" 2025 Sep 5 by Vim project: introduce m4Disabled region #18200
" 2025 Sep 6 by Vim project: remove m4Function heuristics #18211
" 2025 Sep 6 by Vim project: remove m4Type and m4Function #18223
+" 2025 Sep 15 by Vim project: highlight m4Parameters #18306
" quit when a syntax file was already loaded
if !exists("main_syntax")
" Reference: The Open Group Base Specifications, M4
" https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9799919799/
+" Early definition of a cluster
+syn cluster m4Top contains=NONE
+
" Quoting in M4:
" – Quotes are nestable;
" – The delimiters can be redefined with changequote(); here we only handle
\ end=+'+
\ contains=@m4Top
\ transparent
+syn cluster m4Top add=m4Quoted
" Comments in M4:
" – According to the Open Group Base Specification, comments start with
" they simply prevent any macros from being expanded, while the text remains
" in the output. This region therefore disables any other matches.
" – Comments themselves are disabled when quoted.
-syn region m4Disabled start=+#+ end=+$+ containedin=ALLBUT,m4Quoted
+syn region m4Disabled start=+#+ end=+$+ containedin=ALLBUT,m4Quoted,m4ParamCount
" Macros in M4:
" – Name tokens consist of the longest possible sequence of letters, digits,
" – Any name token may be defined as a macro and quoting prevents expansion.
" Thus correct highlighting requires running M4.
-" define the m4 syntax
-syn match m4Variable contained "\$\d\+"
-syn match m4Special contained "$[@*#]"
+" Parameters in M4:
+" $0 = macro name; $1..$9 = positional (single digit only); $# = count;
+" $* = args comma-joined; $@ = args quoted+comma; "${" = unspecified.
+syn match m4ParamZero contained "\$0"
+syn match m4ParamPos contained "\$[1-9]"
+syn match m4ParamCount contained "\$#"
+syn match m4ParamAll contained "\$[@*]"
+syn match m4ParamBad contained '\${'
+syn cluster m4Top add=m4ParamZero,m4ParamPos,m4ParamCount,m4ParamAll,m4ParamBad
+
+" define the rest of M4 syntax
syn match m4Comment "\<\(m4_\)\=dnl\>.*" contains=SpellErrors
syn match m4Constants "\<\(m4_\)\=__file__"
syn match m4Constants "\<\(m4_\)\=__line__"
syn region m4Command matchgroup=m4Builtin start="\<\(m4_\)\=\(len\|index\|regexp\|substr\|translit\|patsubst\|format\|incr\|decr\|eval\|maketemp\)("he=e-1 end=")" contains=@m4Top
syn keyword m4Statement divert undivert
syn region m4Command matchgroup=m4Define start="\<\(m4_\)\=\(undefine\|popdef\)("he=e-1 end=")" contains=@m4Top
-syn cluster m4Top contains=m4Comment,m4Constants,m4Special,m4Variable,m4Paren,m4Command,m4Statement,m4Quoted
+syn cluster m4Top add=m4Comment,m4Constants,m4Paren,m4Command,m4Statement
" Define the default highlighting.
" Only when an item doesn't have highlighting yet
hi def link m4QuoteDelim Delimiter
hi def link m4Delimiter Delimiter
hi def link m4Comment Comment
+hi def link m4ParamZero Macro
+hi def link m4ParamPos Special
+hi def link m4ParamCount Keyword
+hi def link m4ParamAll Keyword
+hi def link m4ParamBad Error
hi def link m4Keyword Keyword
hi def link m4Define Define
-hi def link m4Special Special
hi def link m4Statement Statement
hi def link m4Preproc PreProc
-hi def link m4Variable Special
hi def link m4Constants Constant
hi def link m4Builtin Statement