Vim Tips Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Tip 425 Printable Monobook Previous Next

created 2003 · complexity basic · author zzapper · version 6.0


If you are editing a file containing PHP script (for example) but the file doesn't have the extension .php, you can force the desired syntax coloring with

:set syntax=php

similarly

:set syntax=perl
:set syntax=html

Alternatively if the extension causes an undesired coloring, switch off coloring with

:set syntax=off

look in the directory */vim/vim61/ftplugin / for supported languages (ftplugin == FileType Plugin).

You probably don't want to set the syntax every time you open a file with an extension vim doesn't recognize, though, so here's an example of how to set the syntax automatically in such cases. Say you have a JSON file you designed for storing information about your meals to monitor your health whose extension is ".meals". Vim doesn't know this extension, so by default the syntax is set to off. To have the json syntax automatically set whenever you open a file with the .meals extension, add the following line to your .vimrc file:

autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.meals set syntax=json

Comments[]

You can also let vim determine the filetype by examining the file contents with getline(), see :help new-filetype-scripts


I got these detections by content in my $VIM/vimfiles/ftplugin/filetype.vim:

" IAR option files for compiler/linker
if getline(1) =~ '-!'
  set ft=xcl
  " c/cpp in any file containing c/cpp comment in line 1 or 2
elseif ((getline(1) =~ '\/\*') || (getline(1)=~ '\/\/') || (getline(2) =~ '\/\*') || (getline(2)=~ '\/\/'))
  set ft=c
  " dosbatch in any file containing comment in line 1, 2 or 3
elseif ((getline(1) =~ '^rem') || (getline(2)=~ '^rem') || (getline(3)=~ '^rem'))
  set ft=dosbatch
endif

This already worked in vim5.x using script file, see ':h myscriptsfile'


You mean vim/vim61/syntax. The ftplugin files contain such things as useful mappings for editing certain filetypes, not syntax colouring.


Something that is also very useful for PHP programmers: Sometimes, when you are at a particular place in a file, the Vim buffer "forgets" what the highlighting should be, PHP or HTML. First, try refreshing the window using Ctrl-L. If this does not work, then try changing php_minlines. This can be done by the following line in your .vimrc file.

let php_minlines=500

The default is 100 lines.


fun! SetSyn(name)

can be found in synmenu.vim in ($VIM/vim62 on win2k); and after some initial handling, runs:

exe "set syn=" . name

On Win2k, the current all-in-one installer puts the default filtype.vim in $VIM/vim62. My augmentation of filetype.vim (with the same name) is under $VIM/vimfiles. Check out

to understand the search order. I have a number of syntax highlighting files under $VIM/vimfiles/syntax, only a couple of ftplugins under $VIM/vimfiles/ftplugin (typically for key mapings), and one indent file under $VIM/vimfiles/indent. But, any special handling for filetype detection goes in the filetype.vim.


Using ':setf perl' also works well, and is fewer characters.


Include this autocommand to .vimrc, if you do NOT want to override a previous filetype detection, but only set a filetype if the filetype was not detected at all:

augroup filetypedetect
    au BufRead,BufNewFile *.foo setfiletype php
    " associate *.foo with php filetype
augroup END

To override any filetype which was already detected, use this instead (note the 'set filetype=' syntax):

augroup filetypedetect
    au BufRead,BufNewFile *.module set filetype=php
augroup END

e.g.: Vim 7.3 detects example.pc as filetype 'proc' but has no syntax highlighting for Pro C. Override it so that it highlights as C.

augroup filetypedetect
    au BufRead,BufNewFile *.pc set filetype=c
augroup END

For individual files, auto-setting is very useful :help auto-setting. If the 'modeline' option is on, you can simply add a comment to the beginning or end of the file:

# vi:syntax=diff:
Advertisement