Scope Reference
===============


Stylable Scopes
----------------

The general purpose scopes are intended to be used for any language, but the
other scopes may also be used when semantically correct.  For example if you had
a general purpose language that allowed inline URLs:

::

  var GOOGLE = https://www.google.com/

It would be reasonable to use the ``link`` class for this, even if your language
is not a markup language.  However, many themes might not be designed with this
in mind so a better choice (for best theme support) might possibly be ``string``.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| **General purpose**                                                                    |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| keyword                  | keyword in a regular Algol-style language                   |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| built_in                 | built-in or library object (constant, class,                |
|                          | function)                                                   |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| type                     | data type (in a language with syntactically                 |
|                          | significant types) (``string``, ``int``,                    |
|                          | ``array``, etc.)                                            |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| literal                  | special identifier for a built-in value                     |
|                          | (``true``, ``false``, ``null``, etc.)                       |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| number                   | number, including units and modifiers, if any.              |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| operator                 | operators: ``+``, ``-``, ``>>``, ``|``, ``==``              |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| punctuation              | aux. punctuation that should be subtly highlighted          |
|                          | (parentheses, brackets, etc.)                               |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| property                 | object property ``obj.prop1.prop2.value``                   |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| regexp                   | literal regular expression                                  |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| string                   | literal string, character                                   |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| char.escape              | an escape character such as ``\n``                          |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| subst                    | parsed section inside a literal string                      |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| symbol                   | symbolic constant, interned string, goto label              |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| class                    | **deprecated** You probably want ``title.class``            |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| function                 | **deprecated** You probably want ``title.function``         |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| variable                 | variables                                                   |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| variable.language        | variable with special meaning in a language, e.g.:          |
|                          | ``this``, ``window``, ``super``, ``self``, etc.             |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| variable.constant        | variable that is a constant value, ie ``MAX_FILES``         |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| title                    | name of a class or a function                               |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| title.class              | name of a class (interface, trait, module, etc)             |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| title.class.inherited    | name of class being inherited from, extended, etc.          |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| title.function           | name of a function                                          |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| title.function.invoke    | name of a function (when being invoked)                     |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| params                   | block of function arguments (parameters) at the             |
|                          | place of declaration                                        |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| comment                  | comments                                                    |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| doctag                   | documentation markup within comments, e.g. ``@params``      |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| **Meta**                                                                               |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| meta                     | flags, modifiers, annotations, processing                   |
|                          | instructions, preprocessor directives, etc                  |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| meta.prompt              | REPL or shell prompts or similar                            |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| meta keyword             | a keyword inside a meta block                               |
|                          | (note this is nested, not subscoped)                        |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| meta string              | a string inside a meta block                                |
|                          | (note this is nested, not subscoped)                        |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| **Tags, attributes, configs**                                                          |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| section                  | heading of a section in a config file, heading in           |
|                          | text markup                                                 |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| tag                      | XML/HTML tag                                                |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| name                     | name of an XML tag, the first word in an                    |
|                          | s-expression                                                |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| attr                     | name of an attribute with no language defined               |
|                          | semantics (keys in JSON, setting names in .ini),            |
|                          | also sub-attribute within another highlighted               |
|                          | object, like XML tag                                        |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| attribute                | name of an attribute followed by a structured               |
|                          | value part, like CSS properties                             |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| **Text Markup**                                                                        |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| bullet                   | list item bullet                                            |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| code                     | code block                                                  |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| emphasis                 | emphasis                                                    |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| strong                   | strong emphasis                                             |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| formula                  | mathematical formula                                        |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| link                     | hyperlink                                                   |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| quote                    | quotation or blockquote                                     |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| **CSS**                                                                                |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| selector-tag             | tag selector                                                |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| selector-id              | #id selector                                                |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| selector-class           | .class selector                                             |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| selector-attr            | [attr] selector                                             |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| selector-pseudo          | :pseudo selector                                            |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| **Templates**                                                                          |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| template-tag             | tag of a template language                                  |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| template-variable        | variable in a template language                             |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| **diff**                                                                               |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| addition                 | added or changed line                                       |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| deletion                 | deleted line                                                |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+

A note on scopes with sub-scopes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Some scope names above have a ``.`` in them.  We use this notation to specify
sub-scopes.  In the generated HTML this will output multiple computed class
names. The depth of nesting determines the number of underscores appended to
sub-scope names. For example, Lets say the scope is ``title.class.other``.

The CSS class names generated would be:

- ``hljs-title``
- ``class_``
- ``other__``

The top-level scope is always the one that has the configured prefix applied.

The generated HTML would be:

::

  <span class="hljs-title class_ other__">Render</span>

A theme could then simply target that using the following CSS:

.. code-block:: css

  .hljs-title.class_.other__ {
     color: blue;
  }


A note on newer scopes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Some scopes have been added more recently and do not enjoy universal theme
support.  For themes without support, these items will simply not be
highlighted.  This doesn't mean not to use them, only that they will be
highlighted better as support improves over time.

A list of these scopes:

- operator
- punctuation
- property


Reserved scopes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The below scopes (ReasonML) are left here for documentation purposes but may
not be used in other grammars because they are very poorly supported by all
themes.

If you'd like to help out with the larger issue here:

- https://github.com/highlightjs/highlight.js/issues/2521
- https://github.com/highlightjs/highlight.js/issues/2500

+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| **ReasonML**                                                                 |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| pattern-match            | pattern matching matchers                         |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| typing                   | type signatures on function parameters            |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| constructor              | type constructors                                 |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| module-access            | scope access into a module                        |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| module                   | module reference within scope access              |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+


Language names and aliases
--------------------------

The language names and aliases table has moved to `SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES.md <https://github.com/highlightjs/highlight.js/blob/main/SUPPORTED_LANGUAGES.md>`_.