zsh-syntax-highlighting/docs/highlighters.md
Daniel Shahaf a3d5dfcbda driver: Rename highlighter entry points
This updates the docs and the driver, in a manner backwards compatible with
existing highlighters.  (None of the highlighters are touched by this change,
yet tests continue to pass.)

Part of issue #329.
2016-08-16 17:51:43 +00:00

3.5 KiB

zsh-syntax-highlighting / highlighters

Syntax highlighting is done by pluggable highlighters:

How to activate highlighters

To activate an highlighter, add it to the ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_HIGHLIGHTERS array in ~/.zshrc, for example:

ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_HIGHLIGHTERS=(main brackets pattern cursor)

By default, $ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_HIGHLIGHTERS is unset and only the main highlighter is active.

How to tweak highlighters

Highlighters look up styles from the ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_STYLES associative array. Navigate into the individual highlighters' documentation to see what styles (keys) each highlighter defines; the syntax for values is the same as the syntax of "types of highlighting" of the zsh builtin $zle_highlight array, which is documented in the zshzle(1) manual page.

Some highlighters support additional configuration parameters; see each highlighter's documentation for details and examples.

How to implement a new highlighter

To create your own acme highlighter:

  • Create your script at highlighters/acme/acme-highlighter.zsh.

  • Implement the _zsh_highlight_highlighter_acme_predicate function. This function must return 0 when the highlighter needs to be called and non-zero otherwise, for example:

      _zsh_highlight_highlighter_acme_predicate() {
        # Call this highlighter in SVN working copies
        [[ -d .svn ]]
      }
    
  • Implement the _zsh_highlight_highlighter_acme_paint function. This function does the actual syntax highlighting, by calling _zsh_highlight_add_highlight with the start and end of the region to be highlighted and the ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_STYLES key to use. Define the default style for that key in the highlighter script outside of any function with : ${ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_STYLES[key]:=value}, being sure to prefix the key with your highlighter name and a colon. For example:

      : ${ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_STYLES[acme:aurora]:=fg=green}
    
      _zsh_highlight_highlighter_acme_paint() {
        # Colorize the whole buffer with the 'aurora' style
        _zsh_highlight_add_highlight 0 $#BUFFER acme:aurora
      }
    
  • Name your own functions and global variables _zsh_highlight_acme_*.

    • In zsh-syntax-highlighting 0.4.0 and earlier, the entrypoints _zsh_highlight_highlighter_acme_predicate and _zsh_highlight_highlighter_acme_paint were named _zsh_highlight_acme_highlighter_predicate and _zsh_highlight_highlighter_acme_paint respectively.

      These names are still supported for backwards compatibility; however, support for them will be removed in a a future major or minor release (v0.x.0 or v1.0.0).

  • Activate your highlighter in ~/.zshrc:

      ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_HIGHLIGHTERS+=(acme)
    
  • Write tests.