Highlight Portable

Designed as the portable counterpart of Highlight, Highlight Portable is a tool meant to ease a programmer's job by converting source code between various languages.

Files with a wide range of source types can be opened with this tool, including C/C++, COBOL, Fortran, HTML, JSON, JavaScript, Haskell, LaTeX, Lua, Perl, PDF, PostScript, and PowerShell. As far as the output is concerned, the application is capable of producing HTML, XHTML, TeX, LaTeX, RTF, ODT, SVG and BBCode files.

Since installation isn't required, you can launch it as soon as you download the archive and extract contents by simply double-clicking the .exe. This means that you can keep Highlight Portable stored on a USB flash drive to be able to effortlessly run it on any PC to start converting source code files.

The interface is user-friendly since it has a clean look and neatly structured layout, giving an overview of all options. Unless this isn't clear by now, batch processing is possible, so you can convert multiple source code files of various types to the same language.

Besides filling the task list with files, you paste source code from the clipboard as well as preview the source. Syntax highlight is supported to help you spot blocks of code easier.

Several settings can be configured before running the conversion. You can add line numbers or pads with zeros, omit the header and footer, keep plugin injections, validate input date, and pick the preferred encoding mode.

Formatting preferences revolve around the color theme, reformat mode, keyword case, tab width, line and intelligent wrapping, along with font name and size. Plus, each output format comes with its own set of customization settings. For example, when it comes to HTML, you can embed CSS and set the class prefix, or generate an index file.

Various kinds of plugins can be loaded from the portable package to extend Highlight's functionality, such as bash functions, Java library, keyword capitalization, and output HTML tooltips. More can be downloaded from the developer's website.

File conversions were carried out fast in our testing while Highlight remained light on system resources usage. It comes wrapped in an intuitive interface and offers straightforward options for seamless source code conversion.