Vim "swap", "backup" and "undo" files.
These files can be put in a fixed directory to keep things more organized.
First of all, create these three folders:
mkdir ~/.vim/.backup ~/.vim/.swp ~/.vim/.undo
Now, put these lines in your vimrc file.
set undodir=~/.vim/.undo//
set backupdir=~/.vim/.backup//
set directory=~/.vim/.swp//
the "//" at the end of each directory means that file names will be built from the complete path to the file with all path separators substituted to percent "%" sign. This will ensure file name uniqueness in the preserve directory.
Alternatively you can turn them off, putting this in your vimrc file:
set nobackup
set noswapfile
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Written by Rafael Bika
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3 Responses
Thanks for the tip! I have set this up for myself as well, but the set backupdir=~/.vim/.backup// is not working as expected for me. It is putting the backup files in the correct directory, but the backup filenames are not what I expected. If I were to edit ~/foo.txt, then the backup file in my new vim backupdir is ~/.vim/.backup/foo.txt~ and not ~/vim/.backup/home%user%foo.txt~. Do you have this same issue as well?
Here's my config file if you're interested: https://github.com/kaleb/vim-files/blob/master/xdg.vim#L10
@kaleb "the "//" at the end of each directory means that file names will be built from the complete path to the file with all path separators substituted to percent "%" sign. This will ensure file name uniqueness in the preserve directory."
