntax is used.
Netwide assembler (nasm.vim) optional highlighting
To enable a feature:
:let {variable}=1|set syntax=nasm
To disable a feature:
:unlet {variable} |set syntax=nasm
Variable Highlight
nasm_loose_syntax unofficial parser allowed syntax not as Error
(parser dependent; not recommended)
nasm_ctx_outside_macro contexts outside macro not as Error
nasm_no_warn potentially risky syntax not as ToDo
ASPPERL and ASPVBS *ft-aspperl-syntax* *ft-aspvbs-syntax*
*.asp and *.asa files could be either Perl or Visual Basic script. Since it's
hard to detect this you can set two global variables to tell Vim what you are
using. For Perl script use:
:let g:filetype_asa = "aspperl"
:let g:filetype_asp = "aspperl"
For Visual Basic use:
:let g:filetype_asa = "aspvbs"
:let g:filetype_asp = "aspvbs"
BAAN *baan.vim* *baan-syntax*
The baan.vim gives syntax support for BaanC of release BaanIV upto SSA ERP LN
for both 3 GL and 4 GL programming. Large number of standard defines/constants
are supported.
Some special violation of coding standards will be signalled when one specify
in ones YXXY.vimrc|:
let baan_code_stds=1
*baan-folding*
Syntax folding can be enabled at various levels through the variables
mentioned below (Set those in your |.vimrc|). The more complex folding on
source blocks and SQL can be CPU intensive.
To allow any folding and enable folding at function level use:
let baan_fold=1
Folding can be enabled at source block level as if, while, for ,... The
indentation preceding the begin/end keywords has to match (spaces are not
considered equal to a tab).
let baan_fold_block=1
Folding can be enabled for embedded SQL blocks as SELECT, SELECTDO,
SELECTEMPTY, ... The indentation preceding the begin/end keywords has to
match (spaces are not considered equal to a tab).
let baan_fold_sql=1
Note: Block folding can result in many small folds. It is suggested to |:set|
the options 'foldminlines' and 'foldnestmax' in |.vimrc| or use |:setlocal| in
.../after/syntax/baan.vim (see |after-directory|). Eg:
set foldminlines=5
set foldnestmax=6
BASIC *basic.vim* *vb.vim* *ft-basic-syntax* *ft-vb-syntax*
Both Visual Basic and "normal" basic use the extension ".bas". To detect
which one should be used, Vim checks for the string "VB_Name" in the first
five lines of the file. If it is not found, filetype will be "basic",
otherwise "vb". Files with the ".frm" extension will always be seen as Visual
Basic.
C *c.vim* *ft-c-syntax*
A few things in C highlighting are optional. To enable them assign any value
to the respective variable. Example:
:let c_comment_strings = 1
To disable them use ":unlet". Example:
:unlet c_comment_strings
Variable Highlight
*c_gnu* GNU gcc specific items
*c_comment_strings* strings and numbers inside a comment
*c_space_errors* trailing white space and spaces before a <Tab>
*c_no_trail_space_error* ... but no trailing spaces
*c_no_tab_space_error* ... but no spaces before a <Tab>
*c_no_bracket_error* don't highlight {}; inside [] as errors
*c_no_curly_error* don't highlight {}; inside [] and () as errors;
except { and } in first column
Default is to highlight them, otherwise you
can't spot a missing ")".
*c_curly_error* highlight a missing }; this forces syncing from the
start of the file, can be slow
*c_no_ansi* don't do standard ANSI types and constants
*c_ansi_typedefs* ... but do standard ANSI types
*c_ansi_constants* ... but do standard ANSI constants
*c_no_utf* don't highlight \u and \U in strings
*c_syntax_for_h* for *.h files use C syntax instead of C++ and use objc
syntax instead of objcpp
*c_n