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1 *usr_06.txt* For Vim version 7.0aa. Last change: 2006 Feb 16
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3 VIM USER MANUAL - by Bram Moolenaar
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4
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5 Using syntax highlighting
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6
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7
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8 Black and white text is boring. With colors your file comes to life. This
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9 not only looks nice, it also speeds up your work. Change the colors used for
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10 the different sorts of text. Print your text, with the colors you see on the
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11 screen.
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12
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13 |06.1| Switching it on
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14 |06.2| No or wrong colors?
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15 |06.3| Different colors
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16 |06.4| With colors or without colors
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17 |06.5| Printing with colors
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18 |06.6| Further reading
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19
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20 Next chapter: |usr_07.txt| Editing more than one file
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21 Previous chapter: |usr_05.txt| Set your settings
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22 Table of contents: |usr_toc.txt|
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23
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24 ==============================================================================
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25 *06.1* Switching it on
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26
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27 It all starts with one simple command: >
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28
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29 :syntax enable
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30
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31 That should work in most situations to get color in your files. Vim will
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32 automagically detect the type of file and load the right syntax highlighting.
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33 Suddenly comments are blue, keywords brown and strings red. This makes it
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34 easy to overview the file. After a while you will find that black&white text
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35 slows you down!
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36
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37 If you always want to use syntax highlighting, put the ":syntax enable"
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38 command in your |vimrc| file.
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39
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40 If you want syntax highlighting only when the terminal supports colors, you
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41 can put this in your |vimrc| file: >
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42
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43 if &t_Co > 1
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44 syntax enable
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45 endif
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46
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47 If you want syntax highlighting only in the GUI version, put the ":syntax
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48 enable" command in your |gvimrc| file.
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49
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50 ==============================================================================
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51 *06.2* No or wrong colors?
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52
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53 There can be a number of reasons why you don't see colors:
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54
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55 - Your terminal does not support colors.
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56 Vim will use bold, italic and underlined text, but this doesn't look
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57 very nice. You probably will want to try to get a terminal with
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58 colors. For Unix, I recommend the xterm from the XFree86 project:
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59 |xfree-xterm|.
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60
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61 - Your terminal does support colors, but Vim doesn't know this.
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62 Make sure your $TERM setting is correct. For example, when using an
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63 xterm that supports colors: >
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64
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65 setenv TERM xterm-color
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66 <
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67 or (depending on your shell): >
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68
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69 TERM=xterm-color; export TERM
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70
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71 < The terminal name must match the terminal you are using. If it
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72 still doesn't work, have a look at |xterm-color|, which shows a few
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73 ways to make Vim display colors (not only for an xterm).
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74
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75 - The file type is not recognized.
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76 Vim doesn't know all file types, and sometimes it's near to impossible
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77 to tell what language a file uses. Try this command: >
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78
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79 :set filetype
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80 <
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81 If the result is "filetype=" then the problem is indeed that Vim
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82 doesn't know what type of file this is. You can set the type
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83 manually: >
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84
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85 :set filetype=fortran
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86
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87 < To see which types are available, look in the directory
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88 $VIMRUNTIME/syntax. For the GUI you can use the Syntax menu.
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89 Setting the filetype can also be done with a |modeline|, so that the
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90 file will be highlighted each time you edit it. For example, this
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91 line can be used in a Makefile (put it near the start or end of the
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92 file): >
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93
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94 # vim: syntax=make
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95
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96 < You might know how to detect the file type yourself. Often the file
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97 name extension (after the dot) can be used.
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98 See |new-filetype| for how to tell Vim to detect that file type.
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99
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100 - There is no highlighting for your file type.
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101 You could try using a similar file type by manually setting it as
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102 mentioned above. If that isn't good enough, you can write your own
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103 syntax file, see |mysyntaxfile|.
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104
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105
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106 Or the colors could be wrong:
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107
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108 - The colored text is very hard to read.
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109 Vim guesses the background color that you are using. If it is black
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110 (or another dark color) it will use light colors for text. If it is
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111 white (or another light color) it will use dark colors for text. If
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112 Vim guessed wrong the text will be hard to read. To solve this, set
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113 the 'background' option. For a dark background: >
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114
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115 :set background=dark
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116
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117 < And for a light background: >
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118
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119 :set background=light
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120
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121 < Make sure you put this _before_ the ":syntax enable" command,
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122 otherwise the colors will already have been set. You could do
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123 ":syntax reset" after setting 'background' to make Vim set the default
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124 colors again.
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125
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126 - The colors are wrong when scrolling bottom to top.
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127 Vim doesn't read the whole file to parse the text. It starts parsing
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128 wherever you are viewing the file. That saves a lot of time, but
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129 sometimes the colors are wrong. A simple fix is hitting CTRL-L. Or
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130 scroll back a bit and then forward again.
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131 For a real fix, see |:syn-sync|. Some syntax files have a way to make
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132 it look further back, see the help for the specific syntax file. For
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133 example, |tex.vim| for the TeX syntax.
