The following workaround can be used,
```
HLDIRS=$(guix build highlight); # returns two directories
HLDIR="${HLDIRS##*[[:space:]]}"; # returns the second dir, after whitespace
DATADIR="$HLDIR/etc/highlight/";
echo "(highlight (package bug))" | highlight --data-dir=$DATADIR -O xterm256
--syntax lisp
```
Based on my understanding, the current package definition is correct. Possibly
a patch like this could resolve the issue the current package definition seems
correct.
```
diff --git a/gnu/packages/pretty-print.scm b/gnu/packages/pretty-print.scm
index b95f56729a..2a7cf74009 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/pretty-print.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/pretty-print.scm
@@ -389,7 +389,7 @@ (define-public highlight
(lambda* (#:key inputs outputs #:allow-other-keys)
(let* ((out (assoc-ref outputs "out"))
(data (string-append out
- "/share/highlight/"))
+ "/etc/highlight/"))
(conf (string-append out "/etc/highlight/"))
(doc (string-append out
"/share/doc/highlight/"))
```
