One can force the language for vim syntax highlighting with

:setf language

Examples

For C:

:setf c

For PHP:

:setf php

For XML:

:setf xml

1. om Says:
   February 4th, 2009 at 11:15 pm

   Was looking for precisely this information, thanks.

   I Have some code in files without file extensions, so I need to manually specify the language otherwise there is no highlighting.

2. James Reuben Knowles Says:
   February 4th, 2009 at 11:34 pm

   So did I.

   Glad this helped.

3. DF Says:
   March 12th, 2009 at 7:45 pm

   Cheers, just what I needed!

4. James Reuben Knowles Says:
   March 12th, 2009 at 8:37 pm

   Great! You’re welcome.

5. Shannon S. Says:
   September 1st, 2009 at 8:28 pm

   Thanks for the info, spot on!

6. Braden Says:
   May 11th, 2010 at 9:42 am

   Thanks a bunch!