Limitations of the Workaround

Oct 13, 2025 by wbrum.org 114 views

Problem

When working with Python projects, it's common to have multiple requirements.txt files with different variants, such as requirements-lock.txt, requirements-freeze.txt, or requirements-dev.txt. However, when using Neovim, these files are not recognized as requirements.txt files, but rather as plain text files. This can lead to issues with syntax highlighting, file picker previews, and other features that rely on the correct file type detection.

Expected Behavior

The expected behavior is for Neovim to recognize all requirements*.txt variants as requirements.txt files. This would allow for consistent behavior across different project variants and make it easier to work with multiple requirements.txt files.

Wildcards in Neovim

The Neovim documentation mentions the use of wildcards in file type detection, but it's unclear whether they are supported in this specific context. The reference to wildcards is found in the vim/filetype.lua file, but there are no other examples of their use.

Workaround

One possible workaround is to use the vim.filetype.add() function to manually add a pattern for requirements*.txt files. This can be done by adding the following code to your Neovim configuration:

vim.filetype.add({
  pattern = {
    ["requirements.*.txt"] = "requirements"
  }
})

This code adds a pattern that matches any file with the name requirements followed by any characters (represented by .*) and ending with .txt. However, this approach has some limitations, as it requires custom configuration and may not be as flexible as using wildcards.

Limitations of the Workaround

The workaround using vim.filetype.add() has some limitations. Firstly, it requires custom configuration, which can be cumbersome to manage. Secondly, the pattern used in the workaround (requirements.*.txt) may not match all possible variants of requirements.txt files. For example, using %.* instead of .* never matches, and using .txt$ is too strict and also never matches.

Conclusion

Supporting multiple requirements.txt variants in Neovim is an important feature that can improve the user experience for Python developers. While a workaround is available, it has some limitations and may not be the most elegant solution. Therefore, it's essential to explore the possibility of using wildcards in Neovim's file type detection to provide a more flexible and user-friendly solution.

Future Development

To support multiple requirements.txt variants, Neovim's file type detection should be modified to allow the use of wildcards. This can be achieved by updating the vim/filetype.lua file to support the * character in file patterns. Additionally, the vim.filetype.add() function should be improved to provide a more flexible and user-friendly way to add custom file patterns.

Example Use Cases

Supporting multiple requirements.txt variants can have several benefits, including:

Improved syntax highlighting for different project variants
Enhanced file picker previews for requirements.txt files
Easier management of multiple requirements.txt files in a single project

By supporting multiple requirements.txt variants, Neovim can provide a more flexible and user-friendly experience for Python developers, making it easier to work with different project variants and manage multiple requirements.txt files.

References

Neovim documentation: https://neovim.io/doc/user/options.html#options-filetype
Neovim source code: https://github.com/neovim/neovim/blob/debabaf884fc26e9dc257aa5b62581d3846f80f1/runtime/lua/vim/filetype.lua
Issue discussion: https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter/issues/7724#issuecomment-2711640884
Supporting Multiple requirements.txt Variants in Neovim: Q&A ====================================================================

Q: What is the problem with the current behavior of Neovim?

A: The current behavior of Neovim is that it only recognizes a single requirements.txt file, and does not support multiple variants such as requirements-lock.txt, requirements-freeze.txt, or requirements-dev.txt. This can lead to issues with syntax highlighting, file picker previews, and other features that rely on the correct file type detection.

Q: Why is it important to support multiple `requirements.txt` variants?

A: Supporting multiple requirements.txt variants is important because it allows Python developers to work with different project variants and manage multiple requirements.txt files in a single project. This can improve the user experience and make it easier to work with different project variants.

Q: What is the workaround for supporting multiple `requirements.txt` variants?

A: The workaround for supporting multiple requirements.txt variants is to use the vim.filetype.add() function to manually add a pattern for requirements*.txt files. This can be done by adding the following code to your Neovim configuration:

vim.filetype.add({
  pattern = {
    ["requirements.*.txt"] = "requirements"
  }
})

However, this approach has some limitations, as it requires custom configuration and may not be as flexible as using wildcards.

Q: What are the limitations of the workaround?

A: The limitations of the workaround are:

It requires custom configuration, which can be cumbersome to manage.
The pattern used in the workaround (requirements.*.txt) may not match all possible variants of requirements.txt files.
Using %.* instead of .* never matches, and using .txt$ is too strict and also never matches.

Q: Is it possible to use wildcards in Neovim's file type detection?

A: Yes, it is possible to use wildcards in Neovim's file type detection. However, the current implementation of Neovim does not support the use of wildcards in file patterns.

Q: What is the future development plan for supporting multiple `requirements.txt` variants?

A: The future development plan for supporting multiple requirements.txt variants is to update the vim/filetype.lua file to support the use of wildcards in file patterns. Additionally, the vim.filetype.add() function should be improved to provide a more flexible and user-friendly way to add custom file patterns.

Q: What are the benefits of supporting multiple `requirements.txt` variants?

A: The benefits of supporting multiple requirements.txt variants are:

Improved syntax highlighting for different project variants
Enhanced file picker previews for requirements.txt files
Easier management of multiple requirements.txt files in a single project

Q: How can I contribute to the development of Neovim to support multiple `requirements.txt` variants?

A: You can contribute to the development of Neovim by:

Reporting issues and providing feedback on the Neovim issue tracker
Contributing to the Neovim source code on GitHub
Participating in the Neovim community and discussing the feature with other developers

Q: What are the next steps for supporting multiple `requirements.txt` variants in Neovim?

A: The next steps for supporting multiple requirements.txt variants in Neovim are:

Update the vim/filetype.lua file to support the use of wildcards in file patterns
Improve the vim.filetype.add() function to provide a more flexible and user-friendly way to add custom file patterns
Test and validate the new feature to ensure it works correctly and provides the expected benefits.