Code Highlighter

A VSCode extension that allows you to highlight code with different colors using keyboard shortcuts. Perfect for marking important code sections, todos, or organizing your thoughts while reading code.

Features

• Fast keyboard-driven highlighting: Use Cmd+[1-9] to instantly highlight selected text
• Smart partial clearing: Remove only selected portions of highlights while keeping the rest intact
• Persistent highlights: Your highlights are saved and restored when files are reopened
• Configurable colors: Customize the highlight colors in your VSCode settings
• Dynamic adjustment: Highlights automatically adjust when you edit the code

Usage

Highlighting Text

1. Select the text you want to highlight
2. Press Cmd+[1-9] to apply a color:
   • Cmd+1 - Yellow highlight
   • Cmd+2 - Green highlight
   • Cmd+3 - Blue highlight
   • Cmd+4 - Red highlight
   • Cmd+5 - Purple highlight
   • Cmd+6 - Orange highlight
   • Cmd+7-9 - Additional colors (if configured)

Clearing Highlights

• Cmd+0 - Clear highlight from selected text (smart partial removal)
• Command Palette: "Clear All Highlights" - Remove all highlights from current file

Smart Partial Clearing

When you select part of a highlighted text and press Cmd+0:

• Only the selected portion gets unhighlighted
• If you select the middle, it splits the highlight into two parts
• If you select the beginning/end, it trims that portion

Example:

• Highlight: function myFunction()
• Select: Function (middle part)
• Press Cmd+0
• Result: function my and () remain highlighted, Function is cleared

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• codeHighlighter.colors: Array of colors to use for highlighting (with alpha channel)

Default colors:

{
  "codeHighlighter.colors": [
    "#4caf5040",  // Green
    "#ff572240",  // Red
    "#ffeb3b40",  // Yellow
    "#2196f340",  // Blue
    "#9c27b040",  // Purple
    "#ff980040"   // Orange
  ]
}

Customizing Colors

Add this to your VSCode settings.json to customize colors:

{
  "codeHighlighter.colors": [
    "#your-color-1",
    "#your-color-2",
    // ... up to 9 colors
  ]
}

Colors should be in hex format with alpha channel (e.g., #ff000040 for semi-transparent red).

Keyboard Shortcuts

Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts

You can customize the keyboard shortcuts to your preference using VSCode's built-in keybinding editor.

Method 1: Using the GUI (Recommended)

1. Open VSCode Settings (Cmd+, on macOS, Ctrl+, on Windows/Linux)
2. Click on "Keyboard Shortcuts" or press Cmd+K Cmd+S (on macOS) / Ctrl+K Ctrl+S (on Windows/Linux)
3. Search for "Code Highlighter" or "codeHighlighter"
4. Click the pencil icon next to any command to reassign its shortcut
5. Press your desired key combination and hit Enter

Method 2: Using keybindings.json

1. Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P)
2. Type "Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)" and select it
3. Add your custom keybindings:

{
  "key": "your-preferred-key",
  "command": "codeHighlighter.highlight1",
  "when": "editorTextFocus"
}

Available Commands

• codeHighlighter.highlight1 - Highlight with color 1
• codeHighlighter.highlight2 - Highlight with color 2
• codeHighlighter.highlight3 - Highlight with color 3
• codeHighlighter.highlight4 - Highlight with color 4
• codeHighlighter.highlight5 - Highlight with color 5
• codeHighlighter.highlight6 - Highlight with color 6
• codeHighlighter.highlight7 - Highlight with color 7
• codeHighlighter.highlight8 - Highlight with color 8
• codeHighlighter.highlight9 - Highlight with color 9
• codeHighlighter.clearHighlightAtSelection - Clear highlight at selection
• codeHighlighter.clearHighlights - Clear all highlights in file

Example Custom Keybindings

[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+1",
    "command": "codeHighlighter.highlight1",
    "when": "editorTextFocus"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+shift+0",
    "command": "codeHighlighter.clearHighlightAtSelection", 
    "when": "editorTextFocus"
  }
]