VPE-Syntax highlight groups

Traditional Vim syntax highlighting schemes use a fairly small set of “standard” group names that are used in the various available colour schemes. The set of groups is:

Comment

Constant String Character Number Boolean Float

Identifier Function

Statement Conditional Repeat Label Operator Keyword Exception

PreProc Include Define Macro PreCondit

Type StorageClass Structure Typedef

Special SpecialChar Tag Delimiter SpecialComment Debug

VPE-Syntax borrows from NeoVim’s approach, by defining a much larger extended set of of “standard” names. These are intended to be used in VPE-Syntax language configuration files along with the groups listed above. This allows you to define your own colour scheme using the extended set of groups in order to provide more detailed and more colourful highlighting. Without an extended colour scheme, you will probably get more detailed highlighting, but without an extended colour pallette.

By default (i.e. in the absence of an extended colour scheme) all the additional highlight groups link to one of the above groups. The full set of extended groups is: shown below. Most of the names come from NeoVim’s set of names.

Extended highligh group set

Extended group name	Links to	Used for
Argument	Identifier	an argument passed to a function or method
Attribute	Identifier	attribute annotations (e.g. Python decorators, Rust lifetimes)
AttributeBuiltin	Keyword	builtin annotations (e.g. @property in Python)
CalledFunction	Identifier	the name part for a function invocation
CalledMethod	Identifier	the name part for a method invocation
CharacterSpecial	SpecialChar	special characters (e.g. wildcards)
Class	Keyword	the keyword introducing a class definition
ClassName	Identifier	the name os a class
CommentDocumentation	Comment	comments documenting code
CommentError	Todo	error-type comments (e.g. ERROR, FIXME, DEPRECATED)
CommentNote	Todo	note-type comments (e.g. NOTE, INFO, XXX)
CommentTodo	Todo	todo-type comments (e.g. TODO, WIP)
CommentWarning	Todo	warning-type comments (e.g. WARNING, FIX, HACK)
ConstantBuiltin	Constant	built-in constant values
ConstantMacro	Constant	constants defined by the preprocessor
Constructor	Normal	constructor calls and definitions
Decorator	Identifier	a function, method, class, etc decorator
DefinitionStarter	Identifier	the keyword starting a definition (e.g. ‘def’)
DiffDelta	DiffChange	changed text (for diff files)
DiffMinus	DiffDelete	deleted text (for diff files)
DiffPlus	DiffAdd	added text (for diff files)
FunctionBuiltin	Function	built-in functions
FunctionCall	Normal	function calls
FunctionDef	Keyword	the keyword introducing a function definition
FunctionMacro	Macro	preprocessor macros
FunctionMethodCall	Normal	method calls
FunctionMethod	Normal	method definitions
FunctionName	Identifier	the name of a function
GenericType	Type	the name of a generic type
ImportedAliasedName	Normal	an name imported using an alias
ImportedName	Normal	a simple imported name
Import	Include	keywords use in an import
Interpolation	String	a string used for interpoation
KeywordConditional	Keyword	keywords related to conditionals (e.g. if, else)
KeywordConditionalTernary	KeyWord	ternary operator (e.g. ?, :)
KeywordCoroutine	KeyWord	keywords related to coroutines (e.g. go in Go, async/await in Python)
KeywordDebug	KeyWord	keywords related to debugging
KeywordDirective	KeyWord	various preprocessor directives and shebangs
KeywordDirectiveDefine	KeyWord	preprocessor definition directives
KeywordException	KeyWord	keywords related to exceptions (e.g. throw, catch)
KeywordFunction	KeyWord	keywords that define a function (e.g. func in Go, def in Python)
KeywordImport	KeyWord	keywords for including or exporting modules (e.g. import, from in Python)
KeywordModifier	KeyWord	keywords modifying other constructs (e.g. const, static, public)
KeywordOperator	KeyWord	operators that are English words (e.g. and, or)
KeywordRepeat	KeyWord	keywords related to loops (e.g. for, while)
KeywordReturn	KeyWord	keywords like return and yield
KeywordType	KeyWord	keywords describing namespaces and composite types (e.g. struct, enum)
MarkupHeading1	Underlined	top-level heading
MarkupHeading2	Underlined	section heading
MarkupHeading3	Underlined	subsection heading
MarkupHeading4	Underlined	and so on
MarkupHeading5	Underlined	and so forth
MarkupHeading6	Underlined	six levels ought to be enough for anybody
MarkupHeading	Underlined	headings, titles (including markers)
MarkupItalic	Normal	italic text
MarkupLinkLabel	Normal	link, reference descriptions
MarkupLink	Normal	text references, footnotes, citations, etc.
MarkupLinkUrl	Underlined	URL-style links
MarkupListChecked	Normal	checked todo-style list markers
MarkupList	Normal	list markers
MarkupListUnchecked	Normal	unchecked todo-style list markers
MarkupMath	Normal	math environments (e.g. $ … $ in LaTeX)
MarkupQuote	Normal	block quotes
MarkupRawBlock	Normal	literal or verbatim text as a stand-alone block
MarkupRaw	Normal	literal or verbatim text (e.g. inline code)
MarkupStrikethrough	Normal	struck-through text
MarkupStrong	Normal	bold text
MarkupUnderline	Underlined	underlined text (only for literal underline markup!)
MethodCall	Normal	the name of a method being invoked
MethodDef	Keyword	the keyword introducing a method definition
MethodName	Identifier	the name of a method
Module	Identifier	modules or namespaces
ModuleBuiltin	Keyword	built-in modules or namespaces
None	Special	keywork “None”, “nil”, etc.
NonStandardSelf	Normal	a name that would normally be “self”, “this”, etc.
NumberFloat	Float	floating-point number literals
Parameter	Normal	a parameter in function or method defnition
Property	String	the key in key/value pairs
PunctuationBracket	Normal	brackets (e.g. (), {}, [])
PunctuationDelimiter	Normal	delimiters (e.g. ;, ., ,)
PunctuationSpecial	Normal	special symbols (e.g. {} in string interpolation)
Return	Keyword	the “return” or equivalent keyword
Self	Normal	for “self”, “this”, etc.
SpecialPunctuation	Normal	for punctuation with unusual or special meaning
StandardConst	Identifier	a constant that is predefined for the language
StringDocumentation	Comment	string documenting code (e.g. Python docstrings)
StringEscape	String	escape sequences
StringRegexp	String	regular expressions
StringSpecial	String	other special strings (e.g. dates)
StringSpecialPath	String	filenames
StringSpecialSymbol	String	symbols or atoms
StringSpecialUrl	Underlines	URIs (e.g. hyperlinks)
SyntaxError	WarningMsg	used to highlight syntax parsing errors
TagAttribute	Normal	XML-style tag attributes
TagBuiltin	Normal	builtin tag names (e.g. HTML5 tags)
TagDelimiter	Normal	XML-style tag delimiters
TypeBracket	Normal	bracket, brace or parenthesis used in a type definition
TypeBuiltin	Keyword	built-in types
TypeDefinition	Type	identifiers in type definitions (e.g. typedef <type> <identifier> in C)
TypeParameter	Type	a parameter uses in a type definition
Variable	Identifier	various variable names
VariableBuiltin	Keyword	built-in variable names (e.g. this, self)
VariableMember	Identifier	object and struct fields
VariableParameterBuiltin	Identifier	special parameters (e.g. _, it)
VariableParameter	Keyword	parameters of a function