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1 *recover.txt* For Vim version 7.1. Last change: 2006 Apr 24
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4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
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6
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7 Recovery after a crash *crash-recovery*
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8
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9 You have spent several hours typing in that text that has to be finished
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10 next morning, and then disaster strikes: Your computer crashes.
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11
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12 DON'T PANIC!
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13
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14 You can recover most of your changes from the files that Vim uses to store
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15 the contents of the file. Mostly you can recover your work with one command:
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16 vim -r filename
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17
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18 1. The swap file |swap-file|
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19 2. Recovery |recovery|
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20
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21 ==============================================================================
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22 1. The swap file *swap-file*
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23
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24 Vim stores the things you changed in a swap file. Using the original file
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25 you started from plus the swap file you can mostly recover your work.
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26
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27 You can see the name of the current swap file being used with the command:
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28
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29 :sw[apname] *:sw* *:swapname*
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30
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31 The name of the swap file is normally the same as the file you are editing,
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32 with the extension ".swp".
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33 - On Unix, a '.' is prepended to swap file names in the same directory as the
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34 edited file. This avoids that the swap file shows up in a directory
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35 listing.
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36 - On MS-DOS machines and when the 'shortname' option is on, any '.' in the
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37 original file name is replaced with '_'.
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38 - If this file already exists (e.g., when you are recovering from a crash) a
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39 warning is given and another extension is used, ".swo", ".swn", etc.
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40 - An existing file will never be overwritten.
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41 - The swap file is deleted as soon as Vim stops editing the file.
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42
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43 Technical: The replacement of '.' with '_' is done to avoid problems with
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44 MS-DOS compatible filesystems (e.g., crossdos, multidos). If Vim
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45 is able to detect that the file is on an MS-DOS-like filesystem, a
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46 flag is set that has the same effect as the 'shortname' option.
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47 This flag is reset when you start editing another file.
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48 *E326*
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49 If the ".swp" file name already exists, the last character is
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50 decremented until there is no file with that name or ".saa" is
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51 reached. In the last case, no swap file is created.
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52
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53 By setting the 'directory' option you can place the swap file in another place
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54 than where the edited file is.
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55 Advantages:
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56 - You will not pollute the directories with ".swp" files.
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57 - When the 'directory' is on another partition, reduce the risk of damaging
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58 the file system where the file is (in a crash).
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59 Disadvantages:
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60 - You can get name collisions from files with the same name but in different
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61 directories (although Vim tries to avoid that by comparing the path name).
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62 This will result in bogus ATTENTION warning messages.
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63 - When you use your home directory, and somebody else tries to edit the same
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64 file, he will not see your swap file and will not get the ATTENTION warning
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65 message.
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66 On the Amiga you can also use a recoverable ram disk, but there is no 100%
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67 guarantee that this works. Putting swap files in a normal ram disk (like RAM:
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68 on the Amiga) or in a place that is cleared when rebooting (like /tmp on Unix)
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69 makes no sense, you will lose the swap file in a crash.
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70
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71 If you want to put swap files in a fixed place, put a command resembling the
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72 following ones in your .vimrc:
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73 :set dir=dh2:tmp (for Amiga)
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74 :set dir=~/tmp (for Unix)
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75 :set dir=c:\\tmp (for MS-DOS and Win32)
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76 This is also very handy when editing files on floppy. Of course you will have
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77 to create that "tmp" directory for this to work!
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78
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79 For read-only files, a swap file is not used. Unless the file is big, causing
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80 the amount of memory used to be higher than given with 'maxmem' or
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81 'maxmemtot'. And when making a change to a read-only file, the swap file is
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82 created anyway.
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83
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84 The 'swapfile' option can be reset to avoid creating a swapfile.
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85
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86
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87 Detecting an existing swap file ~
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88
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89 You can find this in the user manual, section |11.3|.
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90
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91
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92 Updating the swapfile ~
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93
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94 The swap file is updated after typing 200 characters or when you have not
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95 typed anything for four seconds. This only happens if the buffer was
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96 changed, not when you only moved around. The reason why it is not kept up to
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97 date all the time is that this would slow down normal work too much. You can
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98 change the 200 character count with the 'updatecount' option. You can set
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99 the time with the 'updatetime' option. The time is given in milliseconds.
