Should the `#vim` overrides have each line delimited by a colon? #7353

RokeJulianLockhart · 2025-04-23T10:57:54Z

RokeJulianLockhart
Apr 23, 2025

The entries after the first, and before the last, in blob/c1c34e5260797b4d598f5ec76f19723bfc5a1894/docs/overrides.md?plain=0#vim have colons appended. This syntax surprises me. Should they be semicolons? I would have expected:

Current

  ```
  # Some examples of various styles:
- vim: syntax=java
- vim: set syntax=ruby:
- vim: set filetype=prolog:
- vim: set ft=cpp:
  ```

Expected

  ```Markdown
  # Some examples of various styles
  
+ vim: syntax=java;
+ vim: set syntax=ruby;
+ vim: set filetype=prolog;
+ vim: set ft=cpp;
  ```

I'm unfamiliar with the syntax, so I may be incorrect. Certainly, e51c227048a02a8a1b0fae6e72214e7c5f327c73/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.md?plain=1#L9C7-L10C49 states:

Please use Discussions for all incorrect or unexpected language analysis or statistics behaviour BEFORE opening a bug.

Consequently, if someone is able to confirm this, I shall file an issues/new?template=bug_report.md.

Answered by lildude

Apr 23, 2025

Should they be semicolons?

Nope. Vi/Vim options use colons. See https://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/options.html#'syntax'

View full answer

lildude · 2025-04-23T11:09:39Z

lildude
Apr 23, 2025
Maintainer

Should they be semicolons?

Nope. Vi/Vim options use colons. See https://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/options.html#'syntax'

3 replies

lildude Apr 23, 2025
Maintainer

And here's the regex we use to match the Vim modeline:

linguist/lib/linguist/strategy/modeline.rb

Lines 53 to 126 in 964e265

    
                 VIM_MODELINE = %r[ 
        
                   (?-m) 
        
                   # Start of modeline (syntax documented in E520) 
        
                   (?: 
        
                     # `vi:`, `vim:` or `Vim:` 
        
                     (?:^|[ \t]) (?:vi|Vi(?=m)) 
        
                     # Check if specific Vim version(s) are requested (won't work in vi/ex) 
        
                     (?: 
        
                       # Versioned modeline. `vim<700:` targets Vim versions older than 7.0 
        
                       m 
        
                       [<=>]?    # If comparison operator is omitted, *only* this version is targeted 
        
                       [0-9]+    # Version argument = (MINOR_VERSION_NUMBER * 100) + MINOR_VERSION_NUMBER 
        
                       | 
        
                       # Unversioned modeline. `vim:` targets any version of Vim. 
        
                       m 
        
                     )? 
        
                     | 
        
                     # `ex:`, which requires leading whitespace to avoid matching stuff like "lex:" 
        
                     [ \t] ex 
        
                   ) 
        
                   # If the option-list begins with `set ` or `se `, it indicates an alternative 
        
                   # modeline syntax partly-compatible with older versions of Vi. Here, the colon 
        
                   # serves as a terminator for an option sequence, delimited by whitespace. 
        
                   (?= 
        
                     # So we have to ensure the modeline ends with a colon 
        
                     : (?=[ \t]* set? [ \t] [^\r\n:]+ :) | 
        
                     # Otherwise, it isn't valid syntax and should be ignored 
        
                     : (?![ \t]* set? [ \t]) 
        
                   ) 
        
                   # Possible (unrelated) `option=value` pairs to skip past 
        
                   (?: 
        
                     # Option separator, either 
        
                     (?: 
        
                       # 1. A colon (possibly surrounded by whitespace) 
        
                       [ \t]* : [ \t]*     # vim: noai :  ft=sh:noexpandtab 
        
                       | 
        
                       # 2. At least one (horizontal) whitespace character 
        
                       [ \t]               # vim: noai ft=sh noexpandtab 
        
                     ) 
        
                     # Option's name. All recognised Vim options have an alphanumeric form. 
        
                     \w* 
        
                     # Possible value. Not every option takes an argument. 
        
                     (?: 
        
                       # Whitespace between name and value is allowed: `vim: ft   =sh` 
        
                       [ \t]*= 
        
                       # Option's value. Might be blank; `vim: ft= ` means "use no filetype". 
        
                       (?: 
        
                         [^\\\s]    # Beware of escaped characters: titlestring=\ ft=sh 
        
                         |          # will be read by Vim as { titlestring: " ft=sh" }. 
        
                         \\. 
        
                       )* 
        
                     )? 
        
                   )* 
        
                   # The actual filetype declaration 
        
                   [ \t:] (?:filetype|ft|syntax) [ \t]*= 
        
                   # Language's name 
        
                   (\w+) 
        
                   # Ensure it's followed by a legal separator (including EOL) 
        
                   (?=$|\s|:) 
        
                 ]x

RokeJulianLockhart Apr 23, 2025
Author

#discussioncomment-12921747

@lildude, thank you! Though, in that case, why does the vim: syntax=java line lack one at its end?

lildude Apr 23, 2025
Maintainer

The answer is further up in the doc I referenced 😉… because there are two forms of modeline

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Should the `#vim` overrides have each line delimited by a colon? #7353

RokeJulianLockhart
Apr 23, 2025

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lildude
Apr 23, 2025
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