This project simplifies the definition of color schemes by using a templating system and a custom syntax for defining highlight groups.

The template file template.vim is used to define the color scheme. Template variables are defined in the vars file and can be used directly in the template.

Highlight groups can be defined using a simplified syntax:

name foreground_color background_color terminal_attribute...

All fields are separated by whitespace. Zero or more terminal_attribute values may be defined.

The name field should be the name of a Vim highlight group. If the first letter of the group name is lower-case, the name in the template must be preceeded by an underscore (so gitcommitSummary becomes _gitcommitSummary in the template).

The values of foreground_color and background_color must correspond to variables defined in var. In addition, for each of those variable names, there must be a corresponding variable with “_ansi” suffixed to its name. The unsuffixed variables will be used for the gui color values and the _ansi variables will be used for cterm values.

Note that variable names used in the simplified highlight syntax must not be surrounded by double braces.

There is also a simplified syntax for linking highlight groups:

name linked_group

Again, name must be preceded by an underscore if it does not begin with a capital letter. (Note that this is not the case for the linked_group name.)