diff --git a/internal/buffer/buffer.go b/internal/buffer/buffer.go
index 1172dac8..092a5dcc 100644
--- a/internal/buffer/buffer.go
+++ b/internal/buffer/buffer.go
@@ -325,28 +325,17 @@ func NewBuffer(r io.Reader, size int64, path string, startcursor Loc, btype BufT
 		b.AbsPath = absPath
 		b.Path = path
 
-		// this is a little messy since we need to know some settings to read
-		// the file properly, but some settings depend on the filetype, which
-		// we don't know until reading the file. We first read the settings
-		// into a local variable and then use that to determine the encoding,
-		// readonly, and fileformat necessary for reading the file and
-		// assigning the filetype.
-		settings := config.DefaultCommonSettings()
 		b.Settings = config.DefaultCommonSettings()
 		b.LocalSettings = make(map[string]bool)
 		for k, v := range config.GlobalSettings {
 			if _, ok := config.DefaultGlobalOnlySettings[k]; !ok {
 				// make sure setting is not global-only
-				settings[k] = v
 				b.Settings[k] = v
 			}
 		}
-		config.InitLocalSettings(settings, absPath)
-		b.Settings["readonly"] = settings["readonly"]
-		b.Settings["filetype"] = settings["filetype"]
-		b.Settings["syntax"] = settings["syntax"]
+		config.UpdatePathGlobLocals(b.Settings, absPath)
 
-		enc, err := htmlindex.Get(settings["encoding"].(string))
+		enc, err := htmlindex.Get(b.Settings["encoding"].(string))
 		if err != nil {
 			enc = unicode.UTF8
 			b.Settings["encoding"] = "utf-8"
@@ -366,7 +355,7 @@ func NewBuffer(r io.Reader, size int64, path string, startcursor Loc, btype BufT
 			if size == 0 {
 				// for empty files, use the fileformat setting instead of
 				// autodetection
-				switch settings["fileformat"] {
+				switch b.Settings["fileformat"] {
 				case "unix":
 					ff = FFUnix
 				case "dos":
@@ -397,8 +386,8 @@ func NewBuffer(r io.Reader, size int64, path string, startcursor Loc, btype BufT
 	}
 
 	b.UpdateRules()
-	// init local settings again now that we know the filetype
-	config.InitLocalSettings(b.Settings, b.Path)
+	// we know the filetype now, so update per-filetype settings
+	config.UpdateFileTypeLocals(b.Settings, b.Settings["filetype"].(string))
 
 	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(config.ConfigDir, "buffers")); os.IsNotExist(err) {
 		os.Mkdir(filepath.Join(config.ConfigDir, "buffers"), os.ModePerm)
diff --git a/internal/buffer/settings.go b/internal/buffer/settings.go
index fe794550..2e9005b2 100644
--- a/internal/buffer/settings.go
+++ b/internal/buffer/settings.go
@@ -25,9 +25,9 @@ func (b *Buffer) ReloadSettings(reloadFiletype bool) {
 
 	// update syntax rules, which will also update filetype if needed
 	b.UpdateRules()
-	settings["filetype"] = b.Settings["filetype"]
 
-	config.InitLocalSettings(settings, b.Path)
+	config.UpdatePathGlobLocals(settings, b.AbsPath)
+	config.UpdateFileTypeLocals(settings, b.Settings["filetype"].(string))
 	for k, v := range config.DefaultCommonSettings() {
 		if k == "filetype" {
 			// prevent recursion
diff --git a/internal/config/settings.go b/internal/config/settings.go
index a72f5025..ddffb72f 100644
--- a/internal/config/settings.go
+++ b/internal/config/settings.go
@@ -288,24 +288,31 @@ func InitGlobalSettings() error {
 	return err
 }
 
-// InitLocalSettings scans the json in settings.json and sets the options locally based
-// on whether the filetype or path matches ft or glob local settings
+// UpdatePathGlobLocals scans the already parsed settings and sets the options locally
+// based on whether the path matches a glob
 // Must be called after ReadSettings
-func InitLocalSettings(settings map[string]interface{}, path string) {
+func UpdatePathGlobLocals(settings map[string]interface{}, path string) {
 	for k, v := range parsedSettings {
-		if strings.HasPrefix(reflect.TypeOf(v).String(), "map") {
-			if strings.HasPrefix(k, "ft:") {
-				if settings["filetype"].(string) == k[3:] {
-					for k1, v1 := range v.(map[string]interface{}) {
-						settings[k1] = v1
-					}
+		if strings.HasPrefix(reflect.TypeOf(v).String(), "map") && !strings.HasPrefix(k, "ft:") {
+			g, _ := glob.Compile(k)
+			if g.MatchString(path) {
+				for k1, v1 := range v.(map[string]interface{}) {
+					settings[k1] = v1
 				}
-			} else {
-				g, _ := glob.Compile(k)
-				if g.MatchString(path) {
-					for k1, v1 := range v.(map[string]interface{}) {
-						settings[k1] = v1
-					}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// UpdateFileTypeLocals scans the already parsed settings and sets the options locally
+// based on whether the filetype matches to "ft:"
+// Must be called after ReadSettings
+func UpdateFileTypeLocals(settings map[string]interface{}, filetype string) {
+	for k, v := range parsedSettings {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(reflect.TypeOf(v).String(), "map") && strings.HasPrefix(k, "ft:") {
+			if filetype == k[3:] {
+				for k1, v1 := range v.(map[string]interface{}) {
+					settings[k1] = v1
 				}
 			}
 		}