CAD-Lisp support for Geany

type: note | domain: technology | topic: cad | lang: en | pub: 2026-06-04

CAD-Lisp support for Geany

The Geany editor provides built-in support for a large number of programming languages. CAD-Lisp can easily be added.

The supplied CAD-Lisp lexer contains an impressive 4000 keywords, built-in functions, variables and CAD-specific symbols, providing extensive syntax highlighting for both AutoCAD and BricsCAD development.

This article contains the required file and describes the configuration and useful tips.

About Geany

• Available for Linux, macOS and Windows
• A cross-platform alternative to Notepad++
• The same workflow on all platforms
• Free software (GPL)
• Actively maintained
• Lightweight and fast

About CAD-Lisp

• Lisp for AutoCAD and BricsCAD
• Different from other Lisp dialects
• Its own keyword list for syntax highlighting (lexer)

Features

• Crisp font rendering
• Keywords in maroon, custom functions in blue
• Variables, strings, numbers and comments in distinct colors
• Visible bracket matching in red, bold.

Installation and configuration

• Download filetypes.CAD-Lisp.conf (save as ...)
• Geany configuration directory:
  • Windows: %appdata%\Geany
  • Linux: ~/.config/geany
• Place filetypes.CAD-Lisp.conf in the filedefs directory
• Edit filetype_extensions.conf (if it is missing, copy it from %ProgramFiles%\Geany\data to %appdata%\Geany).
  • Add CAD-Lisp=*.lsp;*.dcl; to the [Extensions] section.
  • For versions prior to Geany 2.1: add Script=CAD-Lisp to the [Groups] section.

That is all. For additional configuration, continue below.

Tips

Restart Geany after changing the configuration files.

Install the Geany plugins package

Some useful features are provided by the Geany plugins package. Download and install the package from the Geany website, use your Linux distribution repository, or install it through your preferred package manager: https://geany.org/download/releases/

Recommended plugins:

• Line Operations
• Extra Selection
• Auto-mark, see remark below

Mark all occurrences

Auto-mark automatically highlights occurrences of the word at the text cursor in the visible part of the document. To expand the highlighted selection to all occurrences in the current document, press Ctrl+Shift+M (Search → More... > Mark All). In other words, these two mechanisms can complement each other in a useful way. Users coming from Notepad++ may find this particularly useful.

Clearer brace matching

Matching and mismatching braces can be highlighted more clearly. Edit filetypes.common and add or change these lines in the [named_styles] section:

brace_good=0xff0000;0xFFFFFF;true;false

brace_bad=0xff0000;0xFFFFFF;true;false

Select between matching braces

With the Extra Selection plugin enabled, open: Edit → Preferences → Keybindings

Assign a shortcut to: Extra Selection -> Select to Matching Brace

Suggested shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+B

Improve font readability

DejaVu Sans Mono - often default in Linux - is clearer and more readable than the default Windows monospace fonts, especially during long coding sessions. Download and install the font: https://dejavu-fonts.github.io/

In Geany, open: Edit → Preferences → Interface → Fonts and select: DejaVu Sans Mono Normal

Courtesy

CAD-Lisp wordlist by Torsten Moses.