Use Colors

Click the Use Colors button on the Editors page in the Preferences dialog to customize the color palette that RegexBuddy uses for all the programming languages that the Use panel has syntax coloring schemes for.

Color Palettes

• Default light: The default color palette when the white theme is selected in the View menu. The palette’s plain text color uses the theme’s window text and background colors, which for the white theme are the default window text and background colors used by Windows itself. In Windows 7 you can change these colors in the Appearance section in the Windows Control Panel. Windows 10 and 11 don’t have these settings, but still allow the window colors to be changed by loading a Windows 7 theme or changing some registry keys. This palette has distinct colors for almost all of the items. Choose this configuration if you like very detailed syntax coloring on the Use panel.
• Default dark: The default color palette when the dark or black theme is selected in the View menu. The palette’s plain text color uses the theme’s window text and background colors, which are white on dark gray for the dark theme and white on black for the black theme.
• Silver: Same colors as the default light palette, but with black text on a silver background. This is easier on the eyes if your monitor has a very high brightness.
• Gray: Same colors as the default dark palette, but with white text on a gray background that is not as dark as the dark gray used by the dark theme. The reduced contrast is easier on the eyes on monitors with very deep blacks.
• JGsoft classic: The color scheme used on the Use panel in RegexBuddy 1 and 2. The palette’s plain text color uses the theme’s window text and background colors. Only works well with the light theme. RegexBuddy 1 and 2 did not have any other themes. Uses a limited set of different colors for syntax coloring.
• Harmonized light: Uses shades of dark gray for plain text and shades of light gray for background and highlighting. Uses 12 colors that are equidistant on the color wheel and of equal brightness for syntax coloring. This gives your files a uniform low-contrast look. Bracket and search match highlighting is done with underlining using some of those 12 colors.
• Harmonized dark: Uses the opposite shades of gray as “harmonized light” and exactly the same 12 colors for syntax coloring.
• Harmonized shades light: Same as “harmonized light”, but adds a lighter, less saturated shade of the 12 colors for things like bracket and search match highlighting.
• Harmonized shades dark: Same as “harmonized dark”, but adds a darker, less saturated shade of the 12 colors for things like bracket and search match highlighting.
• Harmonized shades print: Same as “harmonized shades light”, but using pure black on pure white for plain text.
• Solarized light: Using the 16 colors of the Solarized palette created by Ethan Schoonover.
• Solarized dark: Same as “solarized light” but using the opposite content and background tones.
• Amber: Amber text on a dark gray background like old terminal monitors. Uses a mixture of green and other colors for syntax coloring.
• Green: Green text on a dark gray background like old terminal monitors. Uses a mixture of amber and other colors for syntax coloring.
• Night light: Very dark palette with amber text. Uses some yellow and green for syntax coloring. Does not use any blue colors.
• Sunshine: Colorful palette with a pastel yellow background.
• Log cabin: Colorful palette with a dark brown background.
• Blue sky: Colorful palette with a sky blue background.
• Twilight: Colorful palette with a navy blue background.
• Monochrome light: Dark gray text on a light gray background. Uses different shades of gray for highlighting. Uses bold, italic, underlining, and a few different shades of gray for syntax coloring.
• Monochrome dark: As “monochrome light” with the inverse shades of gray.
• Monochrome amber: Amber text on a dark gray background like old terminal monitors. Uses different shades of gray for highlighting. Uses bold, italic, underlining, and a few different shades of amber for syntax coloring.
• Monochrome green: Green text on a dark gray background like old terminal monitors. Uses different shades of gray for highlighting. Uses bold, italic, underlining, and a few different shades of green for syntax coloring.
• Monochrome print: As “monochrome light” but with pure black text on a pure white background.
• Red-green color blind light: Intended for people who cannot perceive the difference between red and green. All colors have equal amounts of red and green. Dark gray text on a light gray background. Uses shades of yellow and blue for highlighting and syntax coloring.
• Red-green color blind dark: As “red-green color blind light” but with light gray text on a dark gray background.
• Red-green color blind print: As “red-green color blind light” but with pure black text on a pure white background.
• Yellow-blue color blind light: Intended for people who cannot perceive the difference between yellow and blue. All colors have equal amounts of green and blue. Dark gray text on a light gray background. Uses shades of red and cyan for highlighting and syntax coloring.
• Yellow-blue color blind dark: As “yellow-blue color blind light” but with light gray text on a dark gray background.
• Yellow-blue color blind print: As “yellow-blue color blind light” but with pure black text on a pure white background.
• Visual Studio light: Emulates the colors used by Microsoft’s Visual Studio light theme. Only works well with the light theme because it uses the theme’s window text and background colors.
• Visual Studio dark: Emulates the colors used by Microsoft’s Visual Studio dark theme.
• Embarcadero: Emulates the colors used by recent versions of Delphi and C++Builder. Only works well with the light theme because it uses the theme’s window text and background colors.
• Embarcadero dark: Emulates the colors used by the dark theme in recent versions of Delphi and C++Builder.
• Borland classic: Emulates the colors used by old Borland development tools for DOS, with yellow text on a blue background.
• PowerShell ISE light: Emulates the light colors used by the Windows PowerShell ISE.
• PowerShell ISE dark: Emulates the dark colors used by the Windows PowerShell ISE.

