# Intro to Kakoune highlighters

**URL:** <https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/intro-to-kakoune-highlighters/814>\
**Category:** Resources\
**Tags:** highlighter\
**Created:** [December 12, 2019, 7:41am UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/intro-to-kakoune-highlighters/814 "2019-12-12T07:41:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Screwtapello](https://discuss.kakoune.com/user_avatar/discuss.kakoune.com/screwtapello/32/12_2.png) [@Screwtapello](https://discuss.kakoune.com/u/Screwtapello)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2019, 7:41am UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/intro-to-kakoune-highlighters/814/1 "2019-12-12T07:41:23Z")

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Yesterday I decided to learn about writing a syntax highlighter for Kakoune. Although it wasn’t too difficult, given the reference docs that come with Kakoune and all the examples in `rc/filetype/`, it did take me a while to figure out how the “group” and “region” highlighters worked, and how they worked together. So, I wrote a high-level overview that I thought other people might find helpful:

> **[Intro to Kakoune highlighters - Screwtape's Notepad](https://zork.net/~st/jottings/Intro_to_Kakoune_highlighters.html)**

At the end, it also includes an example skeleton of a syntax highlighting plugin than you can copy and customise for yourself!

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**Author:** ![CochinoChingon](https://discuss.kakoune.com/user_avatar/discuss.kakoune.com/cochinochingon/32/609_2.png) [@CochinoChingon](https://discuss.kakoune.com/u/CochinoChingon)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2020, 7:06am UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/intro-to-kakoune-highlighters/814/2 "2020-07-09T07:06:32Z")

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frack  
I _really_ **need** to learn C+