How to associate a file extension with a certain language in VS Code

Associating file extensions with specific languages in Visual Studio Code is commonly used when VS Code fails to automatically detect the file type. For example, if you have specific extensions like .xyz that you want to be treated as Python files, you can achieve this by configuring the settings in your workspace or globally.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to associate file extensions with specific languages:

1. Open Settings:

   • Use the shortcut Ctrl + , (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + , (Mac) to open the settings interface, or click the gear icon in the bottom-left corner and select "Settings".

2. Search for files.associations:

   • Enter files.associations in the settings search bar to filter the relevant settings.

3. Add custom file associations:

   • In the files.associations setting, you'll see an object where you can define multiple key-value pairs. The key represents the file extension, and the value specifies the language identifier you want to associate.
   • For instance, to associate .xyz extensions with Python, add the following setting:

json
"*.xyz": "python"

• This configuration treats all files with the .xyz extension as Python code.

• Save and restart VS Code:

  • After making changes, save your settings and restart VS Code for the configuration to take effect.

By following this approach, you can customize any file extension to map to a specific programming language, which is especially useful for handling uncommon or custom file types.