Unix & Linux Stack Exchange

Q&A for users of Linux, FreeBSD and other Unix-like operating systems

Latest Questions

3 votes

3 answers

739 views

Customizing source-highlight's color schemes?

The `source-highlight` package is installed on my system. It highlights files I view with less using `/usr/bin/lesspipe` and `LESSOPEN` environment variable. Now, I want to change the color scheme this mechanism uses for some/all filetypes. I have root on the machine. How do I do this? Note: It's a...

                                  The source-highlight package is installed on my system. It highlights files I view with less using /usr/bin/lesspipe and LESSOPEN environment variable. 

Now, I want to change the color scheme this mechanism uses for some/all filetypes. I have root on the machine. How do I do this?

Note: It's a Devuan 3 Beowulf (~= Debian 10 Buster) Linux distribution.

einpoklum (10753 rep)

Jan 4, 2020, 11:55 PM • Last activity: Aug 2, 2025, 10:39 PM

80 votes

5 answers

55057 views

less command and syntax highlighting

bash vim vi less syntax-highlighting

I need to use the `less` command with the syntax highlighting of the vim command for `python`, `C`, `bash` and other languages. How do I apply syntax highlighting colors according to `vim` colors for `less` command?

                                  I need  to use the less command with the syntax highlighting of the vim command for python, C, bash and other languages.

How do I apply syntax highlighting colors according to vim colors for less command?

PersianGulf (11308 rep)

Sep 17, 2013, 06:17 AM • Last activity: May 29, 2025, 02:29 PM

3 votes

1 answers

2153 views

Vim Syntax Highlight for Configuration Files

vim syntax-highlighting

The vim version on my faculty cluster has a great feature in highlighting the syntax for Linux standard configuration files (like /etc/network/interfaces or httpd.conf). I've tried a lot of settings and options in the way to obtain the same behavior, but nothing helps. Any ideas? Thank you! :)

                                  The vim version on my faculty cluster has a great feature in highlighting the syntax for Linux standard configuration files (like /etc/network/interfaces or httpd.conf).

I've tried a lot of settings and options in the way to obtain the same behavior, but nothing helps.

Any ideas?

Thank you! :)

Filip Ion Dorinel (131 rep)

Jan 9, 2016, 02:56 PM • Last activity: Apr 24, 2025, 09:03 AM

0 votes

0 answers

17 views

Nvim syntax highlighting disabled by screen command

vim gnu-screen syntax-highlighting

When I open up neovim on my raspbian device the syntax highlighting works perfectly well. As soon as I use the screen command (to create a multi-paned setup) nvim becomes black and white. Colors remain in bash after the screen command, and this problem persists across reboots. Any idea what's going...

                                  When I open up neovim on my raspbian device the syntax highlighting works perfectly well. As soon as I use the screen command (to create a multi-paned setup) nvim becomes black and white. Colors remain in bash after the screen command, and this problem persists across reboots. Any idea what's going on and how I can fix it?
                                

Sambews (1 rep)

Mar 18, 2025, 10:37 AM • Last activity: Mar 18, 2025, 11:48 AM

0 votes

0 answers

51 views

How can I Colorize my custom .bashrc file w/ nano in shell

nano syntax-highlighting

im using an arch linux variant with xfce, opening up a terminal shell and running **sudo nano .bashrc** I can see the file is colorized despite there being no headers referencing a schema. Looking inside dir ***/usr/share/nano-syntax-highlighting/*** shows no file for bashrc configs I would like to...

                                  im using an arch linux variant with xfce, opening up a terminal shell and running **sudo nano .bashrc** I can see the file is colorized despite there being no headers referencing a schema.

Looking inside dir ***/usr/share/nano-syntax-highlighting/*** shows no file for bashrc configs

I would like to use the same colors that are used for**.bashrc** for my **.customrc** file.
How and where can I set this?

