In ReStructuredText, this gets syntax highlighted because of the code directive [1][2][3]:
.. code:: python
import this def func(*args, **kwargs): pass
This also gets syntax highlighted as python[3]:
.. code:: python
import this def func(*args, **kwargs): pass
This does not::
import this def func(*args, **kwargs): pass
Syntax highlighting in Docutils 0.9+ is powered by Pygments. If Pygments is not installed, or there is a syntax error, syntax highlighting is absent.
GitHub does show Pygments syntax highlighting in .. code:: blocks for .rst and .restructuredtext documents [4]
1. Does the python.org PEP view support .. code:: blocks? [5] 2. Syntax highlighting is an advantage for writers, editors, and readers. 3. Should PEPs use .. code:: blocks to provide this advantage?
[1] http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/directives.html#code [2] http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/markup/code.html [3] http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/config.html#confval-highlight_language [4] https://github.com/python/peps/blob/master/pep-0557.rst [5] https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0557/