note.vim

note.vim is a syntax highlighting file for general plain text notes, which means it works with all the files with a .note extension just like cpp.vim for .cpp files.

1. Installation

Step 1

Linux: put the file into the ~/.vim/syntax/ directory.

Windows: put the file into the ...\Vim\vimfiles\syntax\ directory. For example mine is E:\ProgramFiles\Vim\vimfiles\syntax\.

Step 2

Put the following line into your vimrc file

au BufRead,BufNewFile *.note setf note

Step 3 (optional)

By default, all .note files are set to read-only since this syntax uses the conceal feature in Vim. Relevant configurations can be seen below or in the file:

setlocal ro

if has("conceal")
    setlocal cole=2 cocu=n
endif

Also I have the following key-mapping function in my vimrc:

function ToggleReadOnly()
    if &ro == 1
        setl noro
        if has("conceal")
            setl cole=2 cocu=i
        endif
    else
        setl ro
        if has("conceal")
            setl cole=2 cocu=cn
        endif
    endif
endfunction
nnoremap <C-F1> :call ToggleReadOnly()<CR>

This is for the convenience of reading and editing, since it will be annoying that the concealed contents keep appearing and disappearing. So just feel free to play around with them to understand what they mean and find your favourite setup.

2. Usage

First of all, create a .note file, for example test.note. Then set it to not read-only by :setl noro or call the ToggleReadOnly() function provided above before typing in any content. Currently there are 2 highlighting styles - foreground and background, and 5 colors for each - blue, green, orange, purple and red. Additionally, black is available for foreground highlight as it was just for fun. What's more, # (hash) is used for commenting just like in that in Python and * (asterisk) will be in a different color if it is the start of a line so that you can make a block with it. The following screenshots will show examples of the usage.

Inputs	Results	More Examples

3. Known Bugs

(1) Conflicts with luochen1990/rainbow, and I have not tested with the other rainbow parentheses plugins yet. If you don't need this plugin in your .note file, you can disable it on Vim startup by putting the following in the _vimrc file:

let g:rainbow_active = 0

Then syntax highlightings in .note file will be fine until rainbow parentheses is turned on manually.