List of Individual Colors

The colors prefixed with “syntax” are the named colors used by syntax coloring schemes. The descriptions given here are the suggested uses of these colors. The syntax coloring schemes provided with RegexBuddy strictly follow these suggested uses, though most schemes do not use all of the colors. Syntax coloring schemes created by other RegexBuddy users may use these colors to highlight other things.

The colors prefixed with “editor” are used to draw various parts of the Use panel’s editor control. These colors are not used by syntax coloring schemes. The editor uses these colors even when the source code template does not use a syntax coloring scheme.

• Editor: Plain text: The default text colors. The editor’s background is filled with this color, and text that is not syntax colored is drawn in this text color.
• Editor: Selected text: Selection highlight.
• Syntax: Local link: Clickable link to a file on the user’s computer or local network. Only use this color for scheme elements with an action to open the file.
• Syntax: Internet link: Clickable link to a web page, file or email address. Only use this color for scheme elements with an action to open a file or URL, or start an email.
• Syntax: Emphasis: Text in a document that will appear in italics when the document is printed or published.
• Syntax: Strong: Text in a document that will appear bold when the document is printed or published.
• Syntax: Strong emphasis: Text in a document that will appear bold and in italics when the document is printed or published.
• Syntax: Underline: Text in a document that will appear underlined with the document is printed or published.
• Syntax: Redacted: Text that will not appear at all when the document is printed or published.
• Syntax: Label: An indicator that does not need emphasis, such as a fixed label before the actual data.
• Syntax: Caption: An indicator that can use some emphasis, such as a subsection header or a title.
• Syntax: Markup tag: Opening or closing tag in markup languages.
• Syntax: Markup tag attribute: Attribute name in markup languages.
• Syntax: Markup tag attribute value: Attribute value in markup languages.
• Syntax: Markup tag delimiter: Punctuation that starts or ends a tag in markup languages.
• Syntax: Markup entity: An entity name or a numeric character reference in markup languages.
• Syntax: Comment: Human-readable text used for information only.
• Syntax: Documentation comment: Human-readable text of particular importance, used for information only.
• Syntax: Preprocessor statement: Any kind of meta-information, such as compiler and preprocessor directives.
• Syntax: Reserved word: Words or character combinations with a specific meaning and specific use, such as keywords in a programming language.
• Syntax: Function name: The name of a (built-in) function call in a programming language, or a reference in a document.
• Syntax: Variable name: The name of a (built-in) variable in a programming language, or a placeholder for a changeable value or macro in a document.
• Syntax: Type name: The name of a (built-in) type or class in a programming language.
• Syntax: Constant name: The name of a (built-in) constant in a programming language, or a fixed placeholder in a document.
• Syntax: Constant value: A literal value that does not fit one of the following literal types.
• Syntax: Character: A single human-readable character (letter). Can also be used for escaped characters within character strings.
• Syntax: Character string: Human-readable text to be processed by software.
• Syntax: Text pattern: A text pattern such as wild cards or a regular expression.
• Syntax: Integer number: A whole number. Could be decimal, hexadecimal, octal, or binary.
• Syntax: Floating point number: A number with a fractional part and/or an exponent.
• Syntax: Date and time: Any date or time.
• Syntax: Address: Text defining the location of a file or server, such as an IP address or URI. Use this for scheme elements that do not have an action to open or navigate to the address.
• Syntax: Operator: Any kind of mathematical operator or other symbol with a specific meaning or effect.
