*Should* the #vim overrides have each line delimited by a colon?

[beedell-roke]

The entries after the first, and before the last, in blob/c1c34e5260797b4d598f5ec76f19723bfc5a1894/docs/overrides.md?plain=0#vim have colons appended. This syntax surprises me. Should they be semicolons? I would have expected:

• Current

    ```
    # Some examples of various styles:
  - vim: syntax=java
  - vim: set syntax=ruby:
  - vim: set filetype=prolog:
  - vim: set ft=cpp:
    ```

• Expected

    ```Markdown
    # Some examples of various styles
    
  + vim: syntax=java;
  + vim: set syntax=ruby;
  + vim: set filetype=prolog;
  + vim: set ft=cpp;
    ```

I'm unfamiliar with the syntax, so I may be incorrect. Certainly, e51c227048a02a8a1b0fae6e72214e7c5f327c73/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.md?plain=1#L9C7-L10C49 states:

Please use Discussions for all incorrect or unexpected language analysis or statistics behaviour BEFORE opening a bug.

Consequently, if someone is able to confirm this, I shall file an issues/new?template=bug_report.md.

[lildude]

Should they be semicolons?

Nope. Vi/Vim options use colons. See https://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/options.html#'syntax'

[lildude]

And here's the regex we use to match the Vim modeline:

linguist/lib/linguist/strategy/modeline.rb

Lines 53 to 126 in 964e265

	VIM_MODELINE = %r[
	(?-m)
	# Start of modeline (syntax documented in E520)
	(?:
	# `vi:`, `vim:` or `Vim:`
	(?:^|[ \t]) (?:vi|Vi(?=m))
	# Check if specific Vim version(s) are requested (won't work in vi/ex)
	(?:
	# Versioned modeline. `vim<700:` targets Vim versions older than 7.0
	m
	[<=>]? # If comparison operator is omitted, *only* this version is targeted
	[0-9]+ # Version argument = (MINOR_VERSION_NUMBER * 100) + MINOR_VERSION_NUMBER
	|
	# Unversioned modeline. `vim:` targets any version of Vim.
	m
	)?
	|
	# `ex:`, which requires leading whitespace to avoid matching stuff like "lex:"
	[ \t] ex
	)
	# If the option-list begins with `set ` or `se `, it indicates an alternative
	# modeline syntax partly-compatible with older versions of Vi. Here, the colon
	# serves as a terminator for an option sequence, delimited by whitespace.
	(?=
	# So we have to ensure the modeline ends with a colon
	: (?=[ \t]* set? [ \t] [^\r\n:]+ :) |
	# Otherwise, it isn't valid syntax and should be ignored
	: (?![ \t]* set? [ \t])
	)
	# Possible (unrelated) `option=value` pairs to skip past
	(?:
	# Option separator, either
	(?:
	# 1. A colon (possibly surrounded by whitespace)
	[ \t]* : [ \t]* # vim: noai : ft=sh:noexpandtab
	|
	# 2. At least one (horizontal) whitespace character
	[ \t] # vim: noai ft=sh noexpandtab
	)
	# Option's name. All recognised Vim options have an alphanumeric form.
	\w*
	# Possible value. Not every option takes an argument.
	(?:
	# Whitespace between name and value is allowed: `vim: ft =sh`
	[ \t]*=
	# Option's value. Might be blank; `vim: ft= ` means "use no filetype".
	(?:
	[^\\\s] # Beware of escaped characters: titlestring=\ ft=sh
	| # will be read by Vim as { titlestring: " ft=sh" }.
	\\.
	)*
	)?
	)*
	# The actual filetype declaration
	[ \t:] (?:filetype|ft|syntax) [ \t]*=
	# Language's name
	(\w+)
	# Ensure it's followed by a legal separator (including EOL)
	(?=$|\s|:)
	]x

[beedell-roke]

#discussioncomment-12921747

@lildude, thank you! Though, in that case, why does the vim: syntax=java line lack one at its end?

[lildude]

The answer is further up in the doc I referenced 😉… because there are two forms of modeline