Syntax highlighting for GitHub files

With Hugo you can syntactically highlight code samples using:

  1. Fenced code blocks in Markdown
  2. The highlight shortcode in Markdown
  3. The transform.Highlight function in templates

Each of these methods works with local code samples. When our code resides in a GitHub repository, we typically cut and paste and use method 1 or 2 above. Instead, why not capture and highlight the code directly from a GitHub repository?

Hugo provides a couple of remarkably useful template functions for working with remote data:

Combine those with the transform.Highlight function to embed and highlight code samples directly from your GitHub repository.

Example

Let’s capture and highlight some code from the Linux project:

{{< highlight-github
  owner=torvalds
  repo=linux
  path=kernel/time/time.c
  lines=62-72
  hl_lines=66-69
>}}
62SYSCALL_DEFINE1(time, __kernel_old_time_t __user *, tloc)
63{
64	__kernel_old_time_t i = (__kernel_old_time_t)ktime_get_real_seconds();
65
66	if (tloc) {
67		if (put_user(i,tloc))
68			return -EFAULT;
69	}
70	force_successful_syscall_return();
71	return i;
72}

Arguments

The highlight-github shortcode requires three arguments: owner, repo, and path. Other arguments are optional.

owner
(string) The repository owner.
repo
(string) The repository name.
path
(string) The path to the file.
branch
(string) Optional. The repository branch or commit hash. Default is the repository’s default branch.
lines
(string) Optional. The lines to include, in the format n-n (first-last).
hl_lines
(string) Optional. The lines to highlight, in the format n-n (first-last).
lang
(string) Optional. The code language. Default is the file extension, falling back to text.
linenos
(any) Optional. One of true, false, inline, or table. Default is inline.
showlink
(bool) Optional. Whether to display a link to the file. Default is true.
style
(string) Optional. The CSS styles to apply to the highlighted code. See examples.

Source code

layouts/shortcodes/highlight-github.html
{{- /* Last modified: 2024-08-09T14:24:24-07:00 */}}

{{- /*
Copyright 2024 Veriphor, LLC

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not
use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of
the License at

https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
the License.
*/}}

{{- /*
Renders highlighted code from a file in a GitHub repository.

@param {string} owner The repository owner.
@param {string} repo The repository name.
@param {string} path The path to the file.
@param {string} [branch=default] The repository branch or commit hash.
@param {string} [lines] The lines to include, in the format n-n (first-last).
@param {string} [hl_lines] The lines to highlight, in the format n-n (first-last).
@param {string} [lang] The code language, defaults to file extension, falling back to text.
@param {any} [linenos=inline] One of true, false, inline, or table.
@param {bool} [showlink=true] Whether to display a link to the file.
@param {string} [style] The CSS styles to apply to the highlighted code.

@returns {template.HTML}

@ref https://gohugo.io/functions/transform/highlight/
@ref https://xyproto.github.io/splash/docs/

@examples

  {{< highlight-github owner=torvalds repo=linux path=kernel/time/time.c >}}

  {{< highlight-github
      owner=torvalds
      repo=linux
      path=kernel/time/time.c
      lines=55-73
      lang=c
      hl_lines=67-70
      linenos=false
      showlink=false
      branch=b73f0c8f4ba810cd753031d18f4fab83bd9ac58f
  >}}

*/}}

{{- /* Verify minimum required version. */}}
{{- $minHugoVersion := "0.125.6" }}
{{- if lt hugo.Version $minHugoVersion }}
  {{- errorf "The %s shortcode requires Hugo v%s or later." .Name $minHugoVersion }}
{{- end }}

{{- /* Set defaults */}}
{{- $lineNos := "inline" }}
{{- $showLink := true }}

{{- /* Set constants. */}}
{{- $tld := "github.com" }}
{{- $apiBase := "https://api.github.com" }}

{{- /* Get required parameters. */}}
{{- $owner := or (.Get "owner") "" }}
{{- $repo := or (.Get "repo") "" }}
{{- $path := or (.Get "path") "" }}

{{- if and $owner $repo $path }}

  {{- /* Get branch. */}}
  {{- $apiEndPoint := urls.JoinPath $apiBase "repos" $owner $repo }}
  {{- $data := "" }}
  {{- with resources.GetRemote $apiEndPoint }}
    {{- with .Err }}
      {{- errorf "%s" . }}
    {{- else }}
      {{- $data = . | transform.Unmarshal }}
    {{- end }}
  {{- else }}
    {{- errorf "Unable to get remote resource %q" $apiEndPoint }}
  {{- end }}
  {{- $branch := or (.Get "branch") $data.default_branch }}