Rachel1983 (23 rep)

Feb 9, 2025, 05:03 AM • Last activity: Feb 9, 2025, 10:41 AM

1 votes

0 answers

19 views

.jsf (JOE editor) syntax highlighting for todo.txt

syntax-highlighting joe

I can't get the JOE editor to highlight tags like ``due:YYYY-MM-TT`` for due dates or ``rec:NP`` for recurrences to work; I was able to highlight prioritized tasks though. * A sample `todo.txt` looks like this: ```text update the ad with Sara (B) ask Richard about stuff send questions to Mr K next w...

I can't get the JOE editor to highlight tags like `due:YYYY-MM-TT for due dates or rec:NP` for recurrences to work; I was able to highlight prioritized tasks though. * A sample todo.txt looks like this:

update the ad with Sara
    (B) ask Richard about stuff
    send questions to Mr K next week
    (B) ask T about integration for A
    (A) test 1110 due:2024-12-09 rec:1d
    test 1120 due:2024-12-09 rec:1w and tell S

* I'm trying to highlight the prioritized tasks and the tags with this todotxt.jsf:

# Todo.txt syntax highlighting for JOE
    
    =Idle
    =Prio    CYAN    bold
    =Due    bg_MAGENTA
    =Rec    bg_YELLOW
    
    :lineStart Idle
      *    idle    buffer
      "("    prio    noeat    buffer
    
    :idle Idle
      *    idle    buffer
      " :"    tagwordsIdle    hold
      "\n"    lineStart
    
    :prio Prio
      *    prio    buffer
      " :"    tagwordsPrio    hold
      "\n"    lineStart
    
    :tagwordsIdle Idle
      *    idle
      "\n"    lineStart    strings
      "due"    dueIdle    recolor=-2
      #"rec"    recIdle
    done
    
    :tagwordsPrio Prio
      *    prio
      "\n"    lineStart    strings
      "due"    duePrio    recolor=-2
      #"rec"    recPrio
    done
    
    :dueIdle Due
      *    dueIdle
      " \t"    idle
    
    :duePrio Due
      *    duePrio
      " \t"    prio

How would I highlight individual tags/words within a line?

montionoimi (11 rep)

Dec 9, 2024, 03:11 PM • Last activity: Dec 10, 2024, 11:09 AM

1 votes

2 answers

596 views

Whois queries with color output

colors syntax-highlighting whois

Is there an easy way to make `whois` queries from the terminal have syntax coloring in the output so it would be easier to read? Something basic like coloring `NOT FOUND` in red, and field names and dates in different colors would already be useful. It doesn't matter if the coloring is not 100% accu...

                                  Is there an easy way to make whois queries from the terminal have syntax coloring in the output so it would be easier to read?

Something basic like coloring NOT FOUND in red, and field names and dates in different colors would already be useful. It doesn't matter if the coloring is not 100% accurate.

Lassi (891 rep)

Apr 10, 2019, 07:49 PM • Last activity: Aug 22, 2024, 06:44 PM

0 votes

2 answers

89 views

gtksourceview: syntax highlight for language groff in gedit

software-installation gtk gedit syntax-highlighting groff

Sciancisco and I developed a syntax highlighter for the **Groff** markup language to be used with Gedit, Pluma, Xed etc. I installed it in `/usr/share/gtksourceview-4/language-specs/groff.lang` and it always worked fine, but now I'm using Debian Trixie and it doesn't work anymore. Any clue? ```xml *...

Sciancisco and I developed a syntax highlighter for the **Groff** markup language to be used with Gedit, Pluma, Xed etc. I installed it in /usr/share/gtksourceview-4/language-specs/groff.lang and it always worked fine, but now I'm using Debian Trixie and it doesn't work anymore. Any clue?

* name: the "G" of "Groff" was capitalized.
    * 
        * mimetypes and globs: completely changed based upon "All known MIME
          types" and their filename patterns, available at
          https://www.digipres.org/formats/mime-types/ 
    * 
        * comment-new and comment-old: the "." (dot) was included as part of the
          comment. Added "\.".
-->


    
        application/x-troff;application/x-troff-man;text/troff
        *.1;*.2;*.3;*.4;*.5;*.6;*.7;*.8;*.groff;*.man;*.roff
    

    
        
        
        
        
        
    

    
        
            

            
                \.\\#
                $
            

            
                \.\\"
                $
            

            
            
                \\[[]
                []]
            

            
                \\.[[]
                []]
            

            
                \\[(]..
            

