*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| 1.1.Quick start............................|syntastic-quickstart| 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| 2.4.Error highlighting.....................|syntastic-highlighting| 2.5.Aggregating errors.....................|syntastic-aggregating-errors| 2.6.Filtering errors.......................|syntastic-filtering-errors| 3.Commands.....................................|syntastic-commands| 4.Global Options...............................|syntastic-global-options| 5.Checker Options..............................|syntastic-checker-options| 5.1.Choosing which checkers to use.........|syntastic-filetype-checkers| 5.2.Configuring specific checkers..........|syntastic-config-makeprg| 6.Notes........................................|syntastic-notes| 6.1.Handling of composite filetypes........|syntastic-composite| 6.2.Interaction with python-mode...........|syntastic-pymode| 6.3.Interaction with the fish shell........|syntastic-fish| 7.About........................................|syntastic-about| 8.License......................................|syntastic-license| ============================================================================== 1. Intro *syntastic-intro* 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 at the wiki for a list of supported filetypes and checkers: https://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic/wiki/Syntax-Checkers Note: This doc only deals with using syntastic. To learn how to write syntax checker integrations, see the guide on the github wiki: https://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic/wiki/Syntax-Checker-Guide ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.1. Quick start *syntastic-quickstart* Syntastic comes preconfigured with a default list of enabled checkers per filetype. This list is kept reasonably short to prevent slowing down Vim or trying to use conflicting checkers. You can see the list checkers available for the current filetype with the |:SyntasticInfo| command. If you want to override the configured list of checkers for a filetype then see |syntastic-checker-options| for details. You can also change the arguments passed to a specific checker as well. Use |:SyntasticCheck| to manually check right now. Use |:SyntasticToggleMode| to switch between active (checking on writting the buffer) and passive (manual) checking. ============================================================================== 2. Functionality provided *syntastic-functionality* Syntax checking can be done automatically or on demand (see |'syntastic_mode_map'| and |:SyntasticToggleMode| 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 the |+balloon_eval| feature is compiled in) can be used to display error messages for erroneous lines when hovering the mouse over them * Error messages from multiple checkers can be aggregated in a single list ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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. Signs are colored using the Error and Todo syntax highlight groups by default. If you wish to customize the colors for the signs, you can use the following groups: SyntasticErrorSign - For syntax errors, links to 'error' by default SyntasticWarningSign - For syntax warnings, links to 'todo' by default SyntasticStyleErrorSign - For style errors, links to 'SyntasticErrorSign' by default SyntasticStyleWarningSign - For style warnings, links to 'SyntasticWarningSign' by default Example: > highlight SyntasticErrorSign guifg=white guibg=red < To set up highlighting for the line where a sign resides, you can use the following highlight groups: SyntasticErrorLine SyntasticWarningLine SyntasticStyleErrorLine - Links to 'SyntasticErrorLine' by default SyntasticStyleWarningLine - Links to 'SyntasticWarningLine' by default Example: > highlight SyntasticErrorLine guibg=#2f0000 < ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.4. Error highlighting *syntastic-highlighting* Some checkers provide enough information for syntastic to be able to highlight errors. By default the SpellBad syntax highlight group is used to color errors, and the SpellCap group is used for warnings. If you wish to customize the colors for highlighting you can use the following groups: SyntasticError - Links to 'SpellBad' by default SyntasticWarning - Links to 'SpellCap' by default Example: > highlight SyntasticError guibg=#2f0000 < ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.5. Aggregating errors *syntastic-aggregating-errors* By default (namely if |'syntastic_aggregate_errors'| is unset), syntastic runs in turn the checkers corresponding to the filetype of the current file, and stops as soon as a checker reports any errors. It then notifies you of the errors using the notification mechanisms above. In this mode error lists are always produced by a single checker, and, if you open the error window, the name of the checker that generated the errors is shown on the statusline of the error window. If |'syntastic_aggregate_errors'| is set, syntastic runs all checkers that apply, then aggregates errors found by all checkers in a single list, and notifies you. In this mode each error message is labeled with the name of the checker that generated it, but you can disable these labels by unsetting '|syntastic_id_checkers|'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.6 Filtering errors *syntastic-filtering-errors* You can selectively disable some of the errors found by checkers either by turning on |'syntastic_quiet_warnings'|, or by specifying a list of patterns in |'syntastic_ignore_files'|. ============================================================================== 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. By default the checkers in the |'g:syntastic__checkers'| or |'b:syntastic_checkers'| lists are run, cf. |syntastic-filetype-checkers|. If |syntastic_aggregate_errors| is unset (which is the default), checking stops the first time a checker reports any errors; if |syntastic_aggregate_errors| is set, all checkers that apply are run in turn, and all errors found are aggregated in a single list. The command may be followed by a (space separated) list of checkers. In this case |'g:syntastic__checkers'| and |'b:syntastic_checkers'| are ignored, and the checkers named by the command's arguments are run instead, in the order specified. The rules of |syntastic_aggregate_errors| still apply. Example: > :SyntasticCheck flake8 pylint < :SyntasticInfo *:SyntasticInfo* The command takes an optional argument, and outputs information about the checkers available for the filetype named by said argument, or for the current filetype if no argument was provided. :SyntasticReset *:SyntasticReset* Resets the list of errors and turns off all error notifiers. :SyntasticSetLoclist *:SyntasticSetLoclist* If |'syntastic_always_populate_loc_list'| is not set, the |location-list| is not filled in automatically with the list of errors detected by the checkers. This is useful if you run syntastic along with other plugins that use location lists. The |:SyntasticSetLoclist| command allows you to stick the errors into the location list explicitly. ============================================================================== 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_check_on_wq'* Default: 1 Normally syntastic runs syntax checks whenever buffers are written to disk. If you want to skip these checks when you issue |:wq|, |:x|, and |:ZZ|, set this variable to 0. > let g:syntastic_check_on_wq = 0 < *'syntastic_aggregate_errors'* Default: 0 When enabled, syntastic runs all checkers that apply to the current filetype, then aggregates errors found by all checkers and displays them. When disabled, syntastic runs each checker in turn, and stops to display the results the first time a checker finds any errors. > let g:syntastic_aggregate_errors = 1 < *'syntastic_id_checkers'* Default: 1 When results from multiple checkers are aggregated in a single error list (that is either when |syntastic_aggregate_errors| is enabled, or when checking a file with a composite filetype), it might not be immediately obvious which checker has produced a given error message. This variable instructs syntastic to label error messages with the names of the checkers that created them. > let g:syntastic_id_checkers = 0 < *'syntastic_echo_current_error'* Default: 1 If enabled, syntastic will echo the error 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 symbols 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_always_populate_loc_list'* Default: 0 Enable this option to tell syntastic to always stick any detected errors into the |location-list|: > let g:syntastic_always_populate_loc_list = 1 < *'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_ignore_files'* Default: [] Use this option to specify files that syntastic should neither check, nor include in error lists. It has to be a list of |regular-expression| patterns. The full paths of files (see |::p|) are matched against these patterns, and the matches are case sensitive. Use |\c| if you need case insensitive patterns. > let g:syntastic_ignore_files = ['^/usr/include/', '\c\.h$'] < *'syntastic_filetype_map'* Default: {} Use this option to map non-standard filetypes to standard ones. Corresponding checkers are mapped accordingly, which allows syntastic to check files with non-standard filetypes: > let g:syntastic_filetype_map = { 'latex': 'tex', \ 'gentoo-metadata': 'xml' } < Composite filetypes can also be mapped to simple types, which disables the default behaviour of running both checkers against the input file: > let g:syntastic_filetype_map = { 'handlebars.html': 'handlebars' } < *'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'* Default: 0 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] < *'syntastic_full_redraws'* Default: 0 in GUI Vim and MacVim, 1 otherwise Controls whether syntastic calls |:redraw| or |:redraw!