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Syntax Highlighting

Syntax Highlighting

Owned by Dmytro Stasyuk
Last updated: Oct 15, 2024
4 min read
[ 1 Gherkin Keywords ] [ 2 User Story Keywords ] [ 3 Simple Step Parameters ] [ 4 Scenario Outline Parameters ] [ 5 Doc String Step Parameters ] [ 6 XML Step Parameters ] [ 7 Tags ] [ 8 Comments ] [ 9 Questions & Answers ] [ 10 Invalid text ]

Gherkin Keywords

All Gherkin keywords are highlighted using colour and bold font

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No '*'

Note that using * (asterisk character) as a step keyword is not supported as it does not improve readability of the examples

User Story Keywords

The commonly used set of user story keywords (As a, I want to, So that) can be entered in the Feature title section like below:

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In order to

Instead of “So that” you can use “In order to” so that you can start with the why

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User story keywords don’t need to be at the start of the line and you can use either lower or upper case as needed

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The 'to’ part in the “I want to“ keyword can be omitted and in the “As a” keyword you can enter either “As a“ or “As an”

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Simple Step Parameters

Simple parameters (those that are on the same line as the step keyword) can be highlighted by simply wrapping them in single or double quotes

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Scenario Outline Parameters

<> delimited step parameters which are used as part of Scenario Template or Scenario Outline are highlighted automatically in orange

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Use autocomplete

Use autocompletion support to quickly populate Examples table header section with the names of the parameters that you have used in parameterized steps above. Simply press 'Ctrl+Space' to bring up the auto completion menu

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Scenario outline parameters are also supported inside tabular step parameters

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Doc String Step Parameters

Doc strings are highlighted in purple colour

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Backticks ```

The use of backtick characters instead of quotes is supported

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XML Step Parameters

If you enter 'xml' after the opening characters of a doc strings parameter then any XML that you enter before the closing doc strings characters is automatically syntax highlighted

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Tags

Tags are highlighted in grey colour

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Comments

Comments are highlighted in grey colour

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Fold comments

Comments spanning several lines can be conveniently folded using fold/unfold gutter icons

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Questions & Answers

A comment prefix character '#' is used followed by ‘Q:' or 'A:’ to highlight questions and answers respectively. Or the more elaborate version: “Question:“ and “Answer:”

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Tip - you can turn off the showing of gutter icons on the left via an editor menu option shown below

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Invalid text

If there is any text that according to the Cucumber Gherkin syntax does not belong to any of the Feature file elements, then it is underlined in red and an error icon is shown in the gutter

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Note that such errors to be highlighted the 'Errors' option in the Gutter options drop down menu must be turned on as shown below

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