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 ... ~

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                 ___/ / /_/ / / / / /_/ /_/ (__  ) /_/ / /__   ~
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                     /____/                                    ~



                              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.Commands................................|syntastic-commands|
    4.Global Options..........................|syntastic-global-options|
    5.Checker Options.........................|syntastic-checker-options|
    6.About...................................|syntastic-about|
    7.License.................................|syntastic-license|


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

Note: This doc only deals with using syntastic. To learn how to write syntax
checker integrations, visit the github wiki (coming soon).

Syntastic is a syntax checking plugin that runs files through external syntax
checkers. This can be done on demand, or automatically as files 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. 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.

Take a look in the syntax_checkers directory for a list of supported filetypes
and checkers.


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

Syntax checking can be done automatically or on demand (see
|'syntastic_mode_map'| for configuring this).

When syntax checking is done, the features below can be used to notify the
user of errors. See |syntastic-options| for how to configure and
activate/deactivate these features.

    * A statusline flag
    * Signs beside lines with errors
    * The |location-list| can be populated with the errors for the associated
      buffer.
    * Erroneous parts of lines can be highlighted (this functionality is only
      provided by some syntax checkers).
    * Balloons (if compiled in) can be used to display error messages for
      erroneous lines when hovering the mouse over them.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 a flag will be shown. The content of the flag
is derived from the |syntastic_stl_format| option
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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. Commands                                               *syntastic-commands*

:Errors                                                     *:SyntasticErrors*

When errors have been detected, use this command to pop up the |location-list|
and display the error messages.


:SyntasticToggleMode                                    *:SyntasticToggleMode*

Toggles syntastic between active and passive mode. See |'syntastic_mode_map'|
for more info.


:SyntasticCheck                                              *:SyntasticCheck*

Manually cause a syntax check to be done. Useful in passive mode, or if the
current filetype is set to passive. See |'syntastic_mode_map'| for more info.


==============================================================================
4. Global Options                                   *syntastic-global-options*


                                                   *'syntastic_check_on_open'*
Default: 0
If enabled, syntastic will do syntax checks when buffers are first loaded as
well as on saving >
    let g:syntastic_check_on_open=1
<

                                              *'syntastic_echo_current_error'*
Default: 1
If enabled, syntastic will error message associated with the current line to
the command window. If multiple errors are found, the first will be used. >
    let g:syntastic_echo_current_error=1
<

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

                   *'syntastic_error_symbol'* *'syntastic_style_error_symbol'*
               *'syntastic_warning_symbol'* *'syntastic_style_warning_symbol'*
Use this option to control what the syntastic |:sign| text contains. Several
error symobls can be customized:
    syntastic_error_symbol - For syntax errors, defaults to '>>'
    syntastic_style_error_symbol - For style errors, defaults to 'S>'
    syntastic_warning_symbol - For syntax warnings, defaults to '>>'
    syntastic_style_warning_symbol - For style warnings, defaults to 'S>'

Example: >
    let g:syntastic_error_symbol='✗'
    let g:syntastic_warning_symbol='⚠'
<

                                                 *'syntastic_enable_balloons'*
Default: 1
Use this option to tell syntastic whether to display error messages in balloons
when the mouse is hovered over erroneous lines: >
    let g:syntastic_enable_balloons = 1
<
Note that vim must be compiled with |+balloon_eval|.

                                            *'syntastic_enable_highlighting'*
Default: 1
Use this option to tell syntastic whether to use syntax highlighting to mark
errors (where possible). Highlighting can be turned off with the following >
    let g:syntastic_enable_highlighting = 0
<

                                                       *'syntastic_auto_jump'*
Default: 0
Enable this option if you want the cursor to jump to the first detected error
when saving or opening a file: >
    let g:syntastic_auto_jump=1
<

                                                   *'syntastic_auto_loc_list'*
Default: 2
Use this option to tell syntastic to automatically open and/or close the
|location-list| (see |syntastic-error-window|).

When set to 0 the error window will not be opened or closed automatically. >
    let g:syntastic_auto_loc_list=0
<

When set to 1 the error window will be automatically opened when errors are
detected, and closed when none are detected. >
    let g:syntastic_auto_loc_list=1
<
When set to 2 the error window will be automatically closed when no errors are
detected, but not opened automatically. >
    let g:syntastic_auto_loc_list=2
<

                                                 *'syntastic_loc_list_height'*
Default: 10
Use this option to specify the height of the location lists that syntastic
opens. >
    let g:syntastic_loc_list_height=5
<


                                                        *'syntastic_mode_map'*
Default: { "mode": "active",
           "active_filetypes": [],
           "passive_filetypes": [] }

Use this option to fine tune when automatic syntax checking is done (or not
done).

