vim color highlighting

new_user10 · 11-02-2003, 02:20 AM

hello everyone,

when programming in c with emacs, after a variable is declared, i have seen emacs highlight the variable name throughout the rest of the code.

can vim do the same thing. currently with syntax highlighting, vim highlights keywords in c (for, while, if, etc.) and types (int, float, etc.), but it does not highlight user-defined types (struct names, etc.) or variable names.

does anyone know the appropriate commands/plugins to make these highlight? thanks.

-tko

megaspaz · 11-02-2003, 02:24 AM

not on a brand spanking new file. but if you save it right after opening (like hello.cpp), it will syntax highlight. if you use gvim (vim-x11) there's a menu item where you can choose the language and it will syntax highlight based on the language you choose.

new_user10 · 11-02-2003, 02:33 AM

thanks megaspaz, but...

the syntax highilighting works. i am just wondering how one would highlight user-defined elements such as variable names and struct names.

also, i have access to only vim and not gvim, because i am using a terminal and cannot run any x sessions.

any ideas?

megaspaz · 11-02-2003, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by new_user10
thanks megaspaz, but...

the syntax highilighting works. i am just wondering how one would highlight user-defined elements such as variable names and struct names.

also, i have access to only vim and not gvim, because i am using a terminal and cannot run any x sessions.

any ideas?

as far as user defined variables and such, i don't know. for me it's plain white text also. never thought about it though. sorry.

Hko · 11-02-2003, 06:34 AM

I looked it up, and as far as I could find out, having a file ~/.vim/colors/myColors.vim with the line below should do it, but it doesn't seem to work on my vim :-(
Changing colors in this file for i.e. "Comment" does work. Strange. If somebody knows how to make it work I would also be interested. Using vim 6.1 from debian sarge/testing package.

Code:

hi Identifier   ctermfg=darkgreen cterm=none guifg=palegreen

paonethestar · 11-02-2003, 06:43 AM

In what sense u are asking ?? .I mean if u are confused with variables declared, then there is a way in vim editor to find quick def of that variable.So why u need diff color for variables ?? .

Hko · 11-02-2003, 07:02 AM

I've found a solution. The c.vim syntax definition file of vim 6.1 doesn't seem to define "Identifier". To solve it, download an alternative c-language definition file for vim: http://www.eandem.co.uk/mrw/vim/syntax/std_c.zip

unzip it, and copy the extracted ./syntax/c.vim to ~/.vim/syntax. Now you can use lines like this in your own colorscheme file (e.g. ~/.vim/color/mycolors.vim):

Code:

hi Identifier   ctermfg=darkgreen cterm=none guifg=#cd5c5c

Activate your colorscheme ("mycolors") with the vim command:

Code:

:colorscheme mycolors

sub_slack · 11-02-2003, 07:26 AM

or you can use
:syn on

Hko · 11-02-2003, 08:09 AM

That will not highlight identifiers, which was the OP's question.

new_user10 · 11-02-2003, 12:40 PM

ah - i see. thanks a lot Hko.