How to generate a syntax highlighting file for vim from a syntax file for notepad++?

Question

I have to use a very specific software with its own syntax and file format: .htc.

I have been supplied a .xml and .lang that can be used for Notepad++ and gedit to support syntax highlighting but no such file for Vim.

Is there a way I can convert/import this to VIM?

Answer 1

Note 1: In the comments OP requested examples of syntax files in both formats, so this is not a complete answer but maybe some elements which could be useful to have in mind.

Note 2: My knowledge of Notepad++ is pretty limited so as said in the Note1 let's hope that someone with a deeper knowledge will see this post and make a better answer.

First to answer the question, as said here it seems that there is no existing tool able to automatically convert a Notepad++ language file to Vim syntax file. The main reason is that the vim syntax files use some very specific mechanisms which don't have equivalents in Notepad++. Hence translating a file might be much longer than writing one from scratch.

Here are some resources which might be useful:

• A documentation about user-defined Notepad++ language files.
• A list of Notepad++ language files.
• A wikia tip and a really good tutorial about Vim syntax files.

I think it is possible to get the keywords on the Notepad++ file to create a basic Vim file.

Once again this answer is not complete at all and really doesn't solve the problem.