PowerShell highlighting only highlights $ sign, not variable name

[bug-sQuAsher]

Hello,

I've decided to try out your theme, and I must say I really like it! I’m even planning to convince my boss to purchase a license — the theme looks great and definitely has a lot of potential.

I wanted to ask about PowerShell support. I do some scripting from time to time, and I’ve noticed that in PowerShell files, only the $ sign is highlighted, not the full variable name (unlike with the default VS Code theme). Paths also seem to be highlighted differently.

Interestingly, when I open Bash scripts, the highlighting is almost identical to the default theme — full variables are highlighted correctly, and the syntax feels more consistent overall.

Is the PowerShell highlighting behavior intentional, or could it be a configuration issue on my side?

I'll attach screenshots comparing your theme with the default one, so the difference is clear.

Thanks again for the great work!

Default:

Vira:

[equinusocio]

Hello,
can you share a valid bash and poweshell snippet (without errors) so we can test and investigate it more accurately?

[bug-sQuAsher]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Here are two minimal and valid script examples that show the highlighting behavior I mentioned:

Powershell:
$Device = "emulator-5554" Write-Output "Device: $Device"

sh:
DEVICE="emulator-5554" echo "Device: $DEVICE"

In both cases, the $-prefixed variables are used similarly. What I’ve noticed is:

• In PowerShell, only the $ is highlighted, and the variable name is left unstyled. This makes it harder to read, especially in longer scripts.
• In Bash, while the $ and variable name are both white, it still feels more cohesive — the variable is visually treated as a unit.
• That said, adding actual highlighting to Bash variables (like coloring $DEVICE) could improve readability and consistency there as well.

[equinusocio]

After investigation we found an crucial difference between how scopes are assigned betweeb powershell and bash.

The powershell behaves as expected. $ uses the global punctuation scope— and so is cyan, while the variable name uses variable scope — and so is using foreground color (a light color as intended).

You can see in the textmate scopes, the last lines is showing punctuation and variable.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/15444f25-854f-448f-9a18-9ab64327320a

The issue is with shellscript, both $ and variable name have the same variable scope and so they are both using the intended color for variables.

Registrazione.schermo.2025-07-10.alle.12.34.05.mov

The only thing we can do while keeping consistency, is adding the same cyan color to the $ (punctuation) inside shellscript. Variables are using the intended color.

This is the result:

[bug-sQuAsher]

Just to clarify — only the $ will be colored, not all punctuation, right?
I'm not sure, there are also Special Variables:

$? → Exit status of last command

$$ → Current script’s PID

$! → PID of last background command

$@, $* → All passed arguments

[bug-sQuAsher]

Maybe it's better to leave the whole thing as is in that case.

[equinusocio]

Fixed in 1.7 August 2025 release

[bug-sQuAsher]

Hi,
Maybe it's better to leave the whole thing as is in that case as I mentioned. I found also use in command substitution: $(...) and arithmetic: $((...))

[equinusocio]

The fix we did should apply only on the variable punctuation like in $DEVICE, plus we added some colors for builtin funcion calls. You can install the pre-release version 1.6.6 from the marketplace to check and test the change.

[bug-sQuAsher]

I tested the pre-release, and I’d personally suggest rolling back the cyan coloring for the $ sign in variables. Since $ is used for a wide range of things in shell scripts. Keeping the $ styling uniform (or neutral) while still applying color to actual builtin functions feels like a good middle ground for clarity and consistency.

Thanks again for being so responsive — really appreciate the attention to detail!