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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-03T10:16:44+00:00

I have a bash script that runs (something like) the following command: vim -E

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I have a bash script that runs (something like) the following command:

vim -E <<EOT
call Myfunc()
EOT

where Myfunc() is defined in my .vimrc. I’ve discovered that using the heredoc (but not simply calling it with -E and entering commands manually) causes vim to skip loading my .vimrc, consequently setting compatible mode (causing other problems down the road).

I can load my .vimrc manually if I have to, but I’m assuming I don’t know a priori where it is, so I’d like to let vim do the work.

Does using the heredoc make vim set some other option (-u NORC, say), which I can just unset to get normal behaviour?

I’m in Vim 7.3, if it matters.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Giving arguments to vim through a heredoc is equivalent to taking input from stdin:

    vim -E -
call Myfunc()
qa!

    This starts vim in silent mode (see :help -s-ex) and only loads plugins specified by the -u argument. To load all plugins, write the ex command to a file and use that file for input:

    cat <<EOT > input.vim
call Myfunc()
qa!
EOT

vim -E input.vim

    (I added qa: to force vim to exit after running Myfunc().)

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