Syntax Highlighting in Sublime Text 2

Question

So I have been trying to figure out how to add syntax highlighting for the name of typedef's in c++ files, in sublime text.

For example, if I have typedef long long integer; I want integer to be highlighted (preferably the same color as the other types: int, bool, etc.). I went looked at the C.tmLanuage file, and tried to add the following regex code ^typedef.*?\s(\w+)\s*; to storage.type.c (line 49), but it didn't work. If I add the word string, it will highlight all instances of the word string. I tried going in the C++.tmLanguage file, and adding the regex code to storage.type.c++, but it still did not work.

Does anybody know how to get typedef's highlighted in sublime text?

Also, is there a way to get syntax highlighting for class name? Let's say I declare a string or vector, I would like either string or vector to be highlighted.

Answer 1

That regex would work (I believe) if you had something along the lines of typedef foo; To get the behavior you want, you will have to create a slightly more complex pattern entry in the tmLanguage file. As the language file is based on TextMates, you will want to have this as a reference (http://manual.macromates.com/en/language_grammars#language_grammars). I would also recommend using PlistJsonConverter (working in JSON is easier for me than working in XML). You will probably need to define begin and end patterns (begin will probably be typedef end will probably be ;). You can then apply whatever patterns you want to that group.

As for the class name highlighting, I would look to see what, if any scopes are being applied. If none are, you will have to come up with a regex to apply the scope to those. You can then add a color entry, or use a defined one from the color scheme.

Edit:

Actually they don't appear to be JSON. I see () rather than []. JSON is pretty simple to understand. You can look for something more in depth, but wikipedia is a good place to start. What you would probably be interested in are the things under the "Rule Keys" section. I did some searching (because I knew there were some better examples out there), and came across http://docs.sublimetext.info/en/latest/extensibility/syntaxdefs.html . It goes over syntax definitions from scratch, but the most relevant section is probably http://docs.sublimetext.info/en/latest/extensibility/syntaxdefs.html#analyzing-patterns. I don't have a regex to find class names, so you would have to come up with one yourself. If you haven't already though, you may want to search around to see if someone else has implemented a language file in a way that works for you.

You will want to start with the built in tmLanguage file and convert that from a Plist to json. You can then edit that file and move it back.