54
votes
Accepted
What are the differences between :wq<cr> :x<cr> and ZZ when exiting vim?
From Vim's documentation, :x and ZZ are equivalent; they only save the file if it has been modified, then quit Vim:
Write current file, if modified, and quit (same as ":x").
(Note: If there are ...
- 6,397
29
votes
What are the differences between :wq<cr> :x<cr> and ZZ when exiting vim?
As akshay pointed out, Vim's documentation explains, that :x and ZZ are equivalent and only save a file if the associated buffer has been changed.
Whereas :wq saves the buffer to the corresponding ...
- 431
25
votes
Don't add new line at the end of a file
In new versions of Vim there's finally an option for this
Vim 7.4.785 adds the 'fixeol' option that can be disabled to automatically preserve any missing EOL at the end of the file.
(see wiki page:...
- 351
20
votes
Accepted
How to map a shortcut for saving the file
First of all stop using :w to save. Use :update instead. :update writes the file to disk only when there are changes. So, it could be really helpful especially if the file is huge.
Now to map <C-S&...
- 1,009
17
votes
How to clang-format the current buffer on save?
You can add the following to your .vimrc
1. function FormatBuffer()
2. if &modified && !empty(findfile('.clang-format', expand('%:p:h') . ';'))
3. let cursor_pos = getpos('.')
4. ...
15
votes
Accepted
Why can't I write to a file in the home directory?
The tilde is only treated specially if it's used in commands like :w ~/event.log. When used in a string that is passed to a function -- even if this function treats the string argument as a file name -...
- 1,682
13
votes
How do I save a file in a directory that does not yet exist?
Another way with a vanilla Vim (without extra conf or plugins). in Vim:
:!mkdir -p /folder/you/want/
:w #save file
or
$ vim /folder/you/want/myfile.conf
$ ctrl+z # switch to the terminal then ...
- 231
13
votes
Accepted
Write selected area to file
First, copy (also called 'yank' in vim parlance) your visual selection to the register of your choice. For example, to copy to register 'z', make your visual selection, and then type "zy.
In the case ...
- 24.7k
12
votes
How do I save a file in a directory that does not yet exist?
I can recommend a vim plugin from Tim Pope called vim-eunuch which defines many extremely useful commands when your work on UNIX/Linux with Vim (check out its features!).
Let's say you open vim with ...
- 2,089
12
votes
Accepted
How to make sure no changes are made to a file
You can set the file to read only and not modifiable
:set readonly
:set nomodifiable
For more help see:
:h 'readonly'
:h 'modifiable'
- 15.6k
12
votes
Accepted
Vim Error for Git Commit Message
It is possible that you have EDITOR left unset or to its default value of vi. Try making vim your editor. Although both vi and vim are the same executable in mac, I guess, vim behaves in a minimalist ...
- 170
11
votes
Accepted
How do I save a read-only file in Vim for Windows?
As on other vi/vim versions, you can use :w! to force the write, as long as you have permissions to override the read-only property.
For example, if you have set the file as read-only, the above will ...
- 226
11
votes
Accepted
How to write each line into separate file?
Try a global command:
:g/^/exe ".w! line".line('.').".txt"
:g/^/ Do a command for every line (you can adjust this regular expression if you only want to save certain lines, i.e. . for non-empty ...
- 7,706
10
votes
Is it possible to make Vim auto-save files?
I made a plugin vim-autosave which uses Vim 8 feature of Timers to periodically save your buffers.
- 25.3k
10
votes
Why is vim save so slow?
The culprit in this particular situation was the Syntastic plugin.
It's forking eslint.
I load Syntastic on entering insert mode (using a vim-plug function loader).
Vim is plenty snappy on its own....
- 2,231
9
votes
How to make sure no changes are made to a file
The easiest way is to open the file using the -R flag when opening the file to set the readonly option.
vim -R filename.txt
vi -R filename.txt
For Vim, you can use the command view when opening a ...
- 4,364
8
votes
How to show all unsaved files opened in vim?
:ls shows the current buffers (opened files)
A + mark before file path shows that file is modified.
Check :h :ls for more details
- 131
8
votes
How to write a value or variable into a file using only vimscript?
writefile() is the ticket, but has some quirks you have to account for, such as splitting on newlines.
An example:
call writefile(split(varname, "\n", 1), glob('/path/to/file'), 'b')
- 2,231
7
votes
Don't add new line at the end of a file
What eventually worked for me was:
vim -b <filename>
Then in vim:
:set noeol
:wq
Credit
- 2,601
7
votes
Accepted
Is there any vim plugin that implement hot exit feature from sublime text
Vim can do this, though it may be a bit clunky and take some setup.
romainl gets you partway with session. The missing bits are swap files, :preserve, and the & flag for cpoptions.
Swap files ...
- 1,487
7
votes
Accepted
How to auto save file when moving between split?
What you are looking for is a way to trigger the autocommand each time you leave a buffer to another location.
Conveniently the autocommand event BufLeave was made precisely for that, so you just ...
- 49.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Saving file from INSERT mode
Yes, just use the <C-O> keystroke to temporarily leave insert mode for a single command. You can then run :w<CR> to write the file and you'll be back to insert mode.
You can use that to ...
- 28.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Is there a way to write a file and skip the autocmd on write?
Generally speaking, that's exactly what the :noautocmd command modifier is for. Just prefix your command with that and all autocommands should be disabled for just the run of that command.
:noautocmd ...
- 19.6k
7
votes
How to explain ++opt in :[range]w[rite] [++opt] !{cmd}?
You can actually find more about that under :help ++opt, which lists the 5 or 6 possible keywords that can be used under that setting.
The available settings typically control special file attributes, ...
- 28.4k
6
votes
Why does `set nocompatible` result in vim saving extra, all-numeric temporary files?
When writing a buffer Vim will create a temporary file which it will fchown() to verify it has permission to create files in this directory; simplified version from buf_write() in src/fileio.c:
/*
* ...
- 61.4k
6
votes
How do you disable saving in vim unless you quit as well?
You could play with the write option. From :h 'write':
'write' boolean (default on)
global
{not in Vi}
Allows writing files. When not set, writing a file is not ...
- 49.4k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between :file and :saveas
:saveas does write to files, after all the help says: "Save the current buffer under the name {file}". Note also how it says that ! is needed to overwrite an existing file. You wouldn't need to talk ...
- 24.7k
6
votes
Vim rewrite whole file on save?
Instead of :write you should use :update. According to vim's help:
*:up* *:update*
:[range]up[date][!] [++opt] [>>] [file]
Like ":write", but only write ...
- 14k
6
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to have vim run a command every time save `:w` is invoked?
Does something like this exist?
In Vim this is called an autocommand. The relevant help topic can be found by typing :h autocommand (sic!)
An example code to put into vimrc:
augroup typescript_save ...
- 20.4k
6
votes
Vim not firing inotify events when writing file
Which inotify events are fired depends on how Vim writes the file. This is
controlled by multiple options.
In a typical setup it works like this. Assume Vim wants to write the file e.txt
Vim moves ...
- 9,097
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible