Enable diff-mode for files with diff-ish content

Question

How do I make Emacs automatically turn on diff-mode for any file with diff-looking content, eg.

--- a.txt
+++ b.txt
@@ -1234,56 +1234,56 @@

Answer 1

C-h v magic-mode-alist says this:

magic-mode-alist is a variable defined in files.el. Its value is nil

This variable can be risky when used as a file-local variable.

Documentation:

Alist of buffer beginnings vs. corresponding major mode functions. Each element looks like (REGEXP . FUNCTION) or (MATCH-FUNCTION . FUNCTION). After visiting a file, if REGEXP matches the text at the beginning of the buffer, or calling MATCH-FUNCTION returns non-nil, normal-mode will call FUNCTION rather than allowing auto-mode-alist to decide the buffer's major mode.

If FUNCTION is nil, then it is not called. (That is a way of saying "allow auto-mode-alist to decide for these files.")

So either use a REGEXP that distinguishes the beginning of the buffer text or use MATCH-FUNCTION that does so.

See also C-h v magic-fallback-mode-alist:

magic-fallback-mode-alist is a variable defined in files.el. Its value is shown below.

This variable can be risky when used as a file-local variable.

Documentation:

Like magic-mode-alist but has lower priority than auto-mode-alist. Each element looks like (REGEXP . FUNCTION) or (MATCH-FUNCTION . FUNCTION). After visiting a file, if REGEXP matches the text at the beginning of the buffer, or calling MATCH-FUNCTION returns non-nil, normal-mode will call FUNCTION, provided that magic-mode-alist and auto-mode-alist have not specified a mode for this file.

If FUNCTION is nil, then it is not called.

Value:

  ((image-type-auto-detected-p . image-mode)
     ("\\(PK00\\)?[P]K" . archive-mode)
     ("\\(?:<\\?xml[    
       \n]+[^>]*>\\)?[

       \n]*<\\(?:!--\\(?:[^-]\\|-[^-]\\)*-->[

       \n]*<\\)*\\(?:!DOCTYPE[    
       \n]+[^>]*>[  
       \n]*<[

       \n]*\\(?:!--\\(?:[^-]\\|-[^-]\\)*-->[

       \n]*<\\)*\\)?[Hh][Tt][Mm][Ll]" . mhtml-mode)
     ("<!DOCTYPE[

       \n]+[Hh][Tt][Mm][Ll]" . mhtml-mode)
     ("<\\?xml " . xml-mode)
     ("[

       \n]*<\\(?:!--\\(?:[^-]\\|-[^-]\\)*-->[     
       \n]*<\\)*!DOCTYPE " . sgml-mode)
     ("%!PS" . ps-mode)
     ("# xmcd " . conf-unix-mode))

See also the Emacs manual, node Choosing Modes.