path: root/runtime/doc/treesitter.txt

*treesitter.txt*    Nvim


                            NVIM REFERENCE MANUAL


Tree-sitter integration                                 *treesitter*

                                      Type |gO| to see the table of contents.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIM.TREESITTER                                          *lua-treesitter*

Nvim integrates the tree-sitter library for incremental parsing of buffers.

                                             *vim.treesitter.language_version*
The latest parser ABI version that is supported by the bundled tree-sitter
library.

                                     *vim.treesitter.minimum_language_version*
The earliest parser ABI version that is supported by the bundled tree-sitter
library.

Parser files                                            *treesitter-parsers*

Parsers are the heart of tree-sitter. They are libraries that tree-sitter will
search for in the `parser` runtime directory.  Currently Nvim does not provide
the tree-sitter parsers, instead these must be built separately, for instance
using the tree-sitter utility. The only exception is a C parser being included
in official builds for testing purposes. Parsers are searched for as
`parser/{lang}.*` in any 'runtimepath' directory.
A parser can also be loaded manually using a full path: >

    vim.treesitter.require_language("python", "/path/to/python.so")

<Create a parser for a buffer and a given language (if another plugin uses the
same buffer/language combination, it will be safely reused). Use >

    parser = vim.treesitter.get_parser(bufnr, lang)

<`bufnr=0` can be used for current buffer. `lang` will default to 'filetype'.
Currently, the parser will be retained for the lifetime of a buffer but this
is subject to change. A plugin should keep a reference to the parser object as
long as it wants incremental updates.


Parser methods                                          *lua-treesitter-parser*

tsparser:parse()                                        *tsparser:parse()*
Whenever you need to access the current syntax tree, parse the buffer: >

    tstree = parser:parse()

<This will return a table of immutable trees that represent the current state
of the buffer. When the plugin wants to access the state after a (possible)
edit it should call `parse()` again. If the buffer wasn't edited, the same tree
will be returned again without extra work. If the buffer was parsed before,
incremental parsing will be done of the changed parts.

Note: to use the parser directly inside a |nvim_buf_attach| Lua callback, you
must call `get_parser()` before you register your callback. But preferably
parsing shouldn't be done directly in the change callback anyway as they will
be very frequent. Rather a plugin that does any kind of analysis on a tree
should use a timer to throttle too frequent updates.

tsparser:set_included_regions({region_list})  *tsparser:set_included_regions()*
    Changes the regions the parser should consider. This is used for language
    injection.  {region_list} should be of the form (all zero-based): >
    {
        {node1, node2},
        ...
    }
<
    `node1` and `node2` are both considered part of the same region and will
    be parsed together with the parser in the same context.

Tree methods                                            *lua-treesitter-tree*

tstree:root()                                           *tstree:root()*
    Return the root node of this tree.

tstree:copy()                                           *tstree:copy()*
    Returns a copy of the `tstree`.


Node methods                                            *lua-treesitter-node*

tsnode:parent()                                         *tsnode:parent()*
    Get the node's immediate parent.

tsnode:next_sibling()                                   *tsnode:next_sibling()*
    Get the node's next sibling.

tsnode:prev_sibling()                                   *tsnode:prev_sibling()*
    Get the node's previous sibling.

tsnode:next_named_sibling()                       *tsnode:next_named_sibling()*
    Get the node's next named sibling.

tsnode:prev_named_sibling()                       *tsnode:prev_named_sibling()*
    Get the node's previous named sibling.

tsnode:iter_children()                                 *tsnode:iter_children()*
    Iterates over all the direct children of {tsnode}, regardless of whether
    they are named or not.
    Returns the child node plus the eventual field name corresponding to this
    child node.

tsnode:field({name})                                    *tsnode:field()*
    Returns a table of the nodes corresponding to the {name} field.

tsnode:child_count()                                    *tsnode:child_count()*
    Get the node's number of children.

tsnode:child({index})                                   *tsnode:child()*
    Get the node's child at the given {index}, where zero represents the first
    child.

tsnode:named_child_count()                         *tsnode:named_child_count()*
    Get the node's number of named children.