            
                \\.[(]..
            

            
                \\..
            

            
                \\.
            

            
            
            
            
            
                ^\.EQ(\s|$)
                ^\.EN
            

            
                ^\.PS(\s|$)
                ^\.PE
            

            
                ^\.TS(\s|$)
                ^\.TE
            

            
                ^\.cstart(\s|$)
                ^\.cend
            

            
                ^\.R1(\s|$)
                ^\.R2
            

            
                ^\.[[]
                ^\.[]]
            

            
            
                ^\.[A-Z0-9_]+
            

            
                ^\.[a-z]+

Daniel (432 rep)

Aug 14, 2024, 06:08 PM • Last activity: Aug 15, 2024, 04:00 PM

17 votes

2 answers

11401 views

How to enable syntax highlighting in ranger preview?

syntax-highlighting ranger

I have seen some screenshots where ranger uses syntax-highlighting in its preview window. So I was wondering how to enable this feature and found out that I need the `scope.sh` file in the directory `/home/user/.config/ranger/scop.sh`, which will be generated with the command `$ ranger --copy-config...

                                  I have seen some screenshots where ranger uses syntax-highlighting in its preview window. So I was wondering how to enable this feature and found out that I need the scope.sh file in the directory 
/home/user/.config/ranger/scop.sh, 
which will be generated with the command 
$ ranger --copy-config=scope.
After generating it however the preview window completely disappears,
although I inserted set use_preview_script true in rc.config.

Q: Does someone know how to enable syntax-highlighting (especially for C/C++) in the ranger preview window?
                                

PatrickSteiner (621 rep)

Apr 5, 2018, 08:47 AM • Last activity: Mar 5, 2024, 08:21 PM

4 votes

4 answers

1028 views

Emacs - Changing show-paren-mode Areas

emacs syntax-highlighting elisp

I like show-paren-mode in Emacs, but I would really like to change the highlighting behavior for closing brackets. That is, I want the opening bracket to be highlighted when the point is on the closing bracket. The default behavior highlights the opening bracket when the point is on the character fo...

                                  I like show-paren-mode in Emacs, but I would really like to change the highlighting behavior for closing brackets.

That is, I want the opening bracket to be highlighted when the point is on the closing bracket. The default behavior highlights the opening bracket when the point is on the character following the closing bracket.

Is this easy to change? Also, I would be interested in potential benefits of keeping the show-paren-mode behavior as it is.

user22531

Nov 4, 2013, 07:33 PM • Last activity: Feb 28, 2024, 04:34 PM

1 votes

0 answers

185 views

Custom syntax highlighting misbehaving in gedit

xml gedit syntax-highlighting

For gedit, I'm creating a custom syntax highlighter for a markup-like language that I created to accomplish some natural language manipulation stuff, so I thought I'd get started with the simple keywords, seeing as I don't need to come up with regexes for them. I've defined the following in the XML:...

text/x-c;text/x-csrc;image/x-xpixmap
    *.foo
  

  
    
    
  

  

    
      ref
      alt
      pos
      num
    

    
      #
      $
      @
      [
      ]
      :
      =
      :?
      &

The syntax does highlight, but only on some odd conditions. Specifically, any keyword in the operators context must be both preceded by and followed by a non-keyword character, lest it will fail to highlight.

Should I be using a regex for these or did I just botch the XML? Also, why do the members keywords highlight without issue?

Alex Clough (111 rep)

Aug 2, 2016, 01:16 AM • Last activity: Feb 15, 2024, 04:54 PM

1 votes

1 answers

112 views

What's overriding my .vimrc tabstop size setting for CMake files?

vim vimrc cmake syntax-highlighting tabs

In my `~/.vim/vimrc`, I have: ``` set shiftwidth=4 set tabstop=4 ``` and when I edit a plain text file, that is respected. However, when I edit a CMake file - these both becomes 8. I tried looking for the cause of this change, but couldn't figure it out: * Nothing in `/usr/share/vim/vim90/syntax/cma...

