How can I make `.vim/after/ftplugin/markdown.vim` take effect immediately?

Question

I change this file, but it seems that I have to restart Vim to make it take effect.

Is there any way to make .vim/after/ftplugin/markdown.vim take effect immediately?

I already tried :source and :runtime, which do not work.

Answer 1

Your best option is probably to trigger the autocommands which are triggered when you set the filetype. To do so you can use :h :doautocmd with the event FileType:

:doautocmd filetype

For example:

• Open test.md
• Type ia to insert a a
• Edit ~/.vim/ftplugin/after/markdown.ft to add inoremap a A
• Switch back to test.md
• Run doautocmd filetype
• ia will insert A instead of a

Note that you probably want to add you customization to ~/.vim/after/ftplugin directory, this will allow to run the built-in ftplugins and your own directives instead of overriding the built-in ones (which happens when you use ~/.vim/ftplugin/