tsnode:named_child({index})                              *tsnode:named_child()*
    Get the node's named child at the given {index}, where zero represents the
    first named child.

tsnode:start()                                          *tsnode:start()*
    Get the node's start position. Return three values: the row, column and
    total byte count (all zero-based).

tsnode:end_()                                           *tsnode:end_()*
    Get the node's end position. Return three values: the row, column and
    total byte count (all zero-based).

tsnode:range()                                          *tsnode:range()*
    Get the range of the node. Return four values: the row, column of the
    start position, then the row, column of the end position.

tsnode:type()                                           *tsnode:type()*
    Get the node's type as a string.

tsnode:symbol()                                         *tsnode:symbol()*
    Get the node's type as a numerical id.

tsnode:named()                                          *tsnode:named()*
    Check if the node is named. Named nodes correspond to named rules in the
    grammar, whereas anonymous nodes correspond to string literals in the
    grammar.

tsnode:missing()                                        *tsnode:missing()*
    Check if the node is missing. Missing nodes are inserted by the parser in
    order to recover from certain kinds of syntax errors.

tsnode:has_error()                                      *tsnode:has_error()*
    Check if the node is a syntax error or contains any syntax errors.

tsnode:sexpr()                                          *tsnode:sexpr()*
    Get an S-expression representing the node as a string.

tsnode:id()                                             *tsnode:id()*
    Get an unique identifier for the node inside its own tree.

    No guarantees are made about this identifier's internal representation,
    except for being a primitive lua type with value equality (so not a
    table). Presently it is a (non-printable) string.

    Note: the id is not guaranteed to be unique for nodes from different
    trees.

                                                *tsnode:descendant_for_range()*
tsnode:descendant_for_range({start_row}, {start_col}, {end_row}, {end_col})
    Get the smallest node within this node that spans the given range of (row,
    column) positions

                                          *tsnode:named_descendant_for_range()*
tsnode:named_descendant_for_range({start_row}, {start_col}, {end_row}, {end_col})
    Get the smallest named node within this node that spans the given range of
    (row, column) positions

Query                                                   *lua-treesitter-query*

Tree-sitter queries are supported, they are a way to do pattern-matching over
a tree, using a simple to write lisp-like format. See
https://tree-sitter.github.io/tree-sitter/using-parsers#query-syntax for more
information on how to write queries.

Note: The predicates listed in the web page above differ from those Neovim
supports. See |lua-treesitter-predicates| for a complete list of predicates
supported by Neovim.

A `query` consists of one or more patterns. A `pattern` is defined over node
types in the syntax tree.  A `match` corresponds to specific elements of the
syntax tree which match a pattern. Patterns may optionally define captures
and predicates. A `capture` allows you to associate names with a specific
node in a pattern. A `predicate` adds arbitrary metadata and conditional data
to a match.

Treesitter Query Predicates                         *lua-treesitter-predicates*

When writing queries for treesitter, one might use `predicates`, that is,
special scheme nodes that are evaluated to verify things on a captured node
for example, the |eq?| predicate : >
    ((identifier) @foo (#eq? @foo "foo"))

This will only match identifier corresponding to the `"foo"` text.
Here is a list of built-in predicates :

    `eq?`                                                   *ts-predicate-eq?*
        This predicate will check text correspondence between nodes or
        strings: >
            ((identifier) @foo (#eq? @foo "foo"))
            ((node1) @left (node2) @right (#eq? @left @right))
<
    `match?`                                        *ts-predicate-match?*
    `vim-match?`                                    *ts-predicate-vim-match?*
        This will match if the provided vim regex matches the text
        corresponding to a node: >
            ((identifier) @constant (#match? @constant "^[A-Z_]+$"))
<       Note: the `^` and `$` anchors will respectively match the start and
              end of the node's text.

    `lua-match?`                                    *ts-predicate-lua-match?*
        This will match the same way than |match?| but using lua regexes.

