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Is there a syntax highlighting language hint (<!-- language: lang-??? -->) for Java properties? Or can a hint for another language/format be used for this purpose?

Example snippet to which syntax highlighting is to be added:

# line comment
! also a line comment (but less commonly used)
key1 = value A
key2=value B
key\ with\ spaces = lorem ipsum
url = https://meta.stackoverflow.com/
multi.line = multi \
          line value!
unicode = tab\u0009separated\u0009value

Update:

This question is not a duplicate of the very general question What is syntax highlighting and how does it work? I know the list of supported language hints and I tried all of them without success before I asked this question. Unfortunately, the list is incomplete: for example, lang-xquery which is supported by Stack Overflow is missing.

However, the language hint I know that comes closest is lang-ini (also missing on the list):

<!-- language: lang-ini -->

# line comment
! also a line comment (but less commonly used)
key1 = value A
key2=value B
key\ with\ spaces = lorem ipsum
url = https://meta.stackoverflow.com/
multi.line = multi \
          line value!
unicode = tab\u0009separated\u0009value

In cases with URLs as values or with ! ... line comments I would prefer <!-- language: lang-none --> instead.

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  • (This was on the main page due to the reopen. The syntax highlighter changed in September 2020 (but probably not the outcome).) Commented Aug 5, 2022 at 17:27
  • I want this too, It's frustrating that archived text-editors have this functionality but not the latest Stack Overflow. Commented May 17, 2023 at 16:52
  • Here's a MSO post requesting support for this: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/372584/… Commented Jan 12, 2024 at 6:35

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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No. The languages supported by our syntax highlighting engine are listed here.

There is obviously nothing for Java .properties files, and I don't see anything that would be suitable.

Perhaps Bash comes closest; at least it gets the most common form of line comments correct?

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  • If nothing matches lang-none might be the least confusing ... Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 8:38
  • 1
    Indeed. Is there a tag that this is associated with? If so, I can make lang-none the default syntax highlighting for that tag. I didn't find one, though. No [java-properties], and [properties] is much more general. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 8:39
  • The syntax highlighting engine list seems to me to be incomplete, at least lang-query is missing. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 8:42
  • I suspect that questions would 9 out 10 also be tagged with java in which case the major tag's language hint takes precedence. I wouldn't bother. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 8:42
  • @howlger not every available lang gets included in the SE supported set. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 8:43
  • @rene What do you mean by included? Added to the syntax highlighting engine list or can not be used? Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 8:46
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    There are languages supported by Google Code Prettify that are not supported by the fork of Prettify that Stack Exchange uses. I'm not sure how this decision is made. Probably balancing frequency of usage with size of the JavaScript payload being downloaded on each request. You can ask the team to add support for a language if it's supported by Google Code Prettify by posting a [feature-request], as was done here for Swift. @howlger Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 8:52
  • @howlger the SE devs hand pick the lang extensions they want to include/support on the site. They don't do a pull of the Github repo and then bundle everything found in there. So a lang extension being available in the GitHub repo doesn't mean it is missing, it means either no-one requested support for it, or in testing that particular lang extension caused trouble. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 8:53
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    @rene Note, with Java syntax highlighting values that contains // (e. g. URLs) will be partly displayed as comments. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 8:54
  • @howlger yes, programming languages are not parse-able by a regular expression, which is what prettify mainly uses. So it will stumble now and then. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 8:57
  • @CodyGray lang-xq is supported by Stack Overflow but it is not on the list (I tried to add it to the list, but it doesn't seem to have been accepted). Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 9:15
  • @howlger I see no evidence that lang-xq is supported by Stack Overflow. Where did you find that? It is causing the code to be highlighted with the default highlighter. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 9:21
  • @rene As you said before, most questions are tagged with [java]. If values contain URLs it looks worse with than without Java syntax highlighting. As a workaround <!-- language: lang-none --> must be added manually. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 9:21
  • @CodyGray I don't think so. If I add a XQuery snippet to my question here, it will be not highlighted. Also with <!-- language: lang-none --> or <!-- language: lang-foo --> the snippet is not highlighted. In contrast, with <!-- language: lang-xq --> the snippet is highlighted. From this I conclude that lang-xq is supported by Stack Overflow. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 9:28
  • @howlger that is strange because there is no lang-xq here. I expect you see lang-default and I explain here what that does. Commented Oct 22, 2017 at 9:34

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