README.md

Syntax Highlighter for VSCode

Syntax highlighter based on Tree-Sitter.

Languages: C++, C, Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, Go, Rust, Php, Ruby, Lua

Languages:

• C++
• C
• Python
• TypeScript
• JavaScript
• Go
• Rust
• Php
• Ruby
• Lua
• More to come...

Description

Provides universal syntax coloring engine for almost any programming language. See list of currently supported languages above. Under the hood the extension utilizes VSCode Decoration API to override syntax coloring provided by standard TextMate regex matching. Constructing entire syntax tree, Tree-sitter efficiently overcomes all limitations of built-in TextMate grammars. Being context-aware, it's able to parse complex language structures providing complete coverage of source code. Incremental parsing system ensures high performance. All these advantages enable accurate and consistent syntax highlighting.

Customization

{Syntax Highlighter} exposes a number of settings to assign theme colors to syntax terms. For simple and straightforward customization, we keep a number of syntax terms small, namely: type, function, variable, string, number, comment, an some others. They are presented under syntax sub-section of workbench.colorCustomizations in settings.json. Autocomplete may be used to discover customizable colors. They also provide short description on hover. Complete list of settings can be found in Contributions tab. To redefine syntax colors for [Visual Studio Dark] theme, put the following into settings.json:

"workbench.colorCustomizations": {
    "[Visual Studio Dark]": {
        "syntax.type": "#26A69A",
        "syntax.scope": "#00897B",
        "syntax.function": "#00BCD4",
        "syntax.variable": "#42A5F5",
        "syntax.number": "#90A4AE",
        "syntax.string": "#90A4AE",
        "syntax.comment": "#546E7A",
        "syntax.constant": "#A89F9B",
        "syntax.directive": "#7E57C2",
        "syntax.control": "#7986CB",
        "syntax.operator": "#9575CD",
        "syntax.modifier": "#00897B",
        "syntax.punctuation": "#A1887F",
    }
},

For consistency with built-in TextMate grammars, the same colors can be provided for corresponding TextMate scopes. Or backwards, one can port colors from TextMate to {Syntax Highlighter}. In most cases there is one to one match. For example, for C++: syntax.function = entity.name.function or syntax.number = constant.numeric. Current TextMate colors can be discovered using Ctrl + Shift + P -> Developer: Generate Color Theme..., in generated theme file address tokenColors section. The following settings synchronize TextMate colors with {Syntax Highlighter} for C++:

"editor.tokenColorCustomizations": {
    "[Visual Studio Dark]": {
        "types": "#26A69A",
        "functions": "#00BCD4",
        "variables": "#42A5F5",
        "numbers": "#90A4AE",
        "strings": "#90A4AE",
        "comments": "#546E7A",
        "keywords": "#7986CB",
        "textMateRules": [
            {
                "scope": "storage.type",
                "settings": {"foreground": "#26A69A"}
            },
            {
                "scope": "entity.name.function",
                "settings": {"foreground": "#00BCD4"}
            },
            {
                "scope": [
                    "meta.function-call",
                    "source.cpp meta.block variable.other"
                ],
                "settings": {"foreground": "#42A5F5"}
            },
            {
                "scope": "constant.numeric",
                "settings": {"foreground": "#90A4AE"}
            },
            {
                "scope": "comment",
                "settings": {"foreground": "#546E7A"}
            },
            {
                "scope": [
                    "constant.language",
                    "variable.language"
                ],
                "settings": {"foreground": "#A89F9B"}
            },
            {
                "scope": "keyword.control",
                "settings": {"foreground": "#7986CB"}
            },
            {
                "scope": "keyword.operator",
                "settings": {"foreground": "#9575CD" }
            },
            {
                "scope": "storage.modifier",
                "settings": {"foreground": "#00897B"}
            },
            {
                "scope": "punctuation",
                "settings": {"foreground": "#A1887F"}
            },
        ]
    }
},

Settings

syntax.highlightComment

Enable/disable highlighting of comments.

This setting is useful, when you have other extensions, providing colorization within comments. For example, highlighting of ToDo-like tags or documentation syntax, like Doxygen or Sphinx. To not overwrite their colorization you can disable highlighting of comments, putting "syntax.highlightComment": false, in your settings.json.

syntax.highlightLanguages

List of enabled languages.

If you want to disable {Syntax Highlighter} for certain languages and use standard coloring instead, just remove them from syntax.highlightLanguages list in your settings.json. By default all supported languages are enabled.

Build

{Syntax Highlighter} extension depends on certain Tree-sitter modules. They are native Node.js modules that require a compilation for particular architecture, OS and version of Node.js. Refer to BUILD.md for instructions.

Contribute

The best way to contribute is to implement support of new languages. Extension improvements are also welcome. Refer to CONTRIBUTE.md for details.

ToDo