SGF Highlighter

Syntax highlighting for Smart Game Format (SGF) files in Visual Studio Code.

SGF is the standard file format for recording game records, primarily used for board games like Go (Weiqi/Baduk), but also Othello, Backgammon, and others.

Features

• Full SGF syntax highlighting for .sgf files
• Color-coded property identifiers by category:
  • Move properties (B, W) — stones played
  • Setup properties (AB, AW, AE) — board setup
  • Game info (SZ, PB, PW, RE, GM, FF, DT, RU, ...) — game metadata
  • Markup (TR, CR, SQ, LB, AR, MA, ...) — board annotations
  • Move annotations (BM, TE, DO, IT) — good/bad move markers
  • Position annotations (DM, GB, GW, UC) — position evaluation
  • Comments (C[...]) — highlighted as block comments
  • All other properties — generic property scope
• Escape sequence support (\], \\, \<newline>)
• Multi-value property support (AB[aa][bb][cc])
• Auto-closing brackets for () and []
• Bracket matching for game tree delimiters
• Document formatting — format SGF files with Shift+Alt+F or Format Document
  • Smart indentation based on game tree depth
  • Short single-property nodes concatenated on one line
  • Root node header split: short properties inline, long properties on separate lines
  • Variants formatted with )( on a single indented line
  • Respects VS Code formatting settings (tabs vs spaces, tab size)

Example

Syntax highlighting

(;GM[1]FF[4]SZ[19]PB[Honinbo Shusaku]PW[Gennan Inseki]
;B[pd]C[Classical opening]
;W[dp];B[pp]N[Star point]
;W[dd]
;B[qq]C[Approach move\] continuation]
)

Formatting

Unformatted input:

(;GM[1]FF[4]SZ[19]PB[Honinbo Shusaku]PW[Gennan Inseki];B[pd]C[Classical opening];W[dp];B[pp];W[dd];B[qq])

After Format Document:

(;GM[1]FF[4]SZ[19]

PB[Honinbo Shusaku]
PW[Gennan Inseki]

;B[pd]C[Classical opening]
;W[dp];B[pp]
;W[dd];B[qq]
)

Requirements

Visual Studio Code 1.115.0 or later.

Release Notes

0.1.0

• Full SGF syntax highlighting with color-coded property categories
• SGF document formatter with smart indentation
• Auto-closing brackets and bracket matching
• Escape sequence and multi-value property support