CODEWITHSUNDEEP
vimvi
Cloud
Cloud

Reputation: 19333

Show 'space' character via listchars only for leading spaces

Is it possible in Vim to have my editor (when editing .c and .h files), show via listchars, a special character only for leading space characters?

I found a separate post that noted, as of version 7.4, Vim now supports highlighting all space characters via listchars. Here's my current listchars variable:

set list listchars=tab:>-,trail:.,extends:>,precedes:<,space:.

And here is a render of how it appears on my screen:

This it appear on my screen

However, I would like it to appear like so (below), where only leading spaces are rendered via listchars, and spaces occurring after indentation-related spaces are not rendered. ie:

The desired behaviour

Is there a simple way to accomplish this, either via color scheme or .vimrc changes?

Image diff in case the difference isn't obvious due to low contrast:

Image diff in case the difference isn't obvious due to low contrast

Upvotes: 10

Views: 10453

Answers (2)

user20674883
user20674883

Reputation:

(Sorry I just want to post a solution for neovim from 2024 but I don't have enough reputation to comment under rodrigo's answer...!)

Inspired by rodrigo's answer:

vim.cmd([[2match WhiteSpaceBol /^ \+/]])
vim.cmd('match WhiteSpaceMol / /')
vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, 'WhiteSpaceMol', {
    fg = string.format('#%x', vim.api.nvim_get_hl(0, { name = 'Normal' }).bg)
})

When switching between coloschemes, it's not suffice. So register a autocmd to handel it:

vim.cmd([[2match WhiteSpaceBol /^ \+/]])
vim.cmd('match WhiteSpaceMol / /')
vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, 'WhiteSpaceMol', {
    fg = string.format('#%x', vim.api.nvim_get_hl(0, { name = 'Normal' }).bg)
})
vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd('ColorScheme', {
    callback = function()
        vim.api.nvim_set_hl(0, 'WhiteSpaceMol', {
            fg = string.format('#%x', vim.api.nvim_get_hl(0, { name = 'Normal' }).bg)
        })
    end
})

The only issue here is the space will still distinct if cursorline has different color from Normal

Upvotes: 1

rodrigo
rodrigo

Reputation: 98358

I don't think that linechars will help you, but this highlight might help:

highlight WhiteSpaceBol guibg=lightgreen
match WhiteSpaceBol /^ \+/

Change the color scheme for whatever you like best.

If you insist on having the fancy · you can get them with a bit of a hack:

set listchars=space:·
highlight WhiteSpaceBol guifg=blue
highlight WhiteSpaceMol guifg=white
match WhiteSpaceMol / /
2match WhiteSpaceBol /^ \+/

Now, only the starting · are visible! (change the white for whatever color you use as background and blue with the color of your choice).

NOTE: If you use the console Vim, replace (or add) guibg with ctermbg and the proper colors.

Upvotes: 11

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