How do you reload your .vimrc file without restarting vim?
If you're editing it, you can reload it with:
:so %
%
stands for current file name (see :h current-file
) and :so
is short for :source
, which reads the content of the specified file and treats it as Vim code.
In general, to re-load the currently active .vimrc, use the following (see Daily Vim):
:so $MYVIMRC
Even better, you configure Vim to watch for changes in your .vimrc
and automatically reload the config.
augroup myvimrc
au!
au BufWritePost .vimrc,_vimrc,vimrc,.gvimrc,_gvimrc,gvimrc so $MYVIMRC | if has('gui_running') | so $MYGVIMRC | endif
augroup END
Source: this answer on SO
Note: this particular method watches for the many variations of Vim config filenames so that it's compatible with GUI Vim, Windows Vim, etc.
Key mappings
" Quickly edit/reload this configuration file
nnoremap gev :e $MYVIMRC<CR>
nnoremap gsv :so $MYVIMRC<CR>
Completely automated solution
To automatically reload upon save, add the following to your $MYVIMRC
:
if has ('autocmd') " Remain compatible with earlier versions
augroup vimrc " Source vim configuration upon save
autocmd! BufWritePost $MYVIMRC source % | echom "Reloaded " . $MYVIMRC | redraw
autocmd! BufWritePost $MYGVIMRC if has('gui_running') | so % | echom "Reloaded " . $MYGVIMRC | endif | redraw
augroup END
endif " has autocmd
and then for the last time, type:
:so %
The next time you save your vimrc
, it will be automatically reloaded.
Features:
- Tells the user what has happened (also logging to
:messages
) - Handles various names for the configuration files
- Ensures that it wil only match the actual configuration file (ignores copies in other directories, or a
fugitive://
diff) - Won't generate an error if using
vim-tiny
Of course, the automatic reload will only happen if you edit your vimrc
in vim.