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Wednesday, 07 January 2009
 
 
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Quitting Without Saving Edits
 
When you are first learning vi, especially if you are an intrepid experimenter, there are two other ex commands that are handy for getting out of any mess that you might create.

What if you want to wipe out all of the edits you have made in a session and then return to the original file? The command:  


:e! RETURN

returns you to the last saved version of the file, so you can start
over.

Suppose, however, that you want to wipe out your edits and then
just quit vi? The command:  

:q! RETURN
quits the file you're editing and returns you to the UNIX prompt.
With both of these commands, you lose all edits made in the buffer
since the last time you saved the file. vi normally won't let you
throw away your edits. The exclamation point added to the :e or :q
command causes vi to override this prohibition, performing the
operation even though the buffer has been modified.

Problems Saving Files 

You try to write your file, but you get one of the following

messages:


File exists

File       file exists - use w!

[Existing file]

File is read only

 

Type :w! file to overwrite the existing file, or type :w

newfile to save the edited version in a new file.


 

•       You want to write a file, but you don't have write permission

for it. You get the message "Permission denied."

 

Use :w newfile to write out the buffer into a new file. If you

have write permission for the directory, you can use mv to

replace the original version with your copy of it. If you don't

have write permission for the directory, type :w

pathname/file to write out the buffer to a directory in which

you do have write permission (such as your home directory,

or /tmp).

 

•       You try to write your file, but you get a message telling you

that the file system is full.

 

Type :!rm junkfile to delete a (large) unneeded file and free

some space. (Starting an ex command with an exclamation

point gives you access to UNIX.)

 

Or type :!df to see whether there's any space on another file

system. If there is, choose a directory on that file system and

write your file to it with :w pathname. (df is the UNIX

command to check a disk's free space.)

 

•       The system puts you into open mode and tells you that the

file system is full.

 

The disk with vi's temporary files is filled up. Type :!ls /tmp

to see whether there are any files you can remove to gain



 

 

some disk space.[3] If there are, create a temporary UNIX shell

from which you can remove files or issue other UNIX

commands. You can create a shell by typing :sh; type CTRL-D

or exit to terminate the shell and return to          vi. (On most UNIX

systems, when using a job-control shell, you can simply type

CTRL-Z to suspend vi and return to the UNIX prompt; type fg

to return to vi.) Once you've freed up some space, write your

file with :w!.

 

[3] Your vi may keep its temporary files in /usr/tmp, /var/tmp, or your current directory; you may

need to poke around a bit to figure out where exactly you've run out of room.

 

•       You try to write your file, but you get a message telling you

that your disk quota has been reached.

 

Try to force the system to save your buffer with the ex

command :pre (short for :preserve). If that doesn't work,

look for some files to remove. Use :sh (or CTRL-Z if you are

using a job-control system) to move out of vi and remove

files. Use CTRL-D (or fg) to return to vi when you're done.

Then write your file with :w!.

Links to article:
<a href="http://www.g-excess.com/content/view/364/34/"> VI Editor On Linux - Quitting Without Saving Edits</a>  

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