In my ~/.vim/vimrc, I have:

set shiftwidth=4
set tabstop=4

and when I edit a plain text file, that is respected. However, when I edit a CMake file - these both becomes 8. I tried looking for the cause of this change, but couldn't figure it out: * Nothing in /usr/share/vim/vim90/syntax/cmake.vim seems to be related to tab stops, or to include another vim file. * Same for /usr/share/vim/vim90/syntax/cmake.vim. * The CMakeLists.txt files I'm editing have no modeline. What's causing this? Is there a definition I've missed? And - can I override it somehow?

einpoklum (10753 rep)

Dec 22, 2023, 09:59 PM • Last activity: Dec 24, 2023, 01:30 AM

0 votes

2 answers

1052 views

How do I get rid of this leading space highlighting in Nano (Ubuntu)?

ubuntu nano syntax-highlighting

Here's an image: [![enter image description here][1]][1] Every time I type something with a leading tab, I get this obnoxious green/teal background until I type a value in for that line. Also, for some reason on line 27, the color I entered is also highlighted with the green/teal background (It's no...

                                  Here's an image:

Every time I type something with a leading tab, I get this obnoxious green/teal background until I type a value in for that line.

Also, for some reason on line 27, the color I entered is also highlighted with the green/teal background (It's not whitespace, yet still gets highlighting like it is)

Other lines with trailing whitespace also gets the same treatment.

How can I get rid of this? I don't want any of this whitespace highlighting.

Any help would be greatly, greatly, appreciated.

Edit:
-----

I deleted the offending line and still have the issue:

fmotion1 (63 rep)

Sep 23, 2023, 01:29 AM • Last activity: Sep 23, 2023, 01:08 PM

0 votes

1 answers

84 views

nano unhighlight string if a quote is escaped

regular-expression gnu nano syntax-highlighting

I'm trying to unhighlight string if one of the quotes is escaped. `sh.nanorc` regex is as follows: `color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"])*""` I'm having success with the closing quote when preceding it with `[^\\]`: `color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"])*"[^\\]"` But if I do the same to the opening one, althoug...

                                  I'm trying to unhighlight string if one of the quotes is escaped.  

sh.nanorc regex is as follows:  
color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"])*""  

I'm having success with the closing quote when preceding it with [^\\]:  
color brightyellow ""(\\.|[^"])*"[^\\]"  

But if I do the same to the opening one, although it does the work, but it also starts either coloring any other symbol preceding the string if the opening quote isn't escaped, or uncoloring the string if it starts at beginning of line.  

So, how to get it done clean with both quotes?

Multifix (145 rep)

Aug 12, 2023, 11:53 AM • Last activity: Aug 29, 2023, 08:46 PM

0 votes

1 answers

355 views

Any 'cat' colorized tool?

software-rec syntax-highlighting pager

I sometimes `cat` a c file or a JSON file, there is no colorful format text. Is there any command line tool that can show colorful format text as it is in ex: gedit?

                                  I sometimes cat a c file or a JSON file, there is no colorful format text.
Is there any command line tool that can show colorful format text as it is in ex: gedit?

Mark K (955 rep)

Mar 29, 2023, 06:12 AM • Last activity: Mar 29, 2023, 10:33 PM

0 votes

1 answers

727 views

Terminal is losing the blink and is not showing text after using (batcat)

terminal kali-linux text cursor syntax-highlighting

So, I used `batcat` to syntax highlight a file in the terminal. After I close it through Ctrl + C , my cursor stops blinking and I cant see the text I type in my terminal. [Error](https://github.com/JothaM123/errorinlinux/raw/main/error.mp4)

                                  So, I used batcat to syntax highlight a file in the terminal. After I close it through Ctrl + C, my cursor stops blinking and I cant see the text I type in my terminal.

