Declaration
A face refers how the specified text is displayed, it has a foreground
color, a background color, and some attributes. The value of a face has
the following format:
fg_color[,bg_color][+attributes][@base]
fg_color, bg_color
a color whose value can be expressed in the following formats:
black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white; bright-black, bright-red, bright-green, bright-yellow; bright-blue, bright-magenta, bright-cyan, bright-white
a named color
default
keep the existing color
rgb:RRGGBB
hexadecimal value
attributes
string whose individual letters set an attribute:
u
underline
r
reverse
b
bold
B
blink
d
dim
i
italic
F
final, override the previous face instead of merging with it an will
only be replaced if another face with the final attribute is applied
f
final foreground, as final but only applies to face’s foreground color
g
final background, as final but only applies to face’s background color
a
final attributes, as final but only applies to face’s attributes
base
The base face on which this face applies, which can be any face name, as
long as a cycle is not introduced. A face can reference itself, in which
case it will apply on top of the parent scope version.
Builtin faces
The following default faces are used by color schemes to highlight
certain areas of the user interface:
Default
default colors
PrimarySelection
main selection face for every selected character except the cursor
SecondarySelection
secondary selection face for every selected character except the cursor
PrimaryCursor
cursor of the primary selection
SecondaryCursor
cursor of the secondary selection
PrimaryCursorEol
cursor of the primary selection when it lies on and end of line
character
SecondaryCursorEol
cursor of the secondary selection when it lies on and end of line
character
MenuForeground
face for the selected element in menus
MenuBackground
face for the not selected elements in menus
MenuInfo
face for additional information for elements in menus
Information
face for the informations windows and information messages
Error
face of error messages
StatusLine
face used for the status line
StatusLineMode
face used for the current mode except the normal mode
StatusLineInfo
face used for special information
StatusLineValue
face used for special values (numeric prefixes, registers, etc.)
StatusCursor
face used for the status line cursor
Prompt
face used prompt displayed on the status line
BufferPadding
face applied on the ~ characters that follow the last line of a buffer
Builtin highlighters faces
The following faces are used by builtin highlighters if enabled. (See
:doc highlighters).
LineNumbers
face used by the number-lines highlighter
LineNumberCursor
face used to highlight the line number of the main selection
LineNumbersWrapped
face used to highlight the line number of wrapped lines
MatchingChar
face used by the show-matching highlighter
Whitespace
face used by the show-whitespaces highlighter
Markup strings
In certain contexts, Kakoune can take a markup string, which is a string
syntax will enable the face facename until another face gets activated,
or the end of the string is reached.
For example, the following command displays the text “default” in the
Default face, and “error” in the Error face:
echo -markup 'default {Error}error{Default} default'
Inside a markup string, a literal { character is written \{, and a
literal backslash (\) that precedes a { character is escaped as well
(\\).