# react-syntax-highlighter/react-syntax-highlighter

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4,638 stars · 315 forks · JavaScript · mit

## Links

- GitHub: https://github.com/react-syntax-highlighter/react-syntax-highlighter
- Homepage: http://react-syntax-highlighter.github.io/react-syntax-highlighter/demo/
- awesome-repositories: https://awesome-repositories.com/repository/react-syntax-highlighter-react-syntax-highlighter.md

## Description

react-syntax-highlighter is a React component that renders source code with language-specific syntax coloring. It wraps the Prism and Highlight.js syntax highlighting libraries, tokenizing source code using their language grammars and mapping each token to a styled React element. The component operates in two styling modes: inline style objects applied directly to each token, or CSS class names that can be themed via external stylesheets. This dual-mode approach makes the highlighter portable across environments where CSS class injection may or may not be available.

The component is built around a pluggable architecture where interchangeable highlighter engines feed a tokenization pipeline, and the resulting tokens are wrapped in nested React elements to preserve line and token structure. Developers can apply custom color themes and select from dozens of language grammars, enabling consistent branding or accessibility requirements in React-based documentation, blogs, and tutorials. The rendering is entirely virtual DOM-based, converting parsed tokens into styled elements without requiring external DOM manipulation or dependencies beyond the core highlighter libraries.

The project covers the full workflow of syntax highlighting in React: parsing source code, tokenization, and styled rendering, all exposed through a straightforward component API. Documentation and installation instructions are available in the repository, guiding users through adding the package and using either the default themes or custom ones.

## Tags

### User Interface & Experience

- [Syntax Highlighting Components](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/ui-components/text-editors/syntax-highlighting-components.md) — A React component that renders source code with language-specific syntax coloring using tokenization and styled spans.
- [Code Highlighting](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/styling-theming-systems/content-styling/styling-markup/code-highlighting.md) — Renders code tokens with language-specific colors by applying styled spans. ([source](https://react-syntax-highlighter.github.io/react-syntax-highlighter/demo/prism.html))
- [React](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/styling-theming-systems/content-styling/styling-markup/code-highlighting/react.md) — Parses source code into tokens and colors each token with language-specific styles in React. ([source](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/react-syntax-highlighter/react-syntax-highlighter@master/README.md))
- [Syntax Highlighters](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/syntax-highlighters.md) — Adds syntax-colored code blocks to React user interfaces without complex setup.
- [Highlighter Engine Adapters](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/syntax-highlighters/highlighter-engine-adapters.md) — Wraps Prism and Highlight.js syntax highlighting libraries for use in JavaScript projects.
- [Code Presentation Themes](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/code-presentation-themes.md) — Applies custom color themes and language grammars to code blocks for consistent branding.
- [Code Semantic Colorizers](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/color-themes/semantic-color-mappings/code-semantic-colorizers.md) — Displays source code with accurate token coloring for dozens of programming languages.
- [Inline Styles](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/inline-styles.md) — Provides inline style application for syntax-highlighted code tokens.
- [Code Inline Styling](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/inline-styles/code-inline-styling.md) — Renders highlighted code using inline styles for portability without external CSS.
- [Code Presentation Utilities](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/presentation-frameworks/code-presentation-utilities.md) — Embeds readable, highlighted code examples in React-based documentation and tutorials.
- [CSS Class-Based](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/syntax-highlighters/css-class-based.md) — Applies CSS class names to tokens, allowing custom themes via external stylesheets.
- [Inline Style](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/syntax-highlighters/inline-style.md) — Applies colors directly as inline styles on each token, avoiding external CSS dependencies.
- [DOM-Based Rendering](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/user-interface-experience/text-rendering/dom-based-rendering.md) — Renders syntax-highlighted code by mapping tokens to DOM elements via React's virtual DOM.

### Development Tools & Productivity

- [Syntax Highlighting Engines](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/development-tools-productivity/syntax-highlighting-engines.md) — Ships a pluggable backend that swaps between Prism and Highlight.js engines.

### Programming Languages & Runtimes

- [Programming Language Tokenizers](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/programming-languages-runtimes/programming-language-tokenizers.md) — Tokenizes source code using language-specific grammars for syntax coloring.

### Software Engineering & Architecture

- [Token Wrapping Components](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/software-engineering-architecture/abstract-syntax-tree-tools/internal-tree-representations/ui-component-model-trees/react-component-tree-mappings/token-wrapping-components.md) — Wraps each highlighted line and token in nested React components for structure.

### Web Development

- [Token Wrapping](https://awesome-repositories.com/f/web-development/dom-element-injection-utilities/token-wrapping.md) — Converts each parsed token into a styled HTML span element.