• Syntax: Bracket: Round, square, or curly brackets used in expressions, such as parentheses and square brackets in C-style languages.
• Syntax: Structural brackets: Round, square, or curly brackets used to group statements or items, such as curly braces in C-style languages.
• Syntax: Section header: Heading that starts a new section.
• Syntax: Success message: Message in tool output, a log file, or a report indicating successful completion.
• Syntax: Hint message: Informative hint message in tool output, a log file, or a report.
• Syntax: Warning message: Non-fatal warning message in tool output, a log file, or a report.
• Syntax: Error message: Fatal error message in tool output, a log file, or a report.
• Syntax: Markup highlight: Highlight color for subschemes that highlight markup in files that do not predominantly consist of markup.
• Syntax: Code highlight: Highlight color for subschemes that highlight procedural code in files that do not predominantly consist of procedural code.
• Syntax: Fountain highlight 1 to 10: Can be used in specialized schemes to make up to 10 different kinds of items stand out, such as to highlight different kinds of entries in log files.
• Editor: Highlight active line: The line containing the text cursor is highlighted in this color.
• Editor: Page break: Color of the horizontal line indicating a page break.
• Editor: Line breaks: Color used to draw line break symbols when you’ve turned on the option to visualize line breaks.
• Editor: Whitespace: Color used to draw whitespace. The background color is always used if you set it to anything other than “default”. The text color is used to draw the space and tab symbols when you turn on the option to visualize spaces.
• Editor: Control characters: Color used to draw control characters other than tabs and line breaks. Such control characters normally should not appear in text files.
• Editor: Invalid bytes: Color used to draw stair-stepped hex numbers to indicate bytes in the file that are not valid for the file’s encoding. These should not occur in source code snippets generated by RegexBuddy.
• Editor: Margin and line numbers: Color used for the left and top margins in which line numbers are displayed.
• Editor: Extra space between lines: If the text layout adds extra space between lines then this color is used for that extra space. This can simulate the appearance of lined paper.
• Editor: Matching brackets: Color used to highlight matching brackets that do not contain any unmatched brackets.
• Editor: Incorrectly nested brackets: Color used to highlight matching brackets that contain unmatched brackets.
• Editor: Unmatched brackets: Color used to highlight brackets that do not have a matching opening or closing bracket.

Example

When configuring syntax highlighting colors, you can select one of the available coloring schemes to see an example. Each coloring scheme has its own example text that shows the most important color elements of the scheme. You can double-click any text in the example to select the individual color that was applied by the syntax coloring scheme.

The example does not necessarily show all color elements. You can type in or paste in your own example to test the colors. Your example won’t be saved. If you select a different coloring scheme in the drop-down list then the example is reset to what is stored in the scheme.

Import and Export

When customizing the palettes for the Use panel in RegexBuddy 5, you can import palettes exported from the file type configuration in EditPad 8. RegexBuddy 5 can also import palettes exported after clicking Customize Editor Palette on the Appearance page in the Preferences in AceText 4.

If you export a palette when customizing the palettes for the Use panel in RegexBuddy 5 then you can import that palette while customizing the Editor palette in AceText 4. EditPad 8 cannot import RegexBuddy 5 palettes because it expects syntax colors and regex colors in the same palette, while RegexBuddy 5 uses separate palettes for those.

Older versions of these products did not have the ability to export and import palettes at all.