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100 After writing to the swap file Vim syncs the file to disk. This takes some
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101 time, especially on busy Unix systems. If you don't want this you can set the
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102 'swapsync' option to an empty string. The risk of losing work becomes bigger
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103 though. On some non-Unix systems (MS-DOS, Amiga) the swap file won't be
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104 written at all.
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105
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106 If the writing to the swap file is not wanted, it can be switched off by
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107 setting the 'updatecount' option to 0. The same is done when starting Vim
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108 with the "-n" option. Writing can be switched back on by setting the
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109 'updatecount' option to non-zero. Swap files will be created for all buffers
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110 when doing this. But when setting 'updatecount' to zero, the existing swap
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111 files will not be removed, it will only affect files that will be opened
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112 after this.
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113
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114 If you want to make sure that your changes are in the swap file use this
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115 command:
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116
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117 *:pre* *:preserve* *E313* *E314*
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118 :pre[serve] Write all text for all buffers into swap file. The
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119 original file is no longer needed for recovery.
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120 This sets a flag in the current buffer. When the '&'
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121 flag is present in 'cpoptions' the swap file will not
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122 be deleted for this buffer when Vim exits and the
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123 buffer is still loaded |cpo-&|.
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124 {Vi: might also exit}
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125
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126 A Vim swap file can be recognized by the first six characters: "b0VIM ".
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127 After that comes the version number, e.g., "3.0".
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128
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129
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130 Links and symbolic links ~
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131
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132 On Unix it is possible to have two names for the same file. This can be done
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133 with hard links and with symbolic links (symlinks).
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134
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135 For hard links Vim does not know the other name of the file. Therefore, the
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136 name of the swapfile will be based on the name you used to edit the file.
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137 There is no check for editing the same file by the other name too, because Vim
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138 cannot find the other swapfile (except for searching all of your harddisk,
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139 which would be very slow).
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140
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141 For symbolic links Vim resolves the links to find the name of the actual file.
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142 The swap file name is based on that name. Thus it doesn't matter by what name
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143 you edit the file, the swap file name will normally be the same. However,
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144 there are exceptions:
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145 - When the directory of the actual file is not writable the swapfile is put
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146 elsewhere.
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147 - When the symbolic links somehow create a loop you get an *E773* error
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148 message and the unmodified file name will be used. You won't be able to
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149 save your file normally.
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150
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151 ==============================================================================
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152 2. Recovery *recovery* *E308* *E311*
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153
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154 Basic file recovery is explained in the user manual: |usr_11.txt|.
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155
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156 Another way to do recovery is to start Vim and use the ":recover" command.
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157 This is easy when you start Vim to edit a file and you get the "ATTENTION:
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158 Found a swap file ..." message. In this case the single command ":recover"
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159 will do the work. You can also give the name of the file or the swap file to
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160 the recover command:
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161 *:rec* *:recover* *E305* *E306* *E307*
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162 :rec[over] [file] Try to recover [file] from the swap file. If [file]
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163 is not given use the file name for the current
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164 buffer. The current contents of the buffer are lost.
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165 This command fails if the buffer was modified.
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166
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167 :rec[over]! [file] Like ":recover", but any changes in the current
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168 buffer are lost.
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169
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170 *E312* *E309* *E310*
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171 Vim has some intelligence about what to do if the swap file is corrupt in
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172 some way. If Vim has doubt about what it found, it will give an error
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173 message and insert lines with "???" in the text. If you see an error message
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174 while recovering, search in the file for "???" to see what is wrong. You may
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175 want to cut and paste to get the text you need.
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176
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177 The most common remark is "???LINES MISSING". This means that Vim cannot read
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178 the text from the original file. This can happen if the system crashed and
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179 parts of the original file were not written to disk.
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180
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181 Be sure that the recovery was successful before overwriting the original
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182 file or deleting the swap file. It is good practice to write the recovered
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183 file elsewhere and run 'diff' to find out if the changes you want are in the
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184 recovered file.
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185
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186 Once you are sure the recovery is ok delete the swap file. Otherwise, you
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187 will continue to get warning messages that the ".swp" file already exists.
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188
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189 {Vi: recovers in another way and sends mail if there is something to recover}
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190
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191 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:
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