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Code

code(source, language=None, *, theme=None, dedent=True) builds a Text block for a source-code snippet. Unlike stext(), it never runs the markup parser — <, > and & in the source stay literal, so a snippet containing a generic (Vec<T>) or a comparison (a < b) is never misread as a tag. dedent=True (the default) strips the common leading whitespace and any leading/trailing blank lines, so the snippet can be indented to match the surrounding scene code.

with Scene():
    code(
        """
        x = "world"
        print(f"Hello {x}!")
        """,
        "python",
    )

Output image

fairyflow frame 0

An optional theme= argument selects the color theme. Preinstalled themes:

  • "InspiredGitHub" (default)
  • "base16-ocean.dark"
  • "base16-eighties.dark"
  • "base16-mocha.dark"
  • "base16-ocean.light"
  • "Solarized (dark)"
  • "Solarized (light)"
with Scene(background="#2b303b"):
    code(
        """
        x = "world"
        print(f"Hello {x}!")
        """,
        "python",
        theme="base16-ocean.dark",
    )

Output image

fairyflow frame 0

Project-wide defaults

Call set_default_code(language=None, *, theme=None, family=None, size=None) once in prologue.py to set the language/theme/font for every code() block in the project:

# prologue.py
from fairyflow import *

set_default_code("python", theme="base16-ocean.dark")

code(source)  # picks up "python"/"base16-ocean.dark" from above
code(source, "rust")  # a per-call language still overrides it

family defaults to "monospace" — pair it with [font-aliases] in fairyflow.toml (see Font aliases) to point "monospace" at a specific installed font.

For an inline code literal inside a sentence, .code(language=None, *, theme=None) on a Text/TextGroup/TextSpan applies the configured style directly:

t = Text("Call ")
t.span("map()").code()  # mono, code size — inline literal
t.span(" over the list.")

On a run, .code() is style-only: sh_language is a block-level flag, so passing an explicit language= to a run's .code() raises TypeError — call it with no arguments to just pick up the configured family/size.

For lower-level control — styling a Text block you didn't build with code() — .sh(language, theme=None) enables highlighting directly; code()/.code() use it internally.

Manually highlighting part of a snippet

.sh() only colors runs whose fill is still the default — a run with its own explicit .fill() keeps that color instead. That makes it possible to combine automatic syntax highlighting with a manual highlight on just one identifier: build the block with stext() (whose tags apply .fill() immediately) and chain .sh() onto the result, so the tagged word keeps its manual color while every other run still gets normal per-token syntax colors:

with Scene(background="#2b303b"):
    stext(
        """
def total(items):
    return sum(<s bold color="yellow">items</s>)
        """
    ).sh("python", theme="base16-ocean.dark").font("monospace", 20)

Output image

fairyflow frame 0

stext() runs its markup parser over the whole string, which misreads bare <, > or & as tags (see stext); so reconfigure delimiters or build the block with .line()/.span() instead (plain strings, no parsing) and call .fill() on the run you want to stand out.