Extract text from TextMate grammar files (TMLANGUAGE)
To convert TMLANGUAGE grammar files to another format, you need TextMate or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Syntax Grammar File" file type, you need software like TextMate or a similar tool.
The .tmlanguage format is an XML-based Apple Property List (.plist) file created by MacroMates for the TextMate text editor. It contains collections of regular expressions used to parse source code and assign scope names for syntax highlighting. While originally built for TextMate, this format became an industry standard adopted by modern code editors like Sublime Text and Visual Studio Code.
The main disadvantage of the .tmlanguage format is its verbose, deeply nested XML structure. Managing hundreds of complex regular expressions inside XML tags is highly prone to escaping errors, making manual edits frustrating. Modern developer workflows increasingly reject legacy Apple Property Lists in favor of standard JSON or YAML formats.
Developers typically need to convert .tmlanguage files to JSON or YAML to safely read and edit the grammar rules, or to migrate syntax definitions to newer editor extensions. Converting to JSON strips away the bulky XML overhead but requires strict text handling to preserve delicate regex escape sequences.
Because these files contain specialized regex logic tightly bound to a rigid internal schema, standard online converters often corrupt the code strings or fail to parse the underlying plist structure. This makes reliable conversion challenging.
Convert.Guru analyzes your TMLANGUAGE file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert TMLANGUAGE file to JS, TS, PY, JAVA, CPP, C, CS, PHP, RB, GO, RS or SWIFT, you can use TextMate or similar software from the "Syntax Highlighting Grammar" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SH, PY, KT, PS1, SWIFT, LUA, PL, JAVA, SCALA, JS, VBS or TS files to TMLANGUAGE, try TextMate or another comparable tool in the "Syntax Highlighting Grammar" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our TMLANGUAGE converter.