VIM Tip: Add Syntax file for svg graphics

Today I found a graphics from Wikipedia about stomach. The graphics is a svg file, which is actually in XML. I like this type of graphics since it is a graphics in XML format. It makes it very easy to change some parts, specially some words in the graphics. I use VIM to edit the file.



Get the Syntax File

However, my MacVIM does have syntax file. I quickly found it from VIM web site, svg.vim. I saved it to my Desktop.

Copy svg.vim to Syntax Directory

According to VIM web svg.vim instruction, this file should be copied to VIM syntax directory first. At my Mac, I open my Terminal and copy the file to my vim syntax directory. My VIM's syntax directory is at ~/.vim/syntax/, where some other syntax files are, such as ps1.vim for PowerShell scripts and m.vim for Objective-C.

MyMac:~ userMe$ cp ~/Desktop/svg.vim ~/.vim/syntax/

Add a Line to filetype.vim

The next step is to add a line to my VIM's filetype.vim file. This file is located at my local vim directory:

MyMac:~ userMe$ vi ~/.vim/filetype.vim

In my vi editor, a line is added:

" my filetype file
if exists("did_load_filetypes")
  finish
endif
augroup filetypedetect
  au! BufRead,BufNewFile *.ps1    setfiletype ps1
  au! BufRead,BufNewFile *.m      setfiletype objc
  au! BufNewFile,BufRead *.svg    setfiletype svg
augroup END

Load syntax file From .vimrc

The above change seems OK, but I found that I also have a line in my vim configuration file to load the syntax files. The configuration file is ~/.vimrc, where syntax files are loaded. I added a line for svg:

" Load syntax source from file
source ~/.vim/syntax/ps1.vim
source ~/.vim/syntax/svg.vim

After that, restart my VIM and I'll syntax for the svg file I want to edit:



I should say that I would not need to do above steps to edit svg files by using VIM. However, it would be nice to have correct syntax highlighting if it is available. Finally I used my VIM to edit the svg file and changed texts from English to Chinese:


Reference

See my previous blog on VIM Syntax Settings.