How vi makes it?

alaios · 01-24-2006, 10:47 AM

Hi i have noticed yesterday than vi knows when it should highlight somewords.. For example i was editing the /boot/grub/menu.lst and the savedefault word were highlighted.. How did he know that this word is reserved for grub.. ? The same happens when i write some c code.. Do u know how vi does this?

oneandoneis2 · 01-24-2006, 10:56 AM

Syntax highlighting

alaios · 01-24-2006, 11:56 AM

I know what syntax highliting is what i dont know is how can recognize each time depnding what u do which words to highlight

AdaHacker · 01-24-2006, 04:23 PM

It's the same idea as a file manager determining the MIME type of a particular file. Vim comes with a whole bunch of scripts with logic to determine the type of a file based on its name and/or contents. When that's done, Vim just loads the syntax file for that type, which determines which characters should be highlighted.

alaios · 01-25-2006, 02:42 AM

Ok thats a better reply ... Do u know where i can find the vi's syntax files?? IOs it possible to create one?

AdaHacker · 01-25-2006, 05:41 AM

Vim's syntax file are located with the rest of the runtime data, usually under /usr/share/vim/vim63/syntax, or something like that. For information on making your own syntax files, consult the documentation. Just open Vim and, in command mode, type

Code:

:help syn-files

.

alaios · 01-25-2006, 06:41 AM

thx a lot really