This option can be used to set highlighting mode for various occasions. It is a comma-separated list of character pairs. The first character in a pair gives the occasion, the second the mode to use for that occasion. The occasions are: hl-SpecialKey 8 Meta and special keys listed with ":map" hl-EndOfBuffer ~ lines after the last line in the buffer hl-NonText @ '@' at the end of the window and characters from 'showbreak' hl-Directory d directories in CTRL-D listing and other special things in listings hl-ErrorMsg e error messages h (obsolete, ignored) hl-IncSearch i 'incsearch' highlighting hl-CurSearch y current instance of last search pattern hl-Search l last search pattern highlighting (see 'hlsearch') hl-MoreMsg m more-prompt hl-ModeMsg M Mode (e.g., "-- INSERT --") hl-LineNr n line number for ":number" and ":#" commands, and when 'number' or 'relativenumber' option is set. hl-LineNrAbove a line number above the cursor for when the 'relativenumber' option is set. hl-LineNrBelow b line number below the cursor for when the 'relativenumber' option is set. hl-CursorLineNr N like n for when 'cursorline' or 'relativenumber' is set. hl-Question r hit-enter prompt and yes/no questions hl-StatusLine s status line of current window status-line hl-StatusLineNC S status lines of not-current windows hl-Title t Titles for output from ":set all", ":autocmd" etc. hl-VertSplit c column used to separate vertically split windows hl-Visual v Visual mode hl-VisualNOS V Visual mode when Vim does is "Not Owning the Selection" Only X11 Gui's gui-x11 and xterm-clipboard. hl-WarningMsg w warning messages hl-WildMenu W wildcard matches displayed for 'wildmenu' hl-Folded f line used for closed folds hl-FoldColumn F 'foldcolumn' hl-DiffAdd A added line in diff mode hl-DiffChange C changed line in diff mode hl-DiffDelete D deleted line in diff mode hl-DiffText T inserted text in diff mode hl-SignColumn > column used for signs hl-Conceal - the placeholders used for concealed characters (see 'conceallevel') hl-SpellBad B misspelled word spell hl-SpellCap P word that should start with capital spell hl-SpellRare R rare word spell hl-SpellLocal L word from other region spell hl-Pmenu + popup menu normal line hl-PmenuSel = popup menu selected line hl-PmenuKind [ popup menu "kind" normal line hl-PmenuKindSel ] popup menu "kind" selected line hl-PmenuExtra { popup menu "extra" normal line hl-PmenuExtraSel } popup menu "extra" selected line hl-PmenuSbar x popup menu scrollbar hl-PmenuThumb X popup menu scrollbar thumb

The display modes are: r reverse (termcap entry "mr" and "me") i italic (termcap entry "ZH" and "ZR") b bold (termcap entry "md" and "me") s standout (termcap entry "so" and "se") u underline (termcap entry "us" and "ue") c undercurl (termcap entry "Us" and "Ce") 2 double underline (termcap entry "Ds" and "Ce") d dotted underline (termcap entry "ds" and "Ce") = dashed underline (termcap entry "Ds" and "Ce") t strikethrough (termcap entry "Ts" and "Te") n no highlighting - no highlighting : use a highlight group The default is used for occasions that are not included. If you want to change what the display modes do, see dos-colors for an example. When using the ':' display mode, this must be followed by the name of a highlight group. A highlight group can be used to define any type of highlighting, including using color. See :highlight on how to define one. The default uses a different group for each occasion. See highlight-default for the default highlight groups.

(default (as a single string): "8:SpecialKey,~:EndOfBuffer,@:NonText, d:Directory,e:ErrorMsg,i:IncSearch, l:Search,m:MoreMsg,M:ModeMsg,n:LineNr, a:LineNrAbove,b:LineNrBelow, N:CursorLineNr,r:Question,s:StatusLine, S:StatusLineNC,c:VertSplit,t:Title, v:Visual,V:VisualNOS,w:WarningMsg, W:WildMenu,f:Folded,F:FoldColumn, A:DiffAdd,C:DiffChange,D:DiffDelete, T:DiffText,>:SignColumn,-:Conceal, B:SpellBad,P:SpellCap,R:SpellRare, L:SpellLocal,+:Pmenu,=:PmenuSel, [:PmenuKind,]:PmenuKindSel, {:PmenuExtra,}:PmenuExtraSel, x:PmenuSbar,X:PmenuThumb,*:TabLine, #:TabLineSel,_:TabLineFill,!:CursorColumn, .:CursorLine,o:ColorColumn,q:QuickFixLine, z:StatusLineTerm,Z:StatusLineTermNC")