Question

Most PHP Developers are likely familar with the Syntax Highlighter called “GeSHi“, which takes code, highlights it, with the use of HTML and CSS:

include('geshi.php');
$source = 'echo "hello, world!";
$language = 'php';
$path = 'geshi/';
$geshi = new GeSHi($source, $language, $path);
echo $geshi->parse_code();

GeSHi Supports a wide range of languages.

I wonder, is there a similar Module for Perl?

Answer 1

1. Perl has a port of Kate highlighting system: Syntax::Highlight::Engine::Kate which seems to be somewhat close to what you need. It appears to be part of Padre.

2. You also have an option of HTML client side highlighters (logic is obviously JS), such as Google’s code prettifyer

3. Two good lists of syntax highlighting engines are:

   • Wiki syntax highlighting article – among the ones it lists, the Perl ports/APIs seem to exist for Kate and Colorer (Syntax::Highlight::Universal)

   • This very good review of HTML syntax highlighters, which contains a lot of client-side ones such as SHJS and many others.

4. Please be aware that NONE of those generic highlighters work “100% correctly”, the way the syntax highlighters work in good IDEs, because they use regular expressions for approximate parsing instead of lexers for actual language grammar parsing. More details on the Wiki