| for screen redraws. Changing it can in principle make screen redraws smoother, but it can also cause screen to flicker, or cause ghost characters. Leaving it to the default should be safe. *'syntastic_delayed_redraws'* Default: 0 On older Vims, calling redraw when a popup menu is visible can cause Vim to segfault. If your version of Vim is affected, the solution is of course to upgrade Vim. If upgrading is not immediately feasible however, setting this variable to 1 might help, by delaying redraws until they are safe. Beware that there are functional and performance penalties involved, so only enable this if you actually need it. *'syntastic_debug'* Default: 0 Set this to the sum of one or more of the following flags to enable debugging: 1 - trace checker calls 2 - dump location lists 4 - trace notifiers 8 - trace autocommands 16 - dump options Example: > let g:syntastic_debug = 1 < Syntastic will then add debugging messages to Vim's |message-history|. You can examine these messages with |:mes|. *'syntastic_debug_file'* Default: unset When set, debugging messages are written to the file named by its value, in addition to being added to Vim's |message-history|: > let g:syntastic_debug_file = '~/syntastic.log' < ============================================================================== 5. Checker Options *syntastic-checker-options* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5.1 Choosing which checkers to use *syntastic-filetype-checkers* *'g:syntastic__checkers'* You can tell syntastic which checkers to run for a given filetype by setting a variable 'g:syntastic__checkers' to a list of checkers, e.g. > let g:syntastic_python_checkers = ['php', 'phpcs', 'phpmd'] < *'b:syntastic_checkers'* There is also a per-buffer version of this setting, 'b:syntastic_checkers'. When set, it takes precedence over |'g:syntastic__checkers'|. You can use this in an autocmd to configure specific checkers for particular paths: > autocmd FileType python if stridx(expand('%:p'), '/some/path/') == 0 | \ let b:syntastic_checkers = ['pylint'] | endif < If neither |'g:syntastic__checkers'| nor |'b:syntastic_checkers'| is set, a default list of checker is used. Beware however that this list deliberately kept minimal, for performance reasons. Take a look at the wiki to find out what checkers and filetypes are supported by syntastic: https://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic/wiki/Syntax-Checkers Use |:SyntasticInfo| to see which checkers are available for a given filetype. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5.2 Configuring specific checkers *syntastic-config-makeprg* Most checkers use the 'makeprgBuild()' function and provide many options by default - in fact you can customise every part of the command that gets called. Checkers that use 'makeprgBuild()' construct a 'makeprg' like this: > let makeprg = self.makeprgBuild({ \ 'exe': self.getExec(), \ 'args': '-a -b -c', \ 'post_args': '--more --args', \ 'tail': '> /tmp/output' }) < The result is a 'makeprg' of the form: > < All arguments above are optional, and can be overridden by setting global variables 'g:syntastic___' - even parameters not specified in the call to makeprgBuild(). If 'exe' is the same as the checker 'exec' attribute, it may be omitted. 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___ < For checkers that do not use the 'makeprgBuild()' function you will have to look at the source code of the checker in question. If there are specific options that can be set, these are usually documented in the wiki: https://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic/wiki/Syntax-Checkers ============================================================================== 6. Notes *syntastic-notes* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6.1. Handling of composite filetypes *syntastic-composite* Some Vim plugins use composite filetypes, such as 'django.python' or 'handlebars.html'. Normally, syntastic deals with this situation by splitting the filetype in its simple components, and calling all checkers that apply. If this behaviour is not desirable, you can disable it by mapping the composite filetypes to a simple ones using |syntastic_filetype_map|, e.g.: > let g:syntastic_filetype_map = { 'handlebars.html': 'handlebars' } < ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6.2 Interaction with python-mode *syntastic-pymode* Syntastic can be used along with the 'python-mode' Vim plugin (see https://github.com/klen/python-mode). However, they both run syntax checks by default when you save buffers to disk, and this is probably not what you want. To avoid both plugins opening error windows, you can either set passive mode for python in syntastic (see |syntastic_mode_map|), or disable lint checks in python-mode, by setting |pymode_lint_write| to 0. E.g.: > let g:pymode_lint_write = 0 < ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6.3 Interaction with the fish shell *syntastic-fish* At the time of this writing the 'fish' shell (see http://fishshell.com/) doesn't support the standard UNIX syntax for file redirections, and thus it can't be used together with syntastic. You don't need to change your login shell to address this problem, but you do have to point Vim's 'shell' to a more traditional shell, such as 'zsh', 'bash', 'ksh', or even the original Bourne 'sh': > set shell = 'bash' < ============================================================================== 7. About *syntastic-about* The core maintainers of syntastic are: Martin Grenfell (github: scrooloose) Gregor Uhlenheuer (github: kongo2002) LCD 047 (github: lcd047) Find the latest version of syntastic at: http://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic ============================================================================== 8. License *syntastic-license* Syntastic is released under the wtfpl. See http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/COPYING. vim:tw=78:sw=4:ft=help:norl: