Problems installing and using filetype plugins in Vim

Question

I downloaded xml.vim (xmledit : A filetype plugin to help edit XML, HTML, and SGML documents ). I placed it in my ftplugins folder. I read the documentation and it says: enter :filetype plugin on but this doesn't work, I'm still unable to make the filetype plugin work. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Try

:set ft=xml

Answer 2

Try putting xml.vim in after/ftplugin/ instead of the default ftplugin folder. This ensures that you override any ftplugin settings that are defined by Vim or the Vim distribution package.

Answer 3

As jefromi suggested in his comment, the :filetype plugin on shall be done in the .vimrc. If you enter it manually, the filetype won't be detected on a file already opened, a call to :e would be necessary in that case to take advantage of the automatic detection mechanism. Otherwise, you'd to specific the filetype manually (with a :set ft=xml) as described by idimba.

Answer 4

I've the same problem with plugin "xml.vim" and I put it in after/ftplugin/. Still it doesn't work. Typing :scriptnames shows that, it is loaded as last plugin in the list.