[vim/vim] Highlight groups in syntax.txt are not highlighted on Windows (Issue #10397)

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 10, 2022, 8:57:56 AM5/10/22
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Steps to reproduce

  1. In cmd.exe do gvim --clean or vim --clean.
  2. :help hl-ColorColumn
  3. The highlight groups are not highlighted:
    hl-bug-windows

Expected behaviour

The highlight groups should be highlighted, like on Linux:
Screenshot_20220509_223411

Version of Vim

8.2.4929 (from vim/vim-win32-installer/releases)

Environment

Windows 10
cmd.exe

Logs and stack traces

No response

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 10, 2022, 9:05:49 AM5/10/22
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I believe this new feature was added in 8.2.4891 (b3c9077) but for some reason it doesn't work on Windows.

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lacygoill

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May 10, 2022, 10:05:13 AM5/10/22
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If you run these Ex commands:

:help hl-ColorColumn
/^ColorColumn\t

You cursor should end up on the name of the ColorColumn group which is meant to be highlighted.
From this position, what is the output of these Ex commands:

:echo prop_type_list({'bufnr': bufnr('%')})->index('help-hl-ColorColumn')
:echo prop_list(line('.'))

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 10, 2022, 10:15:10 AM5/10/22
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This is what I get:

:echo prop_type_list({'bufnr': bufnr('%')})->index('help-hl-ColorColumn')
-1
:echo prop_type_list({'bufnr': bufnr('%')})
[]
:echo prop_list(line('.'))
[]

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lacygoill

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May 10, 2022, 10:26:43 AM5/10/22
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If you write this code in a script:

vim9script
help syntax
search("^ErrorMsg\t")
var word: string = 'ErrorMsg'
var buf: number = bufnr('%')
prop_type_add('help-hl-' .. word, {
    bufnr: buf,
    highlight: word,
    combine: false,
})
prop_add(line('.'), 1, {length: word->strlen(), type: 'help-hl-' .. word})

Then, start Vim with no config and source the previous script:

vim -Nu NONE -S /path/to/script

Is ErrorMsg highlighted as an error?

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lacygoill

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May 10, 2022, 10:32:20 AM5/10/22
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Also, for this to work, Vim needs to have been compiled with the +textprop feature. Is +textprop present in the output of :version?

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LemonBoy

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May 10, 2022, 10:47:11 AM5/10/22
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Change
https://github.com/vim/vim/blob/d899e51120798d3fb5420abb1f19dddf3f014d05/runtime/syntax/help.vim#L218
into

if expand('%:p') == $VIMRUNTIME .. join(['', 'doc', 'syntax.txt'], &shellslash ? '/' : '\')

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 10, 2022, 11:15:41 AM5/10/22
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Is ErrorMsg highlighted as an error?

Yes:
temp1

Is +textprop present in the output of :version?

Yes:
temp2

@LemonBoy Yes, changing that line as you suggested fixed the problem.

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 10, 2022, 11:51:51 AM5/10/22
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if expand('%:p') == $VIMRUNTIME .. join(['', 'doc', 'syntax.txt'], &shellslash ? '/' : '\')

But this won't work on Linux, right? On Linux:

:echo &shellslash
0

so you will end up with backslashes in the path.

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lacygoill

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May 10, 2022, 11:59:35 AM5/10/22
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How about this patch then:

diff --git a/runtime/syntax/help.vim b/runtime/syntax/help.vim
index f5a50bfac..dc2765646 100644
--- a/runtime/syntax/help.vim
+++ b/runtime/syntax/help.vim
@@ -215,11 +215,17 @@ hi def link helpError		Error
 hi def link helpTodo		Todo
 hi def link helpURL		String
 
-if expand('%:p') == $VIMRUNTIME .. '/doc/syntax.txt'
-  " highlight groups with their respective color
-  import 'dist/vimhelp.vim'
-  call vimhelp.HighlightGroups()
-endif
+{
+  var path: string = $VIMRUNTIME .. '/doc/syntax.txt'
+  if exists('+shellslash') && !&shellslash
+    path = path->tr('/', '\')
+  endif
+  if expand('%:p') == path
+    # highlight groups with their respective color
+    import 'dist/vimhelp.vim'
+    vimhelp.HighlightGroups()
+  endif
+}
 
 let b:current_syntax = "help"

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 10, 2022, 3:35:22 PM5/10/22
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I get this error:

"syntax.txt" [readonly][unix] 5824L, 231142B
Error detected while processing BufRead Autocommands for "C:/Program Files/Vim/vim82/doc/*.txt"..FileType Autocommands for "*"..Syntax Autocommands for "*"..function <SNR>8_SynSet[25]..script C:\Program Files\Vim\vim82\syntax\help.vim:
line  218:
E492: Not an editor command: {
line  219:
E1124: ":var" cannot be used in legacy Vim script
line  221:
E492: Not an editor command:     path = path->tr('/', '\')
line  223:
E121: Undefined variable: path
line  228:
E1128: } without {: }

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lacygoill

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May 10, 2022, 3:41:09 PM5/10/22
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OK, new try:

diff --git a/runtime/syntax/help.vim b/runtime/syntax/help.vim
index f5a50bfac..d6e526f6e 100644
--- a/runtime/syntax/help.vim
+++ b/runtime/syntax/help.vim
@@ -215,12 +215,17 @@ hi def link helpError		Error
 hi def link helpTodo		Todo
 hi def link helpURL		String
 

-if expand('%:p') == $VIMRUNTIME .. '/doc/syntax.txt'

+let s:path = $VIMRUNTIME .. '/doc/syntax.txt'
+if exists('+shellslash') && !&shellslash
+  let s:path = s:path->tr('/', '\')
+endif
+if expand('%:p') == s:path
   " highlight groups with their respective color
   import 'dist/vimhelp.vim'
   call vimhelp.HighlightGroups()
 endif
 
+
 let b:current_syntax = "help"
 
 let &cpo = s:cpo_save

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 10, 2022, 3:55:22 PM5/10/22
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Yeah, this worked on Windows. I think it should work on Linux too but I cannot test it at the moment.

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Bram Moolenaar

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May 10, 2022, 4:37:37 PM5/10/22
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Does this work:

if expand('%:p') =~ $VIMRUNTIME .. '[/\\]doc[/\\]syntax.txt'

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 12, 2022, 1:08:02 PM5/12/22
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This does not work on Windows. I think it has to do with backslashes.

Here's a sample session that could help figure out why it's not working.

:echo expand('%:p') =~ $VIMRUNTIME .. '[/\\]doc[/\\]syntax.txt'
0

:echo expand('%:p')
C:\Program Files\Vim\vim82\doc\syntax.txt

:echo $VIMRUNTIME
C:\Program Files\Vim\vim82

:echo '[/\\]doc[/\\]syntax.txt'
[/\\]doc[/\\]syntax.txt

:echo  $VIMRUNTIME .. '[/\\]doc[/\\]syntax.txt'
C:\Program Files\Vim\vim82[/\\]doc[/\\]syntax.txt

:echo 'C:\Program Files\Vim\vim82\doc\syntax.txt' =~ $VIMRUNTIME .. '[/\\]doc[/\\]syntax.txt'
0

:echo 'C:\Program Files\Vim\vim82\doc\syntax.txt' =~ 'C:\Program Files\Vim\vim82\doc\syntax.txt'
0

echo '\doc\syntax.txt'  =~ '[/\\]doc[/\\]syntax.txt'
1

:echo expand('%:p') =~ '[/\\]doc[/\\]syntax.txt'
1

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lacygoill

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May 12, 2022, 1:18:24 PM5/12/22
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FWIW, the last posted patch works on Windows:

Yeah, this worked on Windows.

And I've tested it on Linux where it works too.

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 12, 2022, 1:29:07 PM5/12/22
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Yeah, your patch does work. I like @brammool's one-liner though and I don't understand why it doesn't work.

Is below the expected behaviour?

:echo 'foo\bar' =~ 'foo\bar'
0

I would expect the output to be "1". These are single quoted string and :help literal-string says

This string is taken as it is.  No backslashes are removed or have a special
meaning.  The only exception is that two quotes stand for one quote.

Single quoted strings are useful for patterns, so that backslashes do not need
to be doubled.

Something is weird with those backslashes or I'm missing something.

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 12, 2022, 1:31:55 PM5/12/22
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Oh, the backslashes have a special meaning in patterns, like on the right-hand sides of =~. I think I get it now.

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Bram Moolenaar

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May 12, 2022, 3:23:52 PM5/12/22
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Right, the backslashes in $VIMRUNTIME need to be escaped.
Would expand() use forward slashes while $VIMRUNTIME has backward slashes?

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 13, 2022, 10:04:54 AM5/13/22
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The latest runtime files update (3f32a5f) partially fixes the issue with syntax/help.vim.

There is still a problem on Windows when shellslash is set. To reproduce:

vim --clean -c "set shellslash -c "help hl-ColorColumn"

And the highlight groups are not highlighted.

This is because expand('%:p') contains slashes but $VIMRUNTIME contains backslashes in this line:
https://github.com/vim/vim/blob/d881d1598467d88808bafd2fa86982ebbca7dcc1/runtime/syntax/help.vim#L218

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Bram Moolenaar

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May 13, 2022, 10:21:54 AM5/13/22
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> The latest runtime files update (3f32a5f1) partially fixes the issue
> with `syntax/help.vim`.
>
> There is still a problem on Windows when `shellslash` is set. To reproduce:
> ```
> vim --clean -c "set shellslash -c "help hl-ColorColumn"
> ```
> And the highlight groups are not highlighted.
>
> This is because `expand('%:p')` contains slashes but `$VIMRUNTIME`
> contains backslashes in this line:
> https://github.com/vim/vim/blob/d881d1598467d88808bafd2fa86982ebbca7dcc1/runtime/syntax/help.vim#L218

I was suspecting something like this could happen.

I think we can just drop $VIMRUNTIME. The file is already recognized as
a help file, just matching /doc/syntax.txt should be more than sufficient.

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I thought I was eating a crab salad. It turned out to be a crap salad.

/// Bram Moolenaar -- Br...@Moolenaar.net -- http://www.Moolenaar.net \\\
/// \\\
\\\ sponsor Vim, vote for features -- http://www.Vim.org/sponsor/ ///
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Gabriel Dupras

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May 14, 2022, 9:56:01 AM5/14/22
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Fixed in the latest runtime files update (30ab04e). Thanks!

Closing.

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Gabriel Dupras

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May 14, 2022, 9:56:01 AM5/14/22
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Closed #10397.

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