GCC Syntax Highlighting – GCC internals in color
Extension version: 0.1.2
This repository contains a Visual Studio Code / VSCodium extension that adds syntax highlighting for GCC internals.
It is aimed at people working on GCC itself or regularly reading GCC dumps.
License
This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later (GPL-3.0-or-later).
See the LICENSE file for details.
What this is useful for
When hacking on GCC you often need to read and understand:
- Machine description files (
.md)
define_insn, define_expand, define_split, define_peephole2, iterators, attributes, match_operand, and RTL patterns.
- Embedded C/C++ blocks inside MD files.
- RTL dumps (files like
foo.c.176r.expand)
insn, jump_insn, call_insn, note, barrier, code_label, debug_insn records.
set, parallel, clobber, use, arithmetic and logical RTL operators.
- Registers and modes such as
reg:DI 3, vector modes, const_int and other constants.
- GIMPLE dumps (files like
foo.c.065t.ssa, foo.c.093t.optimized)
- Basic block headers like
<bb 3> and associated metadata.
- GIMPLE statements such as
gimple_call, gimple_assign, gimple_cond, gimple_switch, gimple_label.
- PHI nodes and SSA names so you can follow dataflow.
match.pd pattern files
match / simplify rules and helper definitions.
- Operator trees (e.g.
plus, mult, bit_and, lshift, cond, vec_perm, fma, etc.).
- Captures like
@x and @@y, plus embedded C/C++ action code.
Reading all of this as plain, uncolored text is painful. This extension provides TextMate grammars so that VS Code / VSCodium can:
- Color MD constructs (define forms, iterators, predicates, operands, RTL operators, modes, constants).
- Color RTL dumps (instruction kinds, UIDs, registers, modes, constants, and common RTL operators).
- Color GIMPLE dumps (basic blocks, common statement kinds, PHIs, SSA names, constants, and control-flow keywords).
- Color
match.pd (pattern headers, operators, captures, preprocessor lines, and C/C++ action blocks).
In short, this repo is useful any time you are:
- Developing or debugging GCC itself.
- Inspecting GIMPLE or RTL dumps produced by GCC.
- Working on
match.pd or .md files and want them to be readable inside VS Code / VSCodium instead of in a bare terminal.
Syntax Highlighting Preview
Match Pattern

GCC Machine Description

Publisher Trust & Security
This extension is open-source and published by Kishan Parmar.
Source code is publicly available on GitHub and can be audited by anyone.
No telemetry, tracking, or data collection is performed by this extension.
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