Language Definition v2.0 Introduction
Language Definition v2.0 Introduction
Introduction to the GtkSourceView language definition files.
Purpose
The primary purpose of a language definition file (a *.lang file) is to add
support for syntax highlighting for a specific language.
About the versions
We need to distinguish:
- The GtkSourceView library versions.
- The language definition file format versions.
The file format is at version 2 and is supported by the GtkSourceView library versions 2 to 5.
Directories
To find *.lang files, GtkSourceView looks by default at several directories,
relying on the
XDG Base Directory Specification.
On Linux it is usually:
~/.local/share/gtksourceview-5/language-specs/for custom*.langfiles./usr/share/gtksourceview-5/language-specs/for the*.langfiles installed by GtkSourceView 5.
More precisely:
${XDG_DATA_HOME}/gtksourceview-${GSV_API_VERSION}/language-specs/used in priority.${data_dir}/gtksourceview-${GSV_API_VERSION}/language-specs/for eachdata_dirof${XDG_DATA_DIRS}.
Replace ${GSV_API_VERSION} by 5 for GtkSourceView 5.
List of *.lang files shipped by GtkSourceView
To see if a language is supported by GtkSourceView, see the
list of *.lang files
in the Git repository.