Vim - guess programming language based on input?

Question

Does anyone know of a way to get vim to guess the programming language of a new file based on your input and use the appropriate syntax highlighting? So far the syntax highlighting only works when it knows the file extension (after I have saved it), which is good, but sometimes I am lazy and want to make a new file without saving it until later.

e.g. if I were to start a new file and type:

#include <stdlib.h>

I would like it to automatically start using C syntax highlighting, say after I hit enter, and the same goes for other languages like Python.

I am a bit of a noob with vim and don't know vimscript, so don't make it too complicated please. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks, Simon

Ingo Karkat · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-09 09:13:49Z

4

Vim uses both file path / name / extension and certain characteristic file contents to detect the filetype; what is used depends on the particular type.

You can re-trigger the detection via

:filetype detect

For C / C++, the detection is based on file extensions. To add a contents-based detection, you'd have to write this yourself; see :help new-filetype-scripts for details. In practice, I'd recommend to just manually :setf c when the need arises.

answered Apr 9, 2013 at 9:13

Ingo Karkat

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wumbo Over a year ago

Thanks, I will probably end up using :setf c, but I will see if I can figure out how to make a script for it too.

Chris Morgan · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-09 09:08:05Z

1

This could be arranged, but performance could be a slight problem (depending on how clever you want to be) and it is much easier to just set the syntax manually:

:setf c

You could also set the buffer filename; this will set the syntax accordingly, normally:

:file x.c

(This does not save the file.)

If you really do want automatic guessing, you'd be using an autocmd to trigger it, and could then guess the filetype if &ft is empty (i.e. if it hasn't already done so).

answered Apr 9, 2013 at 9:08

Chris Morgan

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