Highlight Patterns

Recipes for common highlighting tasks. Full field reference: highlights.toml. The in-app editor (.addhighlight) walks you through the same fields.

Color Important Text

[creature_dead]
pattern = "appears dead"
fg = "#00ff00"
bold = true
category = "Combat"

[stunned]
pattern = "You are stunned"
fg = "#ff4500"
bold = true
sound = "alert.wav"
rumble = "long"           # buzz the controller too (optional)
category = "Warnings"

Highlight Names (Friends and Enemies)

Use fast_parse for lists of literal words — it’s much faster than regex:

[friends]
pattern = "Mandrill|Monolis|Chiora"
fg = "#ff00ff"
bold = true
fast_parse = true
category = "Players"

[enemies]
pattern = "Sihtric|Ehria"
fg = "#ffffff"
bg = "#8b0000"
bold = true
fast_parse = true
category = "Players"

Hide Spam (Squelch)

[ambient_spam]
pattern = "A cool breeze|The wind blows|A leaf falls"
fast_parse = true
squelch = true
category = "Squelch"

Route Lines to Another Window

[loot_lines]
pattern = "^You gather"
redirect_to = "loot"
redirect_mode = "redirect_copy"    # "redirect_only" (the default) to move instead of copy

Rewrite Text

Capture groups from the pattern are available as $1, $2:

[shorten_deaths]
pattern = "The death cry of (\\w+)"
replace = "† $1"
fg = "#ff0000"

Limit to One Stream or Window

[thought_names]
pattern = "^\\[(\\w+)\\]"
fg = "#9370db"
stream = "thoughts"       # only applies to the thoughts stream

For replacement patterns, window = "..." limits the replacement to one window by name (colors still apply everywhere). Both filter fields are editable in the TUI highlight form (.edithighlight).

Custom Statuses

A rule can drive a status icon of your own invention. Set these in the GUI highlight editor:

• Set status — a status id to activate when the rule matches (e.g. POISONED).
• Status duration — seconds until it clears itself; leave empty to keep it on until a clearing rule matches.
• Clear status — a status id to deactivate on match.

Any indicator or dashboard entry whose id matches lights up, exactly like the game’s built-in statuses — so it gets skin/pool icon art, the per-indicator icon picker, grayscale-when-inactive, and TUI glyphs for free. Typical use: regex a spell’s wear-off message into a status so you can see the buff drop:

[silver_lace_down]
pattern = "The silvery luminescence fades"
set_status = "SILVERLACE_DOWN"
status_duration = 30.0

Then add an indicator window with id SILVERLACE_DOWN (Indicator Templates editor) and pick an icon for it.

Test Your Patterns

Don’t wait for the game — inject a line:

.testline The death cry of Grimswarm echoes!

Tips

• Patterns are regexes: escape literal . ( [, use (?i) for case-insensitive, anchor with ^ where you can.
• Use category — the .highlights browser groups by it.
• Save variants per activity: .savehighlights hunting, .loadhighlights hunting.