    `contains?`                                     *ts-predicate-contains?*
        Will check if any of the following arguments appears in the text
        corresponding to the node: >
            ((identifier) @foo (#contains? @foo "foo"))
            ((identifier) @foo-bar (#contains @foo-bar "foo" "bar"))
<
    `any-of?`                                       *ts-predicate-any-of?*
        Will check if the text is the same as any of the following arguments: >
            ((identifier) @foo (#any-of? @foo "foo" "bar"))
<
        This is the recommended way to check if the node matches one of many
        keywords for example, as it has been optimized for this.
<
                                                 *lua-treesitter-not-predicate*
Each predicate has a `not-` prefixed predicate that is just the negation of
the predicate.

                                         *vim.treesitter.query.add_predicate()*
vim.treesitter.query.add_predicate({name}, {handler})

This adds a predicate with the name {name} to be used in queries.
{handler} should be a function whose signature will be : >
        handler(match, pattern, bufnr, predicate)
<
                                       *vim.treesitter.query.list_predicates()*
vim.treesitter.query.list_predicates()

This lists the currently available predicates to use in queries.

Treesitter Query Directive                          *lua-treesitter-directives*

Treesitter queries can also contain `directives`. Directives store metadata
for a node or match and perform side effects. For example, the |set!|
predicate sets metadata on the match or node : >
        ((identifier) @foo (#set! "type" "parameter"))

Built-in directives:

    `set!`                                                  *ts-directive-set!*
        Sets key/value metadata for a specific match or capture. Value is
        accessible as either `metadata[key]` (match specific) or
        `metadata[capture_id][key]` (capture specific).

        Parameters: ~
            {capture_id} (optional)
            {key}
            {value}

        Examples: >
            ((identifier) @foo (#set! @foo "kind" "parameter"))
            ((node1) @left (node2) @right (#set! "type" "pair"))
<
    `offset!`                                           *ts-directive-offset!*
        Takes the range of the captured node and applies an offset. This will
        generate a new range object for the captured node as
        `metadata[capture_id].range`.

        Parameters: ~
            {capture_id}
            {start_row}
            {start_col}
            {end_row}
            {end_col}

        Example: >
            ((identifier) @constant (#offset! @constant 0 1 0 -1))
<

Treesitter syntax highlighting (WIP)                 *lua-treesitter-highlight*

NOTE: This is a partially implemented feature, and not usable as a default
solution yet. What is documented here is a temporary interface intended
for those who want to experiment with this feature and contribute to
its development.

Highlights are defined in the same query format as in the tree-sitter
highlight crate, with some limitations and additions. Set a highlight query
for a buffer with this code: >

    local query = [[
      "for" @keyword
      "if" @keyword
      "return" @keyword

      (string_literal) @string
      (number_literal) @number
      (comment) @comment

      (preproc_function_def name: (identifier) @function)

      ; ... more definitions
    ]]

    highlighter = vim.treesitter.TSHighlighter.new(query, bufnr, lang)
    -- alternatively, to use the current buffer and its filetype:
    -- highlighter = vim.treesitter.TSHighlighter.new(query)

    -- Don't recreate the highlighter for the same buffer, instead
    -- modify the query like this:
    local query2 = [[ ... ]]
    highlighter:set_query(query2)

As mentioned above the supported predicate is currently only `eq?`. `match?`
predicates behave like matching always fails. As an addition a capture which
begin with an upper-case letter like `@WarningMsg` will map directly to this
highlight group, if defined. Also if the predicate begins with upper-case and
contains a dot only the part before the first will be interpreted as the
highlight group. As an example, this warns of a binary expression with two
identical identifiers, highlighting both as |hl-WarningMsg|: >

    ((binary_expression left: (identifier) @WarningMsg.left right: (identifier) @WarningMsg.right)
     (eq? @WarningMsg.left @WarningMsg.right))
<
Treesitter Highlighting Priority            *lua-treesitter-highlight-priority*

Tree-sitter uses |nvim_buf_set_extmark()| to set highlights with a default
priority of 100. This enables plugins to set a highlighting priority lower or
higher than tree-sitter. It is also possible to change the priority of an
individual query pattern manually by setting its `"priority"` metadata
attribute: >

    (
      (super_important_node) @ImportantHighlight
      ; Give the whole query highlight priority higher than the default (100)
      (set! "priority" 105)
    )
<

==============================================================================
Lua module: vim.treesitter                               *lua-treesitter-core*

get_parser({bufnr}, {lang}, {opts})                             *get_parser()*
    Gets the parser for this bufnr / ft combination.

