Integrate with tools that check files for problems.

Many file-formats have "lint" tools that check for common problems and point out where they occur. Most of these tools produce output in the traditional message format:

If the 'kind' field contains 'error', the message is treated as an error, otherwise it is assumed to be a warning.

The :lint-buffer and :lint-selections commands will run the shell command specified in the lintcmd option, passing it the path to a temporary file containing the text to be linted. The results are collected in the lint-output buffer, and analyze it. If toolsclient is set, the lint-output buffer will be displayed in the named client.

Each reported error or warning causes a marker to appear in the left-hand margin of the buffer that was checked. When the main cursor moves onto that line, the associated messages are displayed. If they get distracting, you can turn off the markers and messages with the :lint-hide-diagnostics command.

You can also use :lint-next-message and :lint-previous-message to jump between the lines with messages.