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author | Bram Moolenaar <Bram@vim.org> | 2004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000 |
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committer | Bram Moolenaar <Bram@vim.org> | 2004-06-13 20:20:40 +0000 |
commit | 071d4279d6ab81b7187b48f3a0fc61e587b6db6c (patch) | |
tree | 221cbe3c40e043163c06f61c52a7ba2eb41e12ce /runtime/doc/recover.txt | |
parent | b4210b3bc14e2918f153a7307530fbe6eba659e1 (diff) | |
download | vim-git-071d4279d6ab81b7187b48f3a0fc61e587b6db6c.tar.gz |
updated for version 7.0001v7.0001
Diffstat (limited to 'runtime/doc/recover.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | runtime/doc/recover.txt | 165 |
1 files changed, 165 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/runtime/doc/recover.txt b/runtime/doc/recover.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..19cbe0130 --- /dev/null +++ b/runtime/doc/recover.txt @@ -0,0 +1,165 @@ +*recover.txt* For Vim version 7.0aa. Last change: 2004 Apr 16 + + + VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar + + +Recovery after a crash *crash-recovery* + +You have spent several hours typing in that text that has to be finished +next morning, and then disaster strikes: Your computer crashes. + + DON'T PANIC! + +You can recover most of your changes from the files that Vim uses to store +the contents of the file. Mostly you can recover your work with one command: + vim -r filename + +1. The swap file |swap-file| +2. Recovery |recovery| + +============================================================================== +1. The swap file *swap-file* + +Vim stores the things you changed in a swap file. Using the original file +you started from plus the swap file you can mostly recover your work. + +You can see the name of the current swap file being used with the command: + + :sw[apname] *:sw* *:swapname* + +The name of the swap file is normally the same as the file you are editing, +with the extension ".swp". +- On Unix, a '.' is prepended to swap file names in the same directory as the + edited file. This avoids that the swap file shows up in a directory + listing. +- On MS-DOS machines and when the 'shortname' option is on, any '.' in the + original file name is replaced with '_'. +- If this file already exists (e.g., when you are recovering from a crash) a + warning is given and another extension is used, ".swo", ".swn", etc. +- An existing file will never be overwritten. +- The swap file is deleted as soon as Vim stops editing the file. + +Technical: The replacement of '.' with '_' is done to avoid problems with + MS-DOS compatible filesystems (e.g., crossdos, multidos). If Vim + is able to detect that the file is on an MS-DOS-like filesystem, a + flag is set that has the same effect as the 'shortname' option. + This flag is reset when you start editing another file. + *E326* + If the ".swp" file name already exists, the last character is + decremented until there is no file with that name or ".saa" is + reached. In the last case, no swap file is created. + +By setting the 'directory' option you can place the swap file in another place +than where the edited file is. +Advantages: +- You will not pollute the directories with ".swp" files. +- When the 'directory' is on another partition, reduce the risk of damaging + the file system where the file is (in a crash). +Disadvantages: +- You can get name collisions from files with the same name but in different + directories (although Vim tries to avoid that by comparing the path name). + This will result in bogus ATTENTION warning messages. +- When you use your home directory, and somebody else tries to edit the same + file, he will not see your swap file and will not get the ATTENTION waring + message. +On the Amiga you can also use a recoverable ram disk, but there is no 100% +guarantee that this works. Putting swap files in a normal ram disk (like RAM: +on the Amiga) or in a place that is cleared when rebooting (like /tmp on Unix) +makes no sense, you will lose the swap file in a crash. + +If you want to put swap files in a fixed place, put a command resembling the +following ones in your .vimrc: + :set dir=dh2:tmp (for Amiga) + :set dir=~/tmp (for Unix) + :set dir=c:\\tmp (for MS-DOS and Win32) +This is also very handy when editing files on floppy. Of course you will have +to create that "tmp" directory for this to work! + +For read-only files, a swap file is not used. Unless the file is big, causing +the amount of memory used to be higher than given with 'maxmem' or +'maxmemtot'. And when making a change to a read-only file, the swap file is +created anyway. + +The 'swapfile' option can be reset to avoid creating a swapfile. + + +Detecting an existing swap file ~ + +You can find this in the user manual, section |11.3|. + + +Updating the swapfile ~ + +The swap file is updated after typing 200 characters or when you have not +typed anything for four seconds. This only happens if the buffer was +changed, not when you only moved around. The reason why it is not kept up to +date all the time is that this would slow down normal work too much. You can +change the 200 character count with the 'updatecount' option. You can set +the time with the 'updatetime' option. The time is given in milliseconds. +After writing to the swap file Vim syncs the file to disk. This takes some +time, especially on busy Unix systems. If you don't want this you can set the +'swapsync' option to an empty string. The risk of losing work becomes bigger +though. On some non-Unix systems (MS-DOS, Amiga) the swap file won't be +written at all. + +If the writing to the swap file is not wanted, it can be switched off by +setting the 'updatecount' option to 0. The same is done when starting Vim +with the "-n" option. Writing can be switched back on by setting the +'updatecount' option to non-zero. Swap files will be created for all buffers +when doing this. But when setting 'updatecount' to zero, the existing swap +files will not be removed, it will only affect files that will be opened +after this. + +If you want to make sure that your changes are in the swap file use this +command: + + *:pre* *:preserve* *E313* *E314* +:pre[serve] Write all text for all buffers into swap file. The + original file is no longer needed for recovery. {Vi: + emergency exit} + +A Vim swap file can be recognized by the first six characters: "b0VIM ". +After that comes the version number, e.g., "3.0". + +============================================================================== +2. Recovery *recovery* *E308* *E311* + +Basic file recovery is explained in the user manual: |usr_11.txt|. + +Another way to do recovery is to start Vim and use the ":recover" command. +This is easy when you start Vim to edit a file and you get the "ATTENTION: +Found a swap file ..." message. In this case the single command ":recover" +will do the work. You can also give the name of the file or the swap file to +the recover command: + *:rec* *:recover* *E305* *E306* *E307* +:rec[over] [file] Try to recover [file] from the swap file. If [file] + is not given use the file name for the current + buffer. The current contents of the buffer are lost. + This command fails if the buffer was modified. + +:rec[over]! [file] Like ":recover", but any changes in the current + buffer are lost. + + *E312* *E309* *E310* +Vim has some intelligence about what to do if the swap file is corrupt in +some way. If Vim has doubt about what it found, it will give an error +message and insert lines with "???" in the text. If you see an error message +while recovering, search in the file for "???" to see what is wrong. You may +want to cut and paste to get the text you need. + +The most common remark is "???LINES MISSING". This means that Vim cannot read +the text from the original file. This can happen if the system crashed and +parts of the original file were not written to disk. + +Be sure that the recovery was successful before overwriting the original +file or deleting the swap file. It is good practice to write the recovered +file elsewhere and run 'diff' to find out if the changes you want are in the +recovered file. + +Once you are sure the recovery is ok delete the swap file. Otherwise, you +will continue to get warning messages that the ".swp" file already exists. + +{Vi: recovers in another way and sends mail if there is something to recover} + + vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: |