I've found that while using Vim on Windows Vim saves the file, a .ext.swp
file that's deleted on closing the Vim window and a .ext~
file.
I assume the .ext.swp
file is a session backup in case Vim crashes. What's the purpose of the .ext~
file however? Is this a permanent backup file? It's annoying as I'd like to copy all the files I'm working on to my host, without these duplicates. How can I turn this off or, if it's there for a good reason, hide the files?
will turn off backups. You can also set a backupdir if you still want those backup files but in a central folder. This way your working dir is not littered with ~ files.
You find more information on backups under :he backup.
I think the better solution is to place these lines in your vimrc file
The first line is for backup files, the second line for swap files. The double slash at the end ensures that there is no conflict in case of two files having the same name, see comments (at the time of this edit this option is only honored for swap files, not yet for backup files). The
,.
allowvim
to use the current directory if the former doesn't exist.You have to create a directory in your home directory called vimtmp for this to work. Also, check that backups are enabled in your config (add
set backup
if not).That way you get the benefit of both worlds, you don't have to see the files, but if something does get futzed you can go get your backup file from vimtmp. Don't forget to clean the directory out every now and then.
You're correct that the
.swp
file is used by vim for locking and as a recovery file.Try putting
set nobackup
in your vimrc if you don't want these files. See the Vim docs for various backup related options if you want the whole scoop, or want to have .bak files instead...The only option that worked for me was to put this line in my ~/.vimrc file
set noundofile
The other options referring to backup files did not prevent the creation of the temp files ending in ~ (tilde)
And you can also set a different backup extension and where to save those backup (I prefer
~/.vimbackups
on linux). I used to use "versioned" backups, via:This sets a dynamic backup extension (
ORIGINALFILENAME-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.vimbackup
).To turn off those files, just add these lines to .vimrc (vim configuration file on unix based OS):