Enhanced colorization

The Visual Studio Code C/C++ extension now supports semantic colorization, when IntelliSense is enabled. Use of enhanced colorization is controlled by the C_Cpp.enhancedColorization setting. This setting is enabled by default.

"C_Cpp.enhancedColorization": "enabled"

Themes

Colors can be associated using the existing support for theming and color customization in VS Code. See the VS Code Themes documentation for more information.

Colors are associated with semantic tokens as well as TextMate scopes.

C/C++ Themes Extension

We've created a set of VS Code themes that closely resemble the default Light and Dark themes in Visual Studio, and include colors for semantic tokens. These themes can be found here.

IntelliSense Tokens and Scopes

Token	Semantic Token name	Fallback TextMate Scope
Class Template	templateType	entity.name.type.class.templated
Enumerator	enumMember	variable.other.enummember
Event (C++/CLI)	event	variable.other.event
Function	function	entity.name.function
Function Template	templateFunction	entity.name.function.templated
Generic Type (C++/CLI)	genericType	entity.name.type.class.generic
Global Variable	variable.global	variable.other.global
Label	label	entity.name.label
Local Variable	variable.local	variable.other.local
Macro	macro	entity.name.function.preprocessor
Member Field	property	variable.other.property
Member Function	method	entity.name.function.member
Namespace	namespace	entity.name.namespace
New / Delete	newOperator	keyword.operator.new
Operator Overload Function	operatorOverload	entity.name.function.operator
Operator Overload Member	memberOperatorOverload	entity.name.function.operator.member
Parameter	parameter	variable.parameter
Property (C++/CLI)	cliProperty	variable.other.property.cli
Reference Type (C++/CLI)	referenceType	entity.name.type.class.reference
Static Member Field	property.static	variable.other.property.static
Static Member Function	method.static	entity.name.function.member.static
Type	type	entity.name.type
User-Defined Literal - Number	numberLiteral	entity.name.operator.custom-literal.number
User-Defined Literal - Raw	customLiteral	entity.name.operator.custom-literal
User-Defined Literal - String	stringLiteral	entity.name.operator.custom-literal.string
Value Type (C++/CLI)	valueType	entity.name.type.class.value

Customizing Colors in Settings

Colors can also be overridden globally, in settings:

    "editor.semanticTokenColorCustomizations": {
        "rules": {
            "templateType": {
                "foreground": "#ff0000",
                "fontStyle": "italic bold underline"
            }
        }
    }

Or, overridden on a per-theme basis:

    "editor.semanticTokenColorCustomizations": {
        "[Visual Studio Dark]": {
            "rules": {
                "templateType": {
                    "foreground": "#ff0000",
                    "fontStyle": "italic bold underline"
                }
            }
        }
    }