  {{- /* Get content. */}}
  {{- $apiEndPoint := urls.JoinPath $apiBase "repos" $owner $repo "contents" $path }}
  {{- $query := querify "ref" $branch }}
  {{- $apiEndPoint = printf "%s?%s" $apiEndPoint $query }}
  {{- $data := "" }}
  {{- with resources.GetRemote $apiEndPoint }}
    {{- with .Err }}
      {{- errorf "%s" . }}
    {{- else }}
      {{- $data = . | transform.Unmarshal }}
    {{- end }}
  {{- else }}
    {{- errorf "Unable to get remote resource %q" $apiEndPoint }}
  {{- end }}
  {{- $content := ($data.content | base64Decode) }}

  {{- /* Get subset of content if lines parameter is set. */}}
  {{- $lineNoStart := 1 }}
  {{- $lineNoEnd := 0 }}
  {{- with .Get "lines" }}
    {{- if findRE `^\d+-\d+` . }}
      {{- $lineNoStart = index (split . "-") 0 | int }}
      {{- $lineNoEnd = index (split . "-") 1 | int }}
      {{- $contentLines := split $content "\n" }}
      {{- $contentLines = $contentLines | after (sub $lineNoStart 1) | first (add 1 (sub $lineNoEnd $lineNoStart ))}}
      {{- $content = add (delimit $contentLines "\n") "\n" }}
    {{- else }}
      {{- errorf "The %q shortcode requires the lines parameter to have the format n-n. See %s" $.Name $.Position }}
    {{- end }}
  {{- end }}

  {{- /* Determine which lines to highlight, if any. */}}
  {{- $hl_lines := "" }}
  {{- with .Get "hl_lines" }}
    {{- if findRE `^\d+-\d+` . }}
      {{- $hl_start := add 1 (sub (index (split . "-") 0 | int) $lineNoStart) }}
      {{- $hl_end := add 1 (sub (index (split . "-") 1 | int) $lineNoStart) }}
      {{- $hl_lines = printf "%d-%d" $hl_start $hl_end }}
    {{- else }}
      {{- errorf "The %q shortcode requires the lines parameter to have the format n-n. See %s" $.Name $.Position }}
    {{- end }}
  {{- end }}

  {{- /* Set highlighting options. */}}
  {{- $temp := .Get "linenos" }}
  {{- if in (slice "false" false 0) $temp }}
    {{- $lineNos = false }}
  {{- else if in (slice "true" true 1) $temp }}
    {{- $lineNos = true }}
  {{- else if in (slice "inline" "table") $temp }}
    {{- $lineNos = $temp }}
  {{- end }}
  {{- $opts := dict "linenostart" $lineNoStart "linenos" $lineNos }}
  {{- with $hl_lines }}
    {{- $opts = merge $opts (dict "hl_lines" $hl_lines) }}
  {{- end }}
  {{- with .Get "style" }}
    {{- $opts = merge $opts (dict "style" .) }}
  {{- end }}

  {{- /* Determine language and highlight the code. */}}
  {{- $lang := or (.Get "lang") (path.Ext $path | strings.TrimPrefix "." ) "text" }}
  {{- highlight $content $lang $opts }}

  {{- /* Render link to blob. */}}
  {{- $temp := .Get "showlink" }}
  {{- if in (slice "false" false 0) $temp }}
    {{- $showLink = false }}
  {{- else if in (slice "true" true 1) $temp }}
    {{- $showLink = true }}
  {{- end }}
  {{- if $showLink }}
    {{- $href := urls.JoinPath "https://" $tld $owner $repo "blob" $branch $path }}
    {{- if $lineNoEnd }}
      {{- $href = printf "%s#%s" $href (printf "L%d-L%d" $lineNoStart $lineNoEnd) }}
    {{- end }}
    <div class="highlight-github-link">
      <a href="{{ $href }}">{{ $href }}</a>
    </div>
  {{- end }}

{{- else }}
  {{- errorf "The %q shortcode requires three named parameters: owner, repo, and path. See %s" .Name .Position }}
{{- end }}
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