This is the main
highlighter, that highlights:
- Commands
- Options
- Arguments
- Paths
- Strings
This highlighter is active by default.
This highlighter defines the following styles:
unknown-token
- unknown tokens / errorsreserved-word
- shell reserved words (if
,for
)alias
- aliasessuffix-alias
- suffix aliases (requires zsh 5.1.1 or newer)global-alias
- global aliasesbuiltin
- shell builtin commands (shift
,pwd
,zstyle
)function
- function namescommand
- command namesprecommand
- precommand modifiers (e.g.,noglob
,builtin
)commandseparator
- command separation tokens (;
,&&
)hashed-command
- hashed commandsautodirectory
- a directory name in command position when theAUTO_CD
option is setpath
- existing filenamespath_pathseparator
- path separators in filenames (/
); if unset,path
is used (default)path_prefix
- prefixes of existing filenamespath_prefix_pathseparator
- path separators in prefixes of existing filenames (/
); if unset,path_prefix
is used (default)globbing
- globbing expressions (*.txt
)history-expansion
- history expansion expressions (!foo
and^foo^bar
)command-substitution
- command substitutions ($(echo foo)
)command-substitution-unquoted
- an unquoted command substitution ($(echo foo)
)command-substitution-quoted
- a quoted command substitution ("$(echo foo)"
)command-substitution-delimiter
- command substitution delimiters ($(
and)
)command-substitution-delimiter-unquoted
- an unquoted command substitution delimiters ($(
and)
)command-substitution-delimiter-quoted
- a quoted command substitution delimiters ("$(
and)"
)process-substitution
- process substitutions (<(echo foo)
)process-substitution-delimiter
- process substitution delimiters (<(
and)
)single-hyphen-option
- single-hyphen options (-o
)double-hyphen-option
- double-hyphen options (--option
)back-quoted-argument
- backtick command substitution (`foo`
)back-quoted-argument-unclosed
- unclosed backtick command substitution (`foo
)back-quoted-argument-delimiter
- backtick command substitution delimiters (`
)single-quoted-argument
- single-quoted arguments ('foo'
)single-quoted-argument-unclosed
- unclosed single-quoted arguments ('foo
)double-quoted-argument
- double-quoted arguments ("foo"
)double-quoted-argument-unclosed
- unclosed double-quoted arguments ("foo
)dollar-quoted-argument
- dollar-quoted arguments ($'foo'
)dollar-quoted-argument-unclosed
- unclosed dollar-quoted arguments ($'foo
)rc-quote
- two single quotes inside single quotes when theRC_QUOTES
option is set ('foo''bar'
)dollar-double-quoted-argument
- parameter expansion inside double quotes ($foo
inside""
)back-double-quoted-argument
- backslash escape sequences inside double-quoted arguments (\"
in"foo\"bar"
)back-dollar-quoted-argument
- backslash escape sequences inside dollar-quoted arguments (\x
in$'\x48'
)assign
- parameter assignments (x=foo
andx=( )
)redirection
- redirection operators (<
,>
, etc)comment
- comments, whensetopt INTERACTIVE_COMMENTS
is in effect (echo # foo
)comment
- elided parameters in command position ($x ls
when$x
is unset or empty)named-fd
- named file descriptor (thefd
inecho foo {fd}>&2
)numeric-fd
- numeric file descriptor (the2
inecho foo {fd}>&2
)arg0
- a command word other than one of those enumerated above (other than a command, precommand, alias, function, or shell builtin command).default
- everything else
To override one of those styles, change its entry in ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_STYLES
,
for example in ~/.zshrc
:
# Declare the variable
typeset -A ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_STYLES
# To differentiate aliases from other command types
ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_STYLES[alias]='fg=magenta,bold'
# To have paths colored instead of underlined
ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_STYLES[path]='fg=cyan'
# To disable highlighting of globbing expressions
ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_STYLES[globbing]='none'
The syntax for values is the same as the syntax of "types of highlighting" of
the zsh builtin $zle_highlight
array, which is documented in the zshzle(1)
manual page.
To avoid partial path lookups on a path, add the path to the ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_DIRS_BLACKLIST
array.
ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_DIRS_BLACKLIST+=(/mnt/slow_share)
zsh-syntax-highlighting attempts to be forward-compatible with zsh. Specifically, we attempt to facilitate highlighting command word types that had not yet been invented when this version of zsh-syntax-highlighting was released.
A command word is something like a function name, external command name, et
cetera. (See
Simple Commands & Pipelines in zshmisc(1)
for a formal definition.)
If a new kind of command word is ever added to zsh — something conceptually
different than "function" and "alias" and "external command" — then command words
of that (new) kind will be highlighted by the style arg0_$kind
,
where $kind
is the output of type -w
on the new kind of command word. If that
style is not defined, then the style arg0
will be used instead.