PluginStatsBetter Shell Syntax installs statistics
By Jeff Hykin (4 listings) · VS Code Marketplace · Programming Languages
This enables your theme to better color your code. There are "textmate scopes" that your theme uses to apply color, this extension adds/improves the textmate scopes which should improve the way your code looks.
Better Shell Syntax has 200,656 recorded installs on VS Code Marketplace.
It ranks #1506 of 2,501 tracked VS Code Marketplace listings by installs.
It is rated 5.0 out of 5 from 5 ratings.
PluginStats has 4 daily observations since Oct 16, 2026; the latest is from Oct 19, 2026.
Rating: 5.00 / 5 from 5 ratings
About Better Shell Syntax
Like this extension?
You'll probably like this as well: The Better Syntax Megapack
What does this do?
This will get you the bleeding-edge syntax highlighting for bash/zsh. Which means your theme will be able to color your code better.
NOTE: The default VS Code theme does not color much. Switch to the Dark+ theme (installed by default) or use a theme like one of the following to benefit from the changes: • XD Theme • Noctis • Kary Pro Colors • Material Theme • One Monokai Theme • Winteriscoming • Popping and Locking • Syntax Highlight Theme • Default Theme Enhanced
How do I use it?
Just install the VS Code extension and the changes will automatically be applied to all relevent files.
Before | After
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The screenshots were taken with PolaCode 2022 with the XD Theme (MixItUp variant) and the XD font
Contributing
If you'd like to help improve the syntax, main.rb is where all the magic happens and CONTRIBUTING.md explains how the code works.
What if I see a highlighting bug?
Post an issue on https://github.com/jeff-hykin/better-shell-syntax
Description from the VS Code Marketplace listing.
- color
- coloring
- highlighting
- shellscript
- syntax
- textmate
Where Better Shell Syntax sits in the listing
Each band is one page of 20. Installs on a log scale. Placement is projected from installs, so it can differ from the marketplace's own sort order. Hover a dot to see the listing.
Charts
Images: 30d · 1y · all time · 1600×900 dark
Adoption over time
7/30/90-day growth
Ranking history
Filled points are observed values; hollow points come from Internet Archive snapshots of the listing page. Dashed segments span periods with no observations — values between points are not interpolated.
Recent observations
Full history (4)Similar VS Code Marketplace Programming Languages plugins
Data source
Install counts, average rating, and rating counts come from the public Visual Studio Marketplace gallery API. Installs are cumulative and exclude updates.
Listing: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=jeff-hykin.better-shellscript-syntax. First seen Oct 16, 2026; last successful collection Oct 19, 2026. See the methodology.