    If needed this will create the parser. Unconditionally attach the provided
    callback

    Parameters: ~
        {bufnr}  The buffer the parser should be tied to
        {lang}   The filetype of this parser
        {opts}   Options object to pass to the created language tree

    Return: ~
        The parser

get_string_parser({str}, {lang}, {opts})                 *get_string_parser()*
    Gets a string parser

    Parameters: ~
        {str}   The string to parse
        {lang}  The language of this string
        {opts}  Options to pass to the created language tree


==============================================================================
Lua module: vim.treesitter.language                      *treesitter-language*

inspect_language({lang})                                  *inspect_language()*
    Inspects the provided language.

    Inspecting provides some useful information on the language like node
    names, ...

    Parameters: ~
        {lang}  The language.

require_language({lang}, {path}, {silent})                *require_language()*
    Asserts that the provided language is installed, and optionally provide a
    path for the parser

    Parsers are searched in the `parser` runtime directory.

    Parameters: ~
        {lang}    The language the parser should parse
        {path}    Optional path the parser is located at
        {silent}  Don't throw an error if language not found


==============================================================================
Lua module: vim.treesitter.query                            *treesitter-query*

add_directive({name}, {handler}, {force})                    *add_directive()*
    Adds a new directive to be used in queries

    Handlers can set match level data by setting directly on the metadata
    object `metadata.key = value`, additionally, handlers can set node level
    data by using the capture id on the metadata table
    `metadata[capture_id].key = value`

    Parameters: ~
        {name}     the name of the directive, without leading #
        {handler}  the handler function to be used signature will be (match,
                   pattern, bufnr, predicate, metadata)

add_predicate({name}, {handler}, {force})                    *add_predicate()*
    Adds a new predicate to be used in queries

    Parameters: ~
        {name}     the name of the predicate, without leading #
        {handler}  the handler function to be used signature will be (match,
                   pattern, bufnr, predicate)

get_node_text({node}, {source})                              *get_node_text()*
    Gets the text corresponding to a given node

    Parameters: ~
        {node}    the node
        {source}  The buffer or string from which the node is extracted

get_query({lang}, {query_name})                                  *get_query()*
    Returns the runtime query {query_name} for {lang}.

    Parameters: ~
        {lang}        The language to use for the query
        {query_name}  The name of the query (i.e. "highlights")

    Return: ~
        The corresponding query, parsed.

                                                           *get_query_files()*
get_query_files({lang}, {query_name}, {is_included})
    Gets the list of files used to make up a query

    Parameters: ~
        {lang}         The language
        {query_name}   The name of the query to load
        {is_included}  Internal parameter, most of the time left as `nil`

list_directives()                                          *list_directives()*
    Lists the currently available directives to use in queries.

    Return: ~
        The list of supported directives.

list_predicates()                                          *list_predicates()*
    Return: ~
        The list of supported predicates.

parse_query({lang}, {query})                                   *parse_query()*
    Parse {query} as a string. (If the query is in a file, the caller should
    read the contents into a string before calling).

    Returns a `Query` (see |lua-treesitter-query|) object which can be used to
    search nodes in the syntax tree for the patterns defined in {query} using
    `iter_*` methods below.

    Exposes `info` and `captures` with additional context about {query}.
    • `captures` contains the list of unique capture names defined in {query}.
      -`info.captures` also points to `captures`.
    • `info.patterns` contains information about predicates.

    Parameters: ~
        {lang}   (string) The language
        {query}  (string) A string containing the query (s-expr syntax)

    Return: ~
        The query

                                                       *Query:iter_captures()*
Query:iter_captures({self}, {node}, {source}, {start}, {stop})
    Iterate over all captures from all matches inside {node}

    {source} is needed if the query contains predicates, then the caller must
    ensure to use a freshly parsed tree consistent with the current text of
    the buffer (if relevant). {start_row} and {end_row} can be used to limit
    matches inside a row range (this is typically used with root node as the
    node, i e to get syntax highlight matches in the current viewport). When
    omitted the start and end row values are used from the given node.

