The IMPORT tag, which must be placed inside a RULES tag, loads all rules defined in a given ruleset into the current ruleset; in other words, it has the same effect as copying and pasting the imported ruleset.

The only required attribute DELEGATE must be set to the name of a ruleset. To import a ruleset defined in the current mode, just specify its name. To import a ruleset defined in another mode, specify a name of the form mode::ruleset. Note that the first (unnamed) ruleset in a mode is called “MAIN”.

One quirk is that the definition of the imported ruleset is not copied to the location of the IMPORT tag, but rather to the end of the containing ruleset. This has implications with rule-ordering; see the section called “Rule Ordering Requirements”.

Here is an example from the PHP mode, which extends the inline JavaScript highlighting to support embedded PHP:

   <RULES SET="JAVASCRIPT+PHP">

   <SPAN TYPE="MARKUP" DELEGATE="php::PHP">
       <BEGIN>&lt;?php</BEGIN>
       <END>?&gt;</END>
   </SPAN>

   <SPAN TYPE="MARKUP" DELEGATE="php::PHP">
       <BEGIN>&lt;?</BEGIN>
       <END>?&gt;</END>
   </SPAN>

   <SPAN TYPE="MARKUP" DELEGATE="php::PHP">
       <BEGIN>&lt;%=</BEGIN>
       <END>%&gt;</END>
   </SPAN>

   <IMPORT DELEGATE="javascript::MAIN"/>
</RULES>