Stata Syntax Highlighting Plugin for Obsidian

Provides syntax highlighting for Stata code blocks (stata ... ) in Obsidian using CodeMirror 6. Supports standard Stata commands, functions, and comment styles.

Installation

Through the community plugins within Obsidian.

Manual Installation

https://github.com/onyxaegis/stata.obsidian

1. Download the latest release files (main.js, styles.css, manifest.json)
2. Create a folder named stata-syntax-highlighting in your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory
3. Copy the downloaded files into this folder
4. Restart Obsidian
5. Go to Settings → Community plugins
6. Find "Stata Syntax Highlighting" and toggle it on

Configuration

Customising colours with CSS Snippets.

If you'd like to override the default Stata highlighting colours used by this plugin, you can use CSS snippets.

Step 1: Enable the "CSS Snippets" plugin In Obsidian, go to Settings → Appearance Scroll down to the "CSS snippets" section

If the option is not visible, ensure the "Custom CSS" plugin is turned on:

• Go to Settings → Community plugins
• Enable "Custom CSS"
• Return to Settings → Appearance → CSS snippets
• Click "Open snippets folder"

If the folder doesn’t exist, Obsidian will create it for you.

Step 2: Create your custom CSS file In the .obsidian/snippets/ folder, and create a new blank text file. Example filename: stata-custom.css (changing the extenstion will update the file to that file type. Yes these instructions may be obvious to some, but to a statistics postgrad, they weren't, so I'm passing on some tips that may help)

Paste the following code into that blank css file:

/* Custom Stata highlighting (My preferred colours used with dark mode just as an example, you can delete these comments) */

/* Commands (keywords) / .stata-keyword, .cm-keyword { color: #ADD8E6; / Light blue */ font-weight: bold; }

/* Strings / .stata-string, .cm-string { color: #800080; / Purple */ }

/* Comments / .stata-comment, .cm-comment { color: #228B22; / Forest green */ font-style: normal; }

/* Numbers / .stata-number, .cm-number { color: #FF69B4; / Bright pink */ }

/* Operators / .stata-operator, .cm-operator { color: #7FFFD4; / Aquamarine */ font-weight: bold; }

Contributing

For major errors, please open a GitHub issue to discuss what needs to change. Adding features may be beyond my capabilities but you're welcome to:

1. Fork the repository https://github.com/onyxaegis/stata.obsidian
2. Clone your fork to your local machine
3. Install dependencies: npm install
4. Make your changes
5. Build and test: npm run build
6. Submit a pull request

Acknowledgments

• https://docs.obsidian.md/Plugins/Getting+started/Build+a+plugin got me started using https://github.com/obsidianmd/obsidian-sample-plugin
• Built by a PhD candidate with limited experience writting TypeScript and CSS. ChatGPT helped a lot.
• Inspired by a VS Code syntax highlighting extension https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=VesperHastie.stata-mata-language