Vim: read modeline after opening the file?

Question

I work on a variety of projects and many of them set file-specific vim settings. I have been asked to not have modelines set in .vimrc; is there a way after loading the file to load the modelines settings?

So if I open tmp.c with vim:

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
    return 0;
}

/* vim: set expandtab tabstop=4 : */

Is there a command I can run to set the stuff in the modeline? Just doing :set modeline after it is open doesn't do anything.

After `:set modeline`, reload the file with `:e`. – gniourf_gniourf Jun 14 '14 at 15:18 — gniourf_gniourf, Jun 14 '14 at 15:18
@gniourf_gniourf You should write this as an answer. – ZyX Jun 15 '14 at 08:19 — ZyX, Jun 15 '14 at 08:19

score 14 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 15 '14 at 09:52

14

After :set modeline, reload your buffer with :e.

answered Jun 15 '14 at 09:52

gniourf_gniourf

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score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 15 '14 at 20:06

12

If you do not want to reload the buffer (e.g. because it contains unpersisted changes, or to avoid clearing the undo history), you can use the fact that a :doautocmd triggers modeline processing:

:set modeline | doautocmd BufRead

answered Jun 15 '14 at 20:06

Ingo Karkat

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Thanks! It works! But how can I disable it afterwards? I posted a question, answer there please: [link](https://stackoverflow.com/q/64368210/9391770) – Xopi García Oct 15 '20 at 09:18

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 14 '14 at 18:00

3

You can tell vim to execute arbitrary commands before sourcing your ~/.vimrc:

$ vim --cmd "set modeline" yourfile

answered Jun 14 '14 at 18:00

romainl

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Vim: read modeline after opening the file?

3 Answers3

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