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134
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135 ==============================================================================
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136 *06.3* Different colors *:syn-default-override*
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137
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138 If you don't like the default colors, you can select another color scheme. In
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139 the GUI use the Edit/Color Scheme menu. You can also type the command: >
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140
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141 :colorscheme evening
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142
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143 "evening" is the name of the color scheme. There are several others you might
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144 want to try out. Look in the directory $VIMRUNTIME/colors.
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145
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146 When you found the color scheme that you like, add the ":colorscheme" command
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147 to your |vimrc| file.
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148
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149 You could also write your own color scheme. This is how you do it:
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150
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151 1. Select a color scheme that comes close. Copy this file to your own Vim
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152 directory. For Unix, this should work: >
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153
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154 !mkdir ~/.vim/colors
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155 !cp $VIMRUNTIME/colors/morning.vim ~/.vim/colors/mine.vim
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156 <
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157 This is done from Vim, because it knows the value of $VIMRUNTIME.
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158
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159 2. Edit the color scheme file. These entries are useful:
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160
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161 term attributes in a B&W terminal
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162 cterm attributes in a color terminal
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163 ctermfg foreground color in a color terminal
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164 ctermbg background color in a color terminal
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165 gui attributes in the GUI
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166 guifg foreground color in the GUI
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167 guibg background color in the GUI
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168
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169 For example, to make comments green: >
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170
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171 :highlight Comment ctermfg=green guifg=green
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172 <
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173 Attributes you can use for "cterm" and "gui" are "bold" and "underline".
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174 If you want both, use "bold,underline". For details see the |:highlight|
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175 command.
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176
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177 3. Tell Vim to always use your color scheme. Put this line in your |vimrc|: >
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178
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179 colorscheme mine
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180
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181 If you want to see what the most often used color combinations look like, use
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182 this command: >
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183
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184 :runtime syntax/colortest.vim
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185
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186 You will see text in various color combinations. You can check which ones are
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187 readable and look nice.
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188
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189 ==============================================================================
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190 *06.4* With colors or without colors
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191
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192 Displaying text in color takes a lot of effort. If you find the displaying
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193 too slow, you might want to disable syntax highlighting for a moment: >
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194
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195 :syntax clear
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196
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197 When editing another file (or the same one) the colors will come back.
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198
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199 *:syn-off*
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200 If you want to stop highlighting completely use: >
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201
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202 :syntax off
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203
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204 This will completely disable syntax highlighting and remove it immediately for
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205 all buffers.
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206
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207 *:syn-manual*
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208 If you want syntax highlighting only for specific files, use this: >
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209
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210 :syntax manual
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211
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212 This will enable the syntax highlighting, but not switch it on automatically
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213 when starting to edit a buffer. To switch highlighting on for the current
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214 buffer, set the 'syntax' option: >
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215
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216 :set syntax=ON
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217 <
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218 ==============================================================================
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219 *06.5* Printing with colors *syntax-printing*
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220
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221 In the MS-Windows version you can print the current file with this command: >
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222
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223 :hardcopy
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224
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225 You will get the usual printer dialog, where you can select the printer and a
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226 few settings. If you have a color printer, the paper output should look the
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227 same as what you see inside Vim. But when you use a dark background the
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228 colors will be adjusted to look good on white paper.
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229
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230 There are several options that change the way Vim prints:
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231 'printdevice'
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232 'printheader'
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233 'printfont'
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234 'printoptions'
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235
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236 To print only a range of lines, use Visual mode to select the lines and then
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237 type the command: >
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238
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239 v100j:hardcopy
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240
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241 "v" starts Visual mode. "100j" moves a hundred lines down, they will be
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242 highlighted. Then ":hardcopy" will print those lines. You can use other
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243 commands to move in Visual mode, of course.
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244
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245 This also works on Unix, if you have a PostScript printer. Otherwise, you
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246 will have to do a bit more work. You need to convert the text to HTML first,
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247 and then print it from a web browser such as Netscape.
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248
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249 Convert the current file to HTML with this command: >
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250
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251 :source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/2html.vim
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252
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253 You will see it crunching away, this can take quite a while for a large file.
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254 Some time later another window shows the HTML code. Now write this somewhere
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255 (doesn't matter where, you throw it away later):
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256 >
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257 :write main.c.html
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258
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259 Open this file in your favorite browser and print it from there. If all goes
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260 well, the output should look exactly as it does in Vim. See |2html.vim| for
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261 details. Don't forget to delete the HTML file when you are done with it.
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262
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263 Instead of printing, you could also put the HTML file on a web server, and let
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264 others look at the colored text.
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265
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266 ==============================================================================
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267 *06.6* Further reading
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268
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269 |usr_44.txt| Your own syntax highlighted.
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270 |syntax| All the details.
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271
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272 ==============================================================================
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273
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274 Next chapter: |usr_07.txt| Editing more than one file
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275
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276 Copyright: see |manual-copyright| vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:
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