GitHub’s MarkDown (.md) support includes syntax highlighting for a large number of languages. Internally, GitHub uses Pygments, and as such, one can look at the list of available lexers to figure out what languages are supported. For convenience and to procrastinate however, I have compiled the list of supported languages in the table below. Feel free to leave a comment if I made a mistake anywhere or missed anything!
Note that this is not a full, comprehensive list. Still working on figuring that one out!
| Language | ```lang alias |
| Agile languages | |
| Factor | factor |
| Fancy | fancy, fy |
| Io | io |
| Lua | lua |
| MiniD | minid |
| MoonScript | moon, moonscript |
| Perl | perl, pl |
| Python 3 | python3, py3 |
| Python 3 tracebacks | py3tb |
| Python 3 console | pycon |
| Python 2 | python, py |
| Python 2 tracebacks | pytb |
| Ruby console | rbcon, irb |
| Ruby | rb, ruby, duby |
| Tcl | tcl |
| Assembly languages | |
| Output of ‘objdump -Sr’ on compiled C files | c-objdump |
| Output of ‘objdump -Sr’ on compiled C++ files | cpp-objdump, c++-objdump, cxx-objdump |
| Output of ‘objdump -Sr’ on compiled D files | d-objdump |
| Gas (AT&T) assembly code | gas |
| LLVM assembly code | llvm |
| Nasm (Intel) assembly code | nasm |
| Output of ‘objdump -dr’ | objdump |
| Compiled languages | |
| Ada | ada, ada95, ada2005 |
| BlitzMax | blitzmax, bmax |
| C | c |
| C++ | cpp, c++ |
| Pyrex, Cython | cython, pyx |
| D | d |
| Delphi, Turbo Pascal, Free Pascal | delphi, pas, pascal, objectpascal |
| Dylan | dylan |
| eC | ec |
| Fantom | fan |
| Felix | felix, flx |
| FORTRAN 90 | fortran |
| GLSL | gl |
| Go | go |
| Modula-2 | modula2, m2 |
| Nimrod | nimrod, nim |
| Objective-C | objective-c, objectivec, obj-c, objc |
| Ooc | ooc |
| Prolog | prolog |
| Vala | vala, vapi |
| .NET languages | |
| Boo | boo |
| C# within ASP.NET | aspx-cs |
| C# | csharp, c# |
| F# | fsharp |
| Nemerle | nemerle |
| Visual Basic within ASP.NET | aspx-vb |
| Visual Basic.NET | vb.net, vbnet |
| Functional languages | |
| Common Lisp | common-lisp, cl |
| Coq | coq |
| Elixir console | iex |
| Elixir | elixir, ex, exs |
| Erlang | erlang |
| Erlang shell | erl |
| Haskell | haskell, hs |
| Literate Haskell | lhs, literate-haskell |
| newLISP | newlisp |
| OCaml | ocaml |
| Opa | opa |
| Standard ML language | sml |
| Scheme | scheme, scm |
| Hardware descriptor languages | |
| SystemVerilog from IEEE 1800-2009 | sv |
| Verilog with preprocessor directives | v |
| VHDL | vhdl |
| JVM languages | |
| Clojure | clojure, clj |
| Gosu | gosu |
| Gosu templates | gst |
| Groovy | groovy |
| Ioke | ioke, ik |
| Java | java |
| Kotlin | kotlin |
| Scala | scala |
| Math languages | |
| Matlab | matlab |
| Matlab sessions | matlabsession |
| MuPAD | mupad |
| Numpy (Numerical Python) | numpy |
| GNU Octave | octave |
| R console | rconsole, rout |
| S, S-plus, R | splus, s, r |
| Scilab | scilab |
| Other languages | |
| ABAP | abap |
| AppleScript | applescript |
| Asymptote | asy, asymptote |
| Autohotkey | ahk |
| Awk | awk, gawk, mawk, nawk |
| Befunge | befunge |
| BrainFuck | brainfuck, bf |
| Bro | bro |
| CFEngine3 | cfengine3, cf3 |
| ECL | ecl |
| Gherkin | Cucumber, cucumber, Gherkin, gherkin |
| Gnuplot | gnuplot |
| GoodData-CL | gooddata-cl |
| Hybris | hybris, hy |
| Logtalk | logtalk |
| MOOCode | moocode |
| GoodData MAQL | maql |
| Modelica | modelica |
| Newspeak | newspeak |
| OpenEdge ABL, Progress | openedge, abl, progress |
| PostScript | postscript |
| Povray | pov |
| Protocol Buffer definition files | protobuf |
| REBOL | rebol |
| Redcode | redcode |
| Smalltalk | smalltalk, squeak |
| SNOBOL4 | snobol |
| UrbiScript | urbiscript |
| Parser generators | |
| ANTLR with ActionScript target | antlr-as, antlr-actionscript |
| ANTLR with C# target | antlr-csharp, antlr-c# |
| ANTLR with C++ target | antlr-cpp |
| ANTLR with Java target | antlr-java |
| ANTLR | antlr |
| ANTLR with Objective-C target | antlr-objc |
| ANTLR with Perl target | antlr-perl |
| ANTLR with Python target | antlr-python |
| ANTLR with Ruby target | antlr-ruby, antlr-rb |
| Ragel in a C host file | ragel-c |
| Ragel in a C++ host file | ragel-cpp |
| Ragel in a D host file | ragel-d |
