Question

I have code like this:

# some comment
comment  This is a comment \
         that continues.
keyword option=3.123e4

Comments start with either “#” or “comment” and can continue with “\” and a line break.
I would like to match the next line after the last “\” as well or until a keyword from the list.
Here is what I have:

syn match atlasComment "#.*$"
syn match atlasComment "comment.*$"
syn keyword myKeyword keyword anotherKW nextgroup=myOption skipwhite
syn keyword myOption option

Is it possible to use a range from “comment” to a specifiet keyword from list of keywords that are highlighted anyway? Or is there a better way?

Answer 1

You’ll find some useful hints at :help :syn-oneline.

The “oneline” argument indicates that the region does not cross a line
boundary. It must match completely in the current line. However, when the
region has a contained item that does cross a line boundary, it continues on
the next line anyway. A contained item can be used to recognize a line
continuation pattern.

This leads to the following solution:

:syn region atlasComment start="comment" end="$" oneline contains=atlasCommentContinuation
:syn match atlasCommentContinuation "\\$" contained