Specify vim filetype on command line

Question

I've been working with a lot of C++ files that have no extensions and it's too annoying to have to type :set ft=cpp every time I open them, so I'm mostly just working without syntax highlighting. Is there a way to tell vim the file type in the command line? Something like:

$ vim --ft=cpp file_name

add set ft=cpp to your ~/.vimrc but in this way, all your file opened will be treated as cpp file. — Lee HoYo
– Lee HoYo, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 15:31
eh... maybe there is another way to do that. alias vimcpp="vim --ft=cpp " — Lee HoYo
– Lee HoYo, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 15:37
@LeeHoYo - that would work, but then you would need a different alias for each filetype. Expanding on your suggestion, an alternative could be alias vimft="vim --ft=". Then you could just execute vim as vimft cpp. — Lix
– Lix, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 15:40
@SibiCoder - OP specifically mentions that in the post body. — Lix
– Lix, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 15:47
Add this to the end of your file: // vim: ft=cpp. Read :h modeline for details. — Sato Katsura
– Sato Katsura, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 16:55

Lix · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-18 15:32:25Z

You can use the -c option when launching vim to execute commands after the first file has been read.

For your situation, you can simply use the standard set filetype command -

vim -c 'set filetype=javascript'

You could also use --cmd to execute the command after the first file is loaded.

Lifted from the vim man pages:

   -c {command}
               {command} will be executed after the first file has been read.  {command} is interpreted as an Ex command.  If the {command} contains spaces it must be enclosed in double quotes (this depends on  the  shell  that  is  used).
               Example: Vim "+set si" main.c
               Note: You can use up to 10 "+" or "-c" commands.

   --cmd {command}
               Like using "-c", but the command is executed just before processing any vimrc file.  You can use up to 10 of these commands, independently from "-c" commands.

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