If keywords are matched on the start/end of words then keywords are also matched if they are surrounded by dashes or underscores. For example the keyword with is highlighted in geany-with-vte. When matching on the start/end of symbols the keyword is only highlighted if it is not part of an other identifier.
The Nix Emacs mode supports syntax highlighting, somewhat sensible indenting, and refilling of comments. To enable Nix mode in Emacs, add something like this to your ~/.emacs file: (load "/nix/share/emacs/site-lisp/nix-mode.el") This automatically causes Nix mode to be activated for all files with extension `.nix'.