The option should be set to something like: >

    let g:syntastic_mode_map = { 'mode': 'active',
                               \ 'active_filetypes': ['ruby', 'php'],
                               \ 'passive_filetypes': ['puppet'] }
<

"mode" can be mapped to one of two values - "active" or "passive". When set to
active, syntastic does automatic checking whenever a buffer is saved or
initially opened.  When set to "passive" syntastic only checks when the user
calls :SyntasticCheck.

The exceptions to these rules are defined with "active_filetypes" and
"passive_filetypes". In passive mode, automatic checks are still done
for all filetypes in the "active_filetypes" array. In active mode,
automatic checks are not done for any filetypes in the
"passive_filetypes" array.

At runtime, the |:SyntasticToggleMode| command can be used to switch between
active and passive mode.

If any of "mode", "active_filetypes", or "passive_filetypes" are not specified
then they will default to their default value as above.

                                                  *'syntastic_quiet_warnings'*

Use this option if you only care about syntax errors, not warnings. When set,
this option has the following effects:
    * 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
<

                                                      *'syntastic_stl_format'*

Default: [Syntax: line:%F (%t)]
Use this option to control what the syntastic statusline text contains. Several
magic flags are available to insert information:
    %e - number of errors
    %w - number of warnings
    %t - total number of warnings and errors
    %fe - line number of first error
    %fw - line number of first warning
    %F - line number of first warning or error

Several additional flags are available to hide text under certain conditions:
    %E{...} - hide the text in the brackets unless there are errors
    %W{...} - hide the text in the brackets unless there are warnings
    %B{...} - hide the text in the brackets unless there are both warnings AND
              errors
These flags cant be nested.

Example: >
    let g:syntastic_stl_format = '[%E{Err: %fe #%e}%B{, }%W{Warn: %fw #%w}]'
<
If this format is used and the current buffer has 5 errors and 1 warning
starting on lines 20 and 10 respectively then this would appear on the
statusline: >
    [Err: 20 #5, Warn: 10 #1]
<
If the buffer had 2 warnings, starting on line 5 then this would appear: >
    [Warn: 5 #2]
<

==============================================================================
5. Checker Options                                  *syntastic-checker-options*

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.1 Telling syntastic which checker to use.

Stick a line like this in your vimrc: >
    let g:syntastic_<filetype>_checkers = ['<checker-name>']
<
e.g. >
    let g:syntastic_python_checkers = ['flake8']
<

To see the list of available checkers for your filetype, look in
`syntax_checkers/<filetype>/`. The names of the files here correspond to
'<checker-name>' above.

e.g. Python has the following checkers: flake8, pyflakes, pylint and a
native python checker.

Some filetypes, like PHP, have style checkers as well as syntax checkers. These
can be chained together like this: >
    let g:syntastic_php_checkers=['php', 'phpcs', 'phpmd']`
<
This is telling syntastic to run the 'php' checker first, and if no errors are
found, run 'phpcs', and then 'phpmd'.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.2 Configuring specific checkers.

Look at the checker in question. If there are specific options that can be set,
these are usually documented at the top of the script.

If the checker uses the 'syntastic#makeprg#build()' function then many options
are provided by default - in fact you can customise every part of the command
that gets called.

A makeprg has the following format: >
    [exe] [args] [filename] [post_args] [tail]
<

e.g (this is made up) : >
    ruby -a -b -c test_file.rb --more --args > /tmp/output
<

To generate this you would call: >
    let makeprg = syntastic#makeprg#build({
                \ 'exe': 'ruby',
                \ 'args': '-a -b -c',
                \ 'post_args': '--more --args',
                \ 'tail': '> /tmp/output',
                \ 'subchecker': 'mri' })
<

All of the params above can be overriden by setting global variables - even
when not specified by the checker in syntastic#makeprg#build().

E.g. To override the checker exe above, you could do this: >
    let g:syntastic_ruby_mri_exe="another_ruby_checker_exe.rb"
<
To override the args and the tail: >
    let g:syntastic_ruby_mri_args="--my --args --here"
    let g:syntastic_ruby_mri_tail="> /tmp/my-output-file-biatch"
<

The general form of the override options is: >
    syntastic_[filetype]_[subchecker]_[option-name]
<

==============================================================================
6. About                                                     *syntastic-about*

The core maintainers of syntastic are:
    Martin Grenfell (github: scrooloose)
    Gregor Uhlenheuer (github: kongo2002)

Find the latest version of syntastic here:
    http://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic

==============================================================================
7. License                                                 *syntastic-license*

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

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