vimsyntax-highlightingvim-syntax-highlighting

How to syntax highlight fragments of code in one language embedded in the source code in another language in Vim?


I have a custom XML file format which can contain blocks of code within certain tags.

For example:

<Root>
    <Sql> select * from foo </Sql>
    <MoreJunk> ... </MoreJunk>
    <Python><![CDATA[
    def Bar(*args):
        return False
    ]]></Python>
</Root>

How can I get Vim to use SQL syntax highlighting for the text inside <Sql> tags and use Python higlighting for text inside <Python> tags?

I know Vim can already do this because it correctly highlights Javascript inside HTML files.

I tried inspecting the HTML syntax file but couldn’t figure it out.


Solution

  • For your XML with python example you would have to do something like this:

    runtime! syntax/xml.vim
    unlet b:current_syntax
    syntax include @Python syntax/python.vim
    syntax region pythonCode  start=+<Python>+ keepend end=+/</Python>+  contains=@Python
    

    These lines will include the XML syntax and the python syntax, and the specify a python region where VIM will use the python syntax instead of the XML syntax...

    Of course, all this is well documented in VIM. See :he :syn-include on how to include syntax files.