Automatically check PHP / Ruby syntax on file save

Automatically check PHP / Ruby syntax on file save

One of the wicked things about VIm is that you learn a new trick every day; well, I do anyway.

I program day to day in either PHP or Ruby, and I normally run a quick syntax check when I save a file. Previously, I would save the file and run the following from the terminal

For PHP

php -l filename.php

For Ruby

ruby -cw filename.rb

Then I copped that I could run it without leaving VIm by entering the follwowing commands

For PHP

  :! php -l %

For Ruby

  :! ruby -cw %

So the next nicety was to have VIm run the check automatically when I save either a PHP or Ruby file.

Simple pop the following in your vimrc and away you go.

au BufWritePost *.php !php -l %
au BufWritePost *.rb !ruby -cw %

This simple instructs VIM that when saving a file with either extension, run the required command. Dead handy,…. and you can swap out the extension and command required for your language of choice. Enjoy,