[Error](https://github.com/JothaM123/errorinlinux/raw/main/error.mp4)

lunix (129 rep)

Mar 26, 2023, 10:23 AM • Last activity: Mar 27, 2023, 01:34 PM

0 votes

1 answers

241 views

Vim color problem

vim syntax-highlighting

I've a strange problem with vim editor: if i write a simple text, all is normal, white text [![enter image description here][1]][1] If i add shebang, save and exit...reopen and ..color change after first line! [![enter image description here][2]][2] :(( Can you help me?! Thanks in advance! [1]: http...

                                  I've a strange problem with vim editor:
if i write a simple text, all is normal, white text

If i add shebang, save and exit...reopen and ..color change after first line!

:(( Can you help me?!

Thanks in advance!

ancoling67 (109 rep)

Mar 9, 2023, 05:03 AM • Last activity: Mar 9, 2023, 01:08 PM

4 votes

0 answers

1009 views

How to create a Kate highlight syntax to CSV files

csv editors syntax-highlighting kate

I'm working with CSV files, and I'm using vim because of the rainbow CSV plugin that makes the editing easier: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=4598 But I prefer using Kate, and as I did not find anything on the Internet like it. I'm trying to do a syntax highlight myself, but I'm not familiar with the file format and do not know if it is possible to do something similar to rainbow CSV on Kate. I was trying to do an itemData for each word position, but it did not work as I expected.

I want each word to have a different colour. Text example: word0,word1,word2,word3,word4,...,wordN If anyone could help me, I would appreciate it.

mvp83 (41 rep)

Apr 22, 2015, 03:12 PM • Last activity: Dec 13, 2022, 07:48 AM

9 votes

3 answers

11728 views

Change directory for Kate syntax highlighting files

kde kde4 syntax-highlighting kate

I'm running Standard Debian Wheezy with KDE 4.8.4 and Kate 3.8.4. The Kate text editor's syntax highlighting files are located in: /usr/share/kde4/apps/katepart/syntax If I run kde4-config --prefix this gives /usr and $KDEDIR is empty. This results in that only XML files in the upper direcory are us...

 I'm running Standard Debian Wheezy with KDE 4.8.4 and Kate 3.8.4.
 The Kate text editor's syntax highlighting files are located in: 

    /usr/share/kde4/apps/katepart/syntax
 If I run 

    kde4-config --prefix
 this gives 

    /usr
and $KDEDIR is empty. This results in that only XML files in the upper direcory are used for highlighting.

In several other forums, I saw that it should work to create a folder "syntax" in 

    ~/.kde/share/apps/katepart/
If I put syntax-highlighting files there on my system, they appear to be ignored.

How can someone change/set the directory for the syntax-highlighting files used by *Kate* to an arbitrary directory?
                                

Chrispie (3893 rep)

Jan 5, 2014, 12:58 PM • Last activity: Sep 15, 2022, 06:55 AM

0 votes

1 answers

155 views

nano highlighting fails in matching shell array brackets

bash nano syntax-highlighting

The last two array expansions don't get proper highlighting: ![](https://i.sstatic.net/kaCE7.png) This is the setting in `sh.nanorc` that defines it: # More complicated variable names; handles braces and replacements and arrays. color brightred "\$\{[#!]?([-@*#?$!]|[0-9]+|[[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]_]*)(...

                                  The last two array expansions don't get proper highlighting:

![](https://i.sstatic.net/kaCE7.png) 

This is the setting in sh.nanorc that defines it:

    # More complicated variable names; handles braces and replacements and arrays.
    color brightred "\$\{[#!]?([-@*#?$!]|[0-9]+|[[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]_]*)(\[([[:space:]]*[[:alnum:]_]+[[:space:]]*|@)\])?(([#%/]|:?[-=?+])[^}]*\}|\[|\})"

What do I have to fix in the regex to catch this miss?

Multifix (145 rep)

Jul 7, 2022, 07:56 AM • Last activity: Jul 7, 2022, 08:22 AM

Showing page 1 of 20 total questions