Fix Broken Syntax Highlighting for Git Commits In Vim

on vim, git 1 minute read

If you are using localized version of git and trying to open commits in vim (e.g. git commit or :Gstatus in fugitive) then syntax highlighting may be broken.

This is how commits looks like for Russian localization:

broken-syntax-highlighting

Changes that should be commited will use gitcommitComment syntax group instead of gitcommitSelectedType and gitcommitSelected. Also branch name didn't highlighted properly too.

To fix that, you need to force use of english localization in git. Add this alias to your shell rc file:

alias git='LANG=en_US.UTF-8 git'

If you are using git wrapper fugitive then you can change default git command for it:

let g:fugitive_git_executable = 'LANG=en_US.UTF-8 git'

This is how proper syntax highlighting should looks like:

fixed-syntax-highlighting