docs:vim:syntax [hartungdesign.net wiki]

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====== syntax ======
First check the vim installation files, under the 'syntax' directory to see if you can find a sensible match for the type of file you have.

===== manually specifying the syntax =====
If vim has failed to auto-detect your filetype, you may specify the syntax with **:set syntax=javascript**.  Filetype detection is enabled with **:filetype on**, and filetype plugin usage is enabled with **:filetype plugin on**.

===== changing an existing syntax =====
If you find a syntax to use, but you wish to tweak something about it, you can create a syntax file to run 'after' vim has loaded the default file.  Simply create a file in $VIMRUNTIME/after/syntax/ with the same name as the syntax file you are starting with.  For example, to add folding to the Progress syntax, create $VIMRUNTIME/after/syntax/progress.vim.

This is an easy way to add customized folding to an existing language that didn't have it set up by default.

===== new file type syntax =====
If you can't find a matching syntax file, you can create a new one.  See **:help syntax** to understand how this is done.  Create your syntax file at $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/newtype.vim.

Load your file into vim, then load your syntax like this:<code>
:set syntax=newtype
</code>

You may also have vim automatically detect your new filetype, and set up the syntax for you.  See **:help new-filetype** in vim for more information.  It basically involves creating a file 'newtype.vim' in /ftdetect/ with this line:<code>
au BufRead,BufNewFile *.newtype		set filetype=newtype
</code>

===== See Also =====
  * [[vim_files_location]]
  * [[folding]]
  * [[plugins]]