# jEdit 2.6 User's Guide

Next, Prev

## Chapter 5. Edit Modes

# Syntax Highlighting

Syntax highlighting is the display of programming language syntax tokens using different fonts and colors. This makes the source easier to follow and errors such as misplaced quotes easier to spot. All edit modes except for the plain text mode perform syntax highlighting.

The colors and styles used to highlight syntax tokens can be changed in the Utilities>Global Options.

Syntax highlighting can be enabled or disabled in one of the following three ways:

- You can specify if syntax highlighting is to be performed on a global basis in the Editor pane of the Utilities>Global Options dialog box.

- You can specify if syntax highlighting is to be performed in the current buffer for the duration of the editing session in the Utilities>Buffer Options dialog box.

- You can specify if syntax highlighting is to be performed in the current buffer for future editing sessions with buffer-local properties by placing the following in one of the first 10 lines of the buffer, where `flag` is either "true" or "false":

      :syntax=flag:

Figure 5-1. Syntax highlighting in action

Home, Up
Prev: Edit Modes
Next: Installing New Edit Modes