How to Reload Vim: Reload .vimrc Without Restarting and Reload the Current File

Updated: 4 November 2026 · Applies to: Vim 9.1 and Neovim 0.11.6 (tested on Ubuntu 26.04)

To reload your Vim configuration without restarting Vim, type this in normal mode and press Enter:

:source $MYVIMRC

:so is the short form. $MYVIMRC holds the path of the vimrc Vim loaded at startup (for example /home/USER/.vimrc, or /root/.vimrc for root). If the vimrc is the file you are editing, save it and run :so % (% means the current file).

To reload the file you are editing (for example after another program changed it), use :e, or :e! to throw away your unsaved changes. Both are explained below.

Reload .vimrc step by step

1. Edit your vimrc, for example :e $MYVIMRC, and save it with :w.
2. Run :source $MYVIMRC (or :so % while the vimrc is the open file).
3. Check that a setting took effect, for example :set tabstop?. In our test, changing set tabstop=4 to set tabstop=2 and sourcing showed tabstop=2 straight away.

Not sure which file Vim loaded? :echo $MYVIMRC shows it.

What sourcing does not do

:source runs the file again from top to bottom; it does not reset Vim first. Two side effects:

• Removed lines are not undone. We deleted set nonumber from the vimrc and turned line numbers on by hand; after :source, number was still on. Undo such a setting yourself (:set nonumber) or restart Vim.
• Autocommands pile up. A line like autocmd BufWritePost *.txt echo "saved" is added again on every reload. After starting Vim and sourcing twice, :autocmd BufWritePost listed the same command three times, so it ran three times on each save.

Prevent the second problem by putting your autocommands in a named group that clears itself first:

augroup MyVimrc
  autocmd!
  autocmd BufWritePost *.txt echo "saved"
augroup END

With the group, the command was listed only once after the same reloads. Mappings and set lines are simply overwritten, so they do not need this.

Reload .vimrc automatically when you save it

Add one line to the group above:

augroup MyVimrc
  autocmd!
  autocmd BufWritePost *.txt echo "saved"
  autocmd BufWritePost $MYVIMRC source $MYVIMRC | echom "vimrc reloaded"
augroup END

Now every :w on the vimrc reloads it. In our test, adding set shiftwidth=7 and saving printed vimrc reloaded, and :set shiftwidth? showed 7 without a manual :source.

Shortcut keys to edit and reload the vimrc

" Edit the vimrc
nnoremap <Leader>ve :e $MYVIMRC<CR>
" Reload the vimrc
nnoremap <Leader>vr :source $MYVIMRC<CR>

The Leader key is a backslash unless you set g:mapleader (for example let mapleader = ","), so press \ve to open the file and \vr to reload it.

Reload the current file in Vim

• :e (:edit) reads the file from disk again. It refuses if you have unsaved changes: E37: No write since last change (add ! to override)
• :e! reloads and discards your unsaved changes. In our test the buffer went back to the saved text.
• If another program changes the file while it is open, Vim's help says you get W11: Warning: File "{filename}" has changed since editing started and must decide which version to keep. :checktime makes Vim check all open buffers now.
• With :set autoread, Vim reloads a changed file by itself when it checks, as long as you have no unsaved changes. In our test, :checktime with autoread loaded the new text without asking. Add set autoread to your vimrc to keep it on.

Neovim

Neovim reads ~/.config/nvim/init.vim or ~/.config/nvim/init.lua, not ~/.vimrc, and $MYVIMRC points to that file. The same :source $MYVIMRC reloads it; it worked in Neovim 0.11.6 for both init.vim (set tabstop=2) and init.lua (vim.opt.tabstop = 6). autoread is already on by default in Neovim.

Check which editor you are running with vim --version | head -1. On Ubuntu 26.04 with both the vim and neovim packages installed, the vim command started Neovim (NVIM v0.11.6), so changes to ~/.vimrc seemed to do nothing. Choose the editor with sudo update-alternatives --config vim.

Related articles

• Enable syntax highlighting in Vi and Vim
• Delete all text in a file with Vi or Vim
• Compare files with diff, cmp and vimdiff

Official documentation: Vim help for :source, :edit and file reloading and autocommands.