    The iterator returns three values, a numeric id identifying the capture,
    the captured node, and metadata from any directives processing the match.
    The following example shows how to get captures by name:
>

    for id, node, metadata in query:iter_captures(tree:root(), bufnr, first, last) do
      local name = query.captures[id] -- name of the capture in the query
      -- typically useful info about the node:
      local type = node:type() -- type of the captured node
      local row1, col1, row2, col2 = node:range() -- range of the capture
      ... use the info here ...
    end
<

    Parameters: ~
        {node}    The node under which the search will occur
        {source}  The source buffer or string to extract text from
        {start}   The starting line of the search
        {stop}    The stopping line of the search (end-exclusive)
        {self}

    Return: ~
        The matching capture id
        The captured node

                                                        *Query:iter_matches()*
Query:iter_matches({self}, {node}, {source}, {start}, {stop})
    Iterates the matches of self on a given range.

    Iterate over all matches within a node. The arguments are the same as for
    |query:iter_captures()| but the iterated values are different: an
    (1-based) index of the pattern in the query, a table mapping capture
    indices to nodes, and metadata from any directives processing the match.
    If the query has more than one pattern the capture table might be sparse,
    and e.g. `pairs()` method should be used over `ipairs`. Here an example
    iterating over all captures in every match:
>

    for pattern, match, metadata in cquery:iter_matches(tree:root(), bufnr, first, last) do
      for id, node in pairs(match) do
        local name = query.captures[id]
        -- `node` was captured by the `name` capture in the match

        local node_data = metadata[id] -- Node level metadata

        ... use the info here ...
      end
    end
<

    Parameters: ~
        {node}    The node under which the search will occur
        {source}  The source buffer or string to search
        {start}   The starting line of the search
        {stop}    The stopping line of the search (end-exclusive)
        {self}

    Return: ~
        The matching pattern id
        The matching match

set_query({lang}, {query_name}, {text})                          *set_query()*
    Sets the runtime query {query_name} for {lang}

    This allows users to override any runtime files and/or configuration set
    by plugins.

    Parameters: ~
        {lang}        string: The language to use for the query
        {query_name}  string: The name of the query (i.e. "highlights")
        {text}        string: The query text (unparsed).


==============================================================================
Lua module: vim.treesitter.highlighter                *treesitter-highlighter*

new({tree}, {opts})                                        *highlighter.new()*
    Creates a new highlighter using

    Parameters: ~
        {tree}  The language tree to use for highlighting
        {opts}  Table used to configure the highlighter
                • queries: Table to overwrite queries used by the highlighter

TSHighlighter:destroy({self})                        *TSHighlighter:destroy()*
    Removes all internal references to the highlighter

    Parameters: ~
        {self}

TSHighlighter:get_query({self}, {lang})            *TSHighlighter:get_query()*
    Gets the query used for

    Parameters: ~
        {lang}  A language used by the highlighter.
        {self}


==============================================================================
Lua module: vim.treesitter.languagetree              *treesitter-languagetree*

LanguageTree:add_child({self}, {lang})              *LanguageTree:add_child()*
    Adds a child language to this tree.

    If the language already exists as a child, it will first be removed.

    Parameters: ~
        {lang}  The language to add.
        {self}

LanguageTree:children({self})                        *LanguageTree:children()*
    Returns a map of language to child tree.

    Parameters: ~
        {self}

LanguageTree:contains({self}, {range})               *LanguageTree:contains()*
    Determines whether {range} is contained in this language tree

    Parameters: ~
        {range}  A range, that is a `{ start_line, start_col, end_line,
                 end_col }` table.
        {self}

LanguageTree:destroy({self})                          *LanguageTree:destroy()*
    Destroys this language tree and all its children.

    Any cleanup logic should be performed here.

    Note: This DOES NOT remove this tree from a parent. Instead, `remove_child` must be called on the parent to remove it.

