syntastic/doc/syntastic.txt

*syntastic.txt*   Syntax checking on the fly has never been so pimp.
*syntastic*


                    It's a bird! It's a plane! ZOMG It's ... ~

                   _____             __             __  _      ~
                  / ___/__  ______  / /_____ ______/ /_(_)____ ~
                  \__ \/ / / / __ \/ __/ __ `/ ___/ __/ / ___/ ~
                 ___/ / /_/ / / / / /_/ /_/ (__  ) /_/ / /__   ~
                /____/\__, /_/ /_/\__/\__,_/____/\__/_/\___/   ~
                     /____/                                    ~



                              Reference Manual~


==============================================================================
CONTENTS                                                  *syntastic-contents*

    1.Intro...................................|syntastic-intro|
    2.Functionality provided..................|syntastic-functionality|
        2.1.The statusline flag...............|syntastic-statusline-flag|
        2.2.Error signs.......................|syntastic-error-signs|
        2.3.Error window......................|syntastic-error-window|
    3.Options.................................|syntastic-options|
    4.Writing syntax checkers.................|syntastic-syntax-checkers|
    5.About...................................|syntastic-about|
    6.License.................................|syntastic-license|


==============================================================================
1. Intro                                                     *syntastic-intro*

Syntastic is a syntax checking plugin that runs buffers through external syntax
checkers as they are saved and opened. If syntax errors are detected, the user
is notified and is happy because they didn't have to compile their code or
execute their script to find them.

Syntastic comes in two parts: the syntax checker plugins, and the core script
(i.e. syntastic.vim). The syntax checker plugins are defined on a per-filetype
basis where each one wraps up an external syntax checking program. The core
script delegates off to these plugins and uses their output to provide the
syntastic functionality. Currently, syntax checking plugins exist for eruby,
haml, html, javascript, php, python, ruby and sass.

If your language is not supported then see |syntastic-syntax-checkers| for
details on how to implement a syntax checking plugin, and be sure to send me a
patch ;-)

This plugin is currently only recommended for *nix users. It is functional on
Windows, but since the syntax checking plugins shell out, the command window
briefly appears whenever one is executed.


==============================================================================
2. Functionality provided                            *syntastic-functionality*

By default, the script does nothing. The following functionality is provided
and must be enabled/activated as indicated (see the sections below for more
in-depth descriptions):
    * A statusline flag appears when syntax errors are detected
    * |signs| are placed beside lines with syntax errors, where a different
      sign is used for errors and warnings.
    * The :Errors command is provided to open a |location-list| for
      the syntax errors in the current buffer

Note: This functionality is only available if a syntax checker plugin is
present for the filetype of the buffer in question. See
|syntastic-syntax-checkers| for details.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1. The statusline flag                           *syntastic-statusline-flag*

To use the statusline flag, this must appear in your |'statusline'| setting >
    %{SyntasticStatuslineFlag()}
<
Something like this could be more useful: >
    set statusline+=%#warningmsg#
    set statusline+=%{SyntasticStatuslineFlag()}
    set statusline+=%*
<
When syntax errors are detected, the following will be displayed on your
statusline: >
    [syntax:X(Y)]
<
Where X is the line number of the first error and Y is the total number of
errors. Note that "(Y)" only appears  if there is more than one error.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2. Error signs                                       *syntastic-error-signs*

Syntastic uses the |:sign| commands to mark lines with errors and warnings in
the sign column. To enable this feature, use the |'syntastic_enable_signs'|
option.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.3. The error window                       *:Errors* *syntastic-error-window*

You can use the :Errors command to display the errors for the current buffer
in the |location-list|.

Note that when you use :Errors, the current location list is overwritten with
Syntastic's own location list.

==============================================================================
3. Options                                                 *syntastic-options*

                                                    *'syntastic_enable_signs'*
Use this option to tell syntastic to use the |:sign| interface to mark syntax
errors: >
    let g:syntastic_enable_signs=1
<

                                                   *'syntastic_auto_loc_list'*
Use this option to tell syntastic to automatically open the |location-list|
(see |syntastic-error-window|) when a buffer has errors: >
    let g:syntastic_auto_loc_list=1
<
The location list is also closed again when there are no errors.

                                                  *'syntastic_quiet_warnings'*

Use this option if you only care about syntax errors, not warnings. When set,
this option has the following effects:
    * the statusline flag only counts syntax errors
    * no |signs| appear unless there is at least one error, whereupon both
      errors and warnings are displayed
    * the |'syntastic_auto_loc_list'| option only pops up the error window if
      there's at least one error, whereupon both errors and warnings are
      displayed
>
    let g:syntastic_quiet_warnings=1
<
==============================================================================
4. Writing syntax checkers                         *syntastic-syntax-checkers*


A syntax checker plugin is really nothing more than a single function.  You
should define them in ~/.vim/syntax_checkers/<filetype>.vim, but this is
purely for convenience; Syntastic doesn't actually care where these functions
are defined.

A syntax checker plugin must define a function of the form:
>
    SyntaxCheckers_<filetype>_GetLocList()
<
The output of this function must be of the same format as that returned by
the |getloclist()| function. See |getloclist()| and |getqflist()| for
details.

To achieve this, the function should call |SyntasticMake()| or shell out to a
syntax checker, parse the output and munge it into the format.

There are several syntax checker plugins provided with this plugin. The ruby
one is a good example of |SyntasticMake()|, while the haml one is a good
example of how to create the data structure manually.


SyntasticMake({options})                                     *SyntasticMake()*
    {options} must be a dictionary. It can contain "makeprg" and "errorformat"
    as keys (both optional).

    SyntasticMake will run |:lmake| with the given |'makeprg'| and
    |'errorformat'| (using the current settings if none are supplied). It will
    store the resulting error list and use it to provide all of the
    |syntastic-functionality|. The previous makeprg and errorformat settings
    will then be restored, as well as the location list for the window.  From
    the user's perspective, it will be as though |:lmake| was never run.

    Note that the given "makeprg" and "errorformat" will be set using |:let-&|,
    so you should not escape spaces.


==============================================================================
5. About                                                     *syntastic-about*

The author of syntastic is a mighty wild stallion, hear him roar! >
     _   _ _____ _____ ___ ___ ___ ____ _   _ _
    | \ | | ____| ____|_ _|_ _|_ _/ ___| | | | |
    |  \| |  _| |  _|  | | | | | | |  _| |_| | |
    | |\  | |___| |___ | | | | | | |_| |  _  |_|
    |_| \_|_____|_____|___|___|___\____|_| |_(_)

<
He likes to trot around in the back yard reading his emails and sipping a
scolding hot cup of Earl Grey. Email him at martin.grenfell at gmail dot com.
He can also be found trolling the #vim channel on the freenode IRC network as
scrooloose.

Bug reports, feedback, suggestions etc are welcomed.


The latest official releases will be on vim.org at some point.

The latest dev versions are on github
    http://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic

==============================================================================
6. License                                                 *syntastic-license*

Syntastic is released under the wtfpl.
See http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/COPYING.