Start vim without vimrc / change vimrc with open files

Question

I have 2 .vimrc configuration files ~/.vimrc and ~/.vimsqlrc.

Is there a way I can source either of them (switch from one to another) while I have some files already opened? As an extension, how do I turn off the loading of vimrc (i.e, don't use any vimrc) while I have files open?

Answer 1

Your ~/.vimrc is read and executed only once. If you want to nullify it with another file, you'll have to change the value of every single option and unmap every single mapping in, of course, both files. This sounds like a very bad and unnecessarily complex idea.

If you want another environment, just use another environment:

$ vim                 <-- starts Vim normally, reading ~/.vimrc
$ vim -u ~/.vimsqlrc  <-- starts Vim using your alternative vimrc
$ vim -u NONE         <-- starts Vim without any vimrc
$ vim -u NORC         <-- starts Vim without any vimrc, but with plugins

but I'm afraid you'll have to stop and restart Vim for that.

Anyway, your question has a very strong XY problem smell. Do you want to have specific settings for *.sql files?

If that's your goal, you can put your settings in ~/.vim/after/ftplugin/sql.vim like this:

setlocal autoindent
nnoremap <buffer> <F6> :echo "F6"<CR>

Using setlocal for options and <buffer> for mappings ensures that your settings are only applied for *.sql files.