Code syntax highlighting

You can color or highlight code snippets within Moodle resources, forum posts etc. To do so you must install the GeSHi (Generic Syntax Highlighter) Filter. This makes the power of GeSHI available in Moodle through the use of a pair of special tags.

Installing

You can download the GeSHi filter from here:

http://geshi.org/downloads/geshi.zip

Then follow the instructions for Installing a Filter.

Instructions for use

Enclose your code in spans like so:

<span syntax="langname"> your code goes here </span> 

Supported languages

• asm,
• bash,
• cpp,
• CSS
• lisp
• matlab
• HTML
• PHP
• pascal
• xml

and many others. See the GeSHi homepage for full details.

options

You can add the following options to the span tags in the same way you would add HTML attributes. The syntax attribute, specifying the programming language, must come first and all others are optional.

• linenumbers="yes" - displays linenumbers, defaults to "no"
• urls="no" - switches off keyword to URL conversion, defaults to "yes"
• indentsize="num" - alters the width of tabs, measured in characters/columns, default is ?

Example with options:

 <span syntax="langname" linenumbers="yes" urls="no" indentsize="2"> 

Demo

The filter has recently been installed on Moodle.org and can be seen in use there. For example see this post:

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=25413#195644

The GeSHi homepage also has an interactive demo.

http://qbnz.com/highlighter/demo.php

See also

• Forum post introducing the Filter
• GeSHi homepage