Multiple matches for syntax highlighting in VIM <p>I'm writing a syntax file to match a log format (basically column based; think syslog for a similar example), and I'm trying to set up a type of inheritance for columns.</p> <p>I have two main goals with this.</p> <p>First, I want to say that column 3 is the "component" field (let's say it's marked by a header; it could also be at a fixed position) and set the background to, say, Grey. I then want to say that component "foo" gets a foreground color of Red, and component "bar" gets a foreground color of Green, but they should inherit the background color of the "component" column. In this case, the field should really have two syntax matches; this also makes it easy to conceal the entire column (a la <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3853631/toggling-the-concealed-attribute-for-a-syntax-highlight-in-vim">Toggling the concealed attribute for a syntax highlight in VIM</a>)</p> <p>Second, there's a field for levels; I want to set the background of the entire line for a critical level message to Red, but the foreground should be continue to be set via the normal highlighting (component, source, etc; I left off most of the other requirements).</p> <p>From what I can see in the vim documentation, this doesn't seem possible. Am I missing something? Alternatively, can anyone suggest a good workaround?</p> <p>Thanks</p>