CODEWITHSUNDEEP
vimsyntax-highlighting
jlconlin
jlconlin

Reputation: 15054

ViM syntax highlighting based on column

I have a column-formatted text file that I'd like highlighted in ViM. I want to highlight the file like this:

I have seen examples of highlighting based on regular expressions or keywords, but I'm not sure how to do this based solely on the column of the file.

Is this even possible?

Upvotes: 9

Views: 730

Answers (2)

Kent
Kent

Reputation: 195049

define your own hi-groups:

:hi Red ctermfg=red guifg=red
:hi Green ctermfg=green guifg=green 
:hi Blue ctermfg=blue guifg=blue

execute this:

:match Red /\%>60v.*\%<66v/
:2match Blue /\%>65v.*\%<71v/
:3match Green /\%>70v.*\%<81v/

note that I used matchadd() it supports max. 3 matches. If you need more, define syn pls.

add a screenshot

enter image description here

Upvotes: 6

Geoff Reedy
Geoff Reedy

Reputation: 36011

It's actually really easy to do because vim has a pattern syntax that matches particular column numbers:

syn region Red start="\%61c" end="\%66c"
syn region Blue start="\%66c" end="\%71c"
syn region Green start="\%71c" end="\%81c"

hi Red ctermfg=Red guifg=Red
hi Blue ctermfg=Blue guifg=Blue
hi Green ctermfg=Green guifg=Green

Upvotes: 9

Related Questions