| Ragel embedded in a host file | ragel-em |
| Ragel in a Java host file | ragel-java |
| Ragel in a C host file | ragel-c |
| Ragel | ragel |
| Ragel in an Objective C host file | ragel-objc |
| Ragel in a Ruby host file | ragel-ruby, ragel-rb |
| Ragel in a C host file | ragel-c |
| Shell languages | |
| (ba|k|)sh | bash, sh, ksh |
| Bash session | console |
| DOS/Windows Batch | bat |
| PowerShell | powershell, posh, ps1 |
| Tcsh | tcsh, csh |
| Special | |
| Token stream formatted with the RawTokenFormatter | raw |
| Plain text | text |
| SQL dialects | |
| MySQL | mysql |
| Pl/pgSQL | plpgsql |
| Postgres session | psql, postgresql-console, postgres-console |
| PostgreSQL | postgresql, postgres |
| ANSI SQL | sql |
| SQLite3 sessions | sqlite3 |
| Template engines’ markup | |
| Cheetah with HTML | html+cheetah, html+spitfire |
| Cheetah with Javascript | js+cheetah, javascript+cheetah, js+spitfire, javascript+spitfire |
| Cheetah | cheetah, spitfire |
| Cheetah with XML | xml+cheetah, xml+spitfire |
| Coldfusion in HTML | cfm |
| Coldfusion statements | cfs |
| Django with CSS | css+django, css+jinja |
| ERB with CSS | css+erb, css+ruby |
| Genshi with CSS | css+genshitext, css+genshi |
| PHP with CSS | css+php |
| Smarty with CSS | css+smarty |
| Django, Jinja | django, jinja |
| ERB | erb |
| Evoque with HTML | html+evoque |
| Evoque | evoque |
| XML with Evoque | xml+evoque |
| Genshi and Kid XML templates | genshi, kid, xml+genshi, xml+kid |
| Genshi text templates | genshitext |
| Django with HTML | html+django, html+jinja |
| Genshi and Kid HTML templates | html+genshi, html+kid |
| PHP with HTML | html+php |
| Smarty with HTML | html+smarty |
| Django with Javascript | js+django, javascript+django, js+jinja, javascript+jinja |
| ERB with Javascript | js+erb, javascript+erb, js+ruby, javascript+ruby |
| Genshi text templates with Javascript | js+genshitext, js+genshi, javascript+genshitext, javascript+genshi |
| PHP with Javascript | js+php, javascript+php |
| Smarty with Javascript | js+smarty, javascript+smarty |
| JSP (Java Server Pages) | jsp |
| Mako with CSS | css+mako |
| Mako with HTML | html+mako |
| Mako with Javascript | js+mako, javascript+mako |
| Mako | mako |
| Mako with XML | xml+mako |
| Mason | mason |
| Myghty with CSS | css+myghty |
| Myghty with HTML | html+myghty |
| Mighty with Javascript | js+myghty, javascript+myghty |
| Myghty | myghty |
| Myghty with XML | xml+myghty |
| ERB with HTML (rhtml) | rhtml, html+erb, html+ruby |
| Smarty | smarty |
| SSP (Scalate Server Pages) | ssp |
| Tea Templates | tea |
| Velocity with HTML | html+velocity |
| Velocity | velocity |
| Velocity with XML | xml+velocity |
| Django with XML | xml+django, xml+jinja |
| ERB with XML | xml+erb, xml+ruby |
| PHP with XML | xml+php |
| Smarty with XML | xml+smarty |
| Non-source code | |
| Apache config file format | apacheconf, aconf, apache |
| BBCode | bbcode |
| Makefiles | basemake |
| CMake files | cmake |
| Darcs patch | dpatch |
| Debian control files | control |
| diffs | diff, udiff |
| Gettext catalog files | pot, po |
| Groff | groff, nroff, man |
| HTTP sessions | http |
| IRC logs | irc |
| Lighttpd | lighty, lighttpd |
| BSD and GNU make | make, makefile, mf, bsdmake |
| MoinMoin, Trac Wiki | trac-wiki, moin |
| Nginx config files | nginx |
| Java properties files | properties |
| PyPy log | pypylog, pypy |
| reStructuredText | rst, rest, restructuredtext |
| Debian sources.list | sourceslist, sources.list |
| Squid | squidconf, squid.conf, squid |
| LaTeX, TeX | tex, latex |
| VimL | vim |
| YAML | yaml |
| Web-related languages and markup | |
| ActionScript 3 | as3, actionscript3 |
| ActionScript | as, actionscript |
| CoffeeScript | coffee-script, coffeescript |
| CSS | css |
| Dart | dart |
| DTD | dtd |
| Duel Views Engine (JBST) | duel, Duel Engine, Duel View, JBST, jbst, JsonML+BST |
| Haml | haml, HAML |
| haXe | hx, haXe |
| HTML | html |
| JSON data structures | json |
| Jade | jade, JADE |
| Javascript | js, javascript |
| MXML | mxml |
| Objective-J | objective-j, objectivej, obj-j, objj |
| PHP | php, php3, php4, php5 |
| Sass | sass, SASS |
| Scaml | scaml, SCAML |
| SCSS | scss |
| XQuery | xquery, xqy |
| XML | xml |
| XSLT | xslt |