    Parameters: ~
        {self}

                                               *LanguageTree:for_each_child()*
LanguageTree:for_each_child({self}, {fn}, {include_self})
    Invokes the callback for each LanguageTree and it's children recursively

    Parameters: ~
        {fn}            The function to invoke. This is invoked with arguments
                        (tree: LanguageTree, lang: string)
        {include_self}  Whether to include the invoking tree in the results.
        {self}

LanguageTree:for_each_tree({self}, {fn})        *LanguageTree:for_each_tree()*
    Invokes the callback for each treesitter trees recursively.

    Note, this includes the invoking language tree's trees as well.

    Parameters: ~
        {fn}    The callback to invoke. The callback is invoked with arguments
                (tree: TSTree, languageTree: LanguageTree)
        {self}

LanguageTree:included_regions({self})        *LanguageTree:included_regions()*
    Gets the set of included regions

    Parameters: ~
        {self}

LanguageTree:invalidate({self}, {reload})          *LanguageTree:invalidate()*
    Invalidates this parser and all its children

    Parameters: ~
        {self}

LanguageTree:is_valid({self})                        *LanguageTree:is_valid()*
    Determines whether this tree is valid. If the tree is invalid, call `parse()` . This will return the updated tree.

    Parameters: ~
        {self}

LanguageTree:lang({self})                                *LanguageTree:lang()*
    Gets the language of this tree node.

    Parameters: ~
        {self}

                                           *LanguageTree:language_for_range()*
LanguageTree:language_for_range({self}, {range})
    Gets the appropriate language that contains {range}

    Parameters: ~
        {range}  A text range, see |LanguageTree:contains|
        {self}

LanguageTree:parse({self})                              *LanguageTree:parse()*
    Parses all defined regions using a treesitter parser for the language this
    tree represents. This will run the injection query for this language to
    determine if any child languages should be created.

    Parameters: ~
        {self}

LanguageTree:register_cbs({self}, {cbs})         *LanguageTree:register_cbs()*
    Registers callbacks for the parser.

    Parameters: ~
        {cbs}   (table) An |nvim_buf_attach()|-like table argument with the
                following keys :
                • `on_bytes` : see |nvim_buf_attach()|, but this will be called after the parsers callback.
                • `on_changedtree` : a callback that will be called every time
                  the tree has syntactical changes. It will only be passed one
                  argument, which is a table of the ranges (as node ranges)
                  that changed.
                • `on_child_added` : emitted when a child is added to the
                  tree.
                • `on_child_removed` : emitted when a child is removed from
                  the tree.
        {self}

LanguageTree:remove_child({self}, {lang})        *LanguageTree:remove_child()*
    Removes a child language from this tree.

    Parameters: ~
        {lang}  The language to remove.
        {self}

                                         *LanguageTree:set_included_regions()*
LanguageTree:set_included_regions({self}, {regions})
    Sets the included regions that should be parsed by this parser. A region
    is a set of nodes and/or ranges that will be parsed in the same context.

    For example, `{ { node1 }, { node2} }` is two separate regions. This will
    be parsed by the parser in two different contexts... thus resulting in two
    separate trees.

    `{ { node1, node2 } }` is a single region consisting of two nodes. This
    will be parsed by the parser in a single context... thus resulting in a
    single tree.

    This allows for embedded languages to be parsed together across different
    nodes, which is useful for templating languages like ERB and EJS.

    Note, this call invalidates the tree and requires it to be parsed again.

    Parameters: ~
        {regions}  (table) list of regions this tree should manage and parse.
        {self}

LanguageTree:source({self})                            *LanguageTree:source()*
    Returns the source content of the language tree (bufnr or string).

    Parameters: ~
        {self}

LanguageTree:trees({self})                              *LanguageTree:trees()*
    Returns all trees this language tree contains. Does not include child
    languages.

    Parameters: ~
        {self}

new({source}, {lang}, {opts})                             *languagetree.new()*
    Represents a single treesitter parser for a language. The language can
    contain child languages with in its range, hence the tree.

    Parameters: ~
        {source}           Can be a bufnr or a string of text to parse
        {lang}             The language this tree represents
        {opts}             Options table
        {opts.injections}  A table of language to injection query strings.
                           This is useful for overriding the built-in runtime
                           file searching for the injection language query per
                           language.

 vim:tw=78:ts=8:sw=4:sts=4:et:ft=help:norl: