org-vim/runtime/syntax/m4.vim

" Vim syntax file
" Language:	M4
" Maintainer:	Claudio Fleiner (claudio@fleiner.com)
" Last Change:	2022 Jun 12
" 2025 Sep 2 by Vim project: fix a few syntax issues #18192
" 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")
  if exists("b:current_syntax")
	finish
  endif
  " we define it here so that included files can test for it
  let main_syntax='m4'
endif

" 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
"   the default pair: ` ... ';
" – Quoted text in M4 is rescanned, not treated as a literal string.
"   Therefore the region is marked transparent so contained items retain
"   their normal highlighting.
syn region m4Quoted
  \ matchgroup=m4QuoteDelim
  \ start=+`+
  \ end=+'+
  \ contains=@m4Top
  \ transparent
syn cluster m4Top add=m4Quoted

" Comments in M4:
" – According to the Open Group Base Specification, comments start with
"   a <number-sign> (#) and end at <newline>, unless redefined with changecom().
"   We only handle the default here.
" – Comments in M4 are not like in most languages: they do not remove the text,
"   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,m4ParamCount

" Macros in M4:
" – Name tokens consist of the longest possible sequence of letters, digits,
"   and underscores, where the first character is not a digit.
" – In GNU M4, this can be altered with changeword().
" – Any name token may be defined as a macro and quoting prevents expansion.
"   Thus correct highlighting requires running M4.

" 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 keyword m4Constants divnum sysval m4_divnum m4_sysval
syn region m4Paren    matchgroup=m4Delimiter start="(" end=")" contained contains=@m4Top
syn region m4Command  matchgroup=m4Define  start="\<\(m4_\)\=\(define\|defn\|pushdef\)(" end=")" contains=@m4Top
syn region m4Command  matchgroup=m4Preproc   start="\<\(m4_\)\=\(include\|sinclude\)("he=e-1 end=")" contains=@m4Top
syn region m4Command  matchgroup=m4Statement start="\<\(m4_\)\=\(syscmd\|esyscmd\|ifdef\|ifelse\|indir\|builtin\|shift\|errprint\|m4exit\|changecom\|changequote\|changeword\|m4wrap\|debugfile\|divert\|undivert\)("he=e-1 end=")" contains=@m4Top
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     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 m4Statement   Statement
hi def link m4Preproc     PreProc
hi def link m4Constants   Constant
hi def link m4Builtin     Statement

let b:current_syntax = "m4"

if main_syntax == 'm4'
  unlet main_syntax
endif

" vim: ts=4