Syntax highlighting bugs of VIM 7.3 for BASH scripts [closed]

Question

I just upgraded OS from Ubuntu 8.04 to Ubuntu 12.04, as well as the corresponding VIM package. However, I found the syntax highlighting of newer VIM for BASH scripts is strange: (1) the colors of open and close parenthesis are different; (2) the color of comments seems wrong; (3) the BASH keyword in comment should not be highlighted. I have already add let g:is_bash=1 and syntax on into my ".vimrc" file. I am not sure whether this is a bug of VIM or something wrong of my settings. Any solutions to this problem? Thanks.

The screenshot of wrong syntax highlighting.

The screenshot of corresponding correct syntax highlighting:

The new (wrong) VIM version is: VIM - Vi IMproved 7.3 (2010 Aug 15, compiled May 4 2012 04:21:49) Included patches: 1-429

The old (correct) VIM version is: VIM - Vi IMproved 7.2 (2008 Aug 9, compiled Sep 21 2009 11:21:42) Included patches: 1-245

Answer 1

Firstly, all Bash syntax highlighters are broken in a thousand ways. This isn't unusual. You simply can't rely on editors to parse Bash correctly, the grammar just allows way too many complex possibilities. Vim does a better job than most.

Make sure you have the very latest syntax file from Dr Chip's page. It isn't always up-to-date in Vim.

I believe you're mostly noticing some basic error highlighting that was added at some point, which gets it wrong quite frequently and messes up your code with ugly red text. I noticed a new variable added a few versions back for disabling this that isn't documented yet. let g:sh_no_error=1 fixes up most of these issues for me.

As a side-note, anybody using terminal vim especailly with a 256-color scheme should really be using csapprox. Whenever I see screenshots of that weird light-blue color mixed with yellow it usually means csapprox isn't being used. I have no idea why it isn't included with vim and enabled by default.