Re: Backup Directory

On So, 08 Mär 2026, Christopher wrote:

> Putting it in quotes, causes vim to fire an error; although nothing is being written ?

... and the error is what? You may want to share what exactly you put
into your .vimrc.

Also please let me remind you of the list etiquette:

> Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to.

Thanks,
Chris
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Re: Backup Directory

From the backup help page (https://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/editing.html#backup)

"After the file has been successfully written and when the 'writebackup' option is on and the 'backup' option is off, the backup file is deleted. "

This is the default setting (as indicated in the backup help page). So you might not see the backup file.

Also as Christian Brabandt wrote, you can not have double quotes around (or at the beginning) of an option/settings statement (set backupdir=/etc/.backup), otherwise this will be treated as a commented out line.

Please share the error messages you get, and your .vimrc file that you are using.

Regards

On Mon, Mar 9, 2026 at 5:41 AM Lang Hurst <grakker@gmail.com> wrote:

Are you getting backup in your /home/you/vim/backup by default?
Could you attach your .vimrc?


On 26/03/08 02:27PM, Christopher wrote:
> Putting it in quotes, causes vim to fire an error; although nothing is
> being written ?
>
> On Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 4:51:37 PM UTC-4 Christian Brabandt wrote:
>
> >
> > On So, 08 Mär 2026, Christopher wrote:
> >
> > > "set backupdir=/etc/.backup
> >
> > And you have the double quote at the beginning? That is actually a
> > comment character. And you most likely do not want your backups to go
> > into /etc, unless that directory is specifically being set to allow you
> > to write into it. And finally, please I guess you also want :set backup
> > See :h backup-table
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Christian
> > --
> > All my friends and I are crazy. That's the only thing that keeps us sane.
> >
>
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Re: Backup Directory

Are you getting backup in your /home/you/vim/backup by default?
Could you attach your .vimrc?


On 26/03/08 02:27PM, Christopher wrote:
> Putting it in quotes, causes vim to fire an error; although nothing is
> being written ?
>
> On Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 4:51:37 PM UTC-4 Christian Brabandt wrote:
>
> >
> > On So, 08 Mär 2026, Christopher wrote:
> >
> > > "set backupdir=/etc/.backup
> >
> > And you have the double quote at the beginning? That is actually a
> > comment character. And you most likely do not want your backups to go
> > into /etc, unless that directory is specifically being set to allow you
> > to write into it. And finally, please I guess you also want :set backup
> > See :h backup-table
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Christian
> > --
> > All my friends and I are crazy. That's the only thing that keeps us sane.
> >
>
> --
> --
> You received this message from the "vim_use" maillist.
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Re: Backup Directory

Putting it in quotes, causes vim to fire an error; although nothing is being written ?

On Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 4:51:37 PM UTC-4 Christian Brabandt wrote:

On So, 08 Mär 2026, Christopher wrote:

> "set backupdir=/etc/.backup

And you have the double quote at the beginning? That is actually a
comment character. And you most likely do not want your backups to go
into /etc, unless that directory is specifically being set to allow you
to write into it. And finally, please I guess you also want :set backup
See :h backup-table


Thanks,
Christian
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Re: Backup Directory

On So, 08 Mär 2026, Christopher wrote:

> "set backupdir=/etc/.backup

And you have the double quote at the beginning? That is actually a
comment character. And you most likely do not want your backups to go
into /etc, unless that directory is specifically being set to allow you
to write into it. And finally, please I guess you also want :set backup
See :h backup-table


Thanks,
Christian
--
All my friends and I are crazy. That's the only thing that keeps us sane.

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Re: Backup Directory

This is what it states in the documentation

On Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 11:00:41 AM UTC-4 Riza Dindir wrote:

Please check your settings if you have enabled backups (and set the directory (backupdir) correctly. I am not sure, but you might set the permissions in the parent directories too.

Please also read the help files (:help backup). You must set backup and writebackup settings according to your needs. There is a table in the help (:help backup) that will tell you how to set these two settings.

Regards

On Sun, Mar 8, 2026 at 4:00 PM Christopher <crestchr...@gmail.com> wrote:

I understand the permissions issues. How should it backup to begin with, as I mentioned to someone else. I've started Vim and decided to write and then saved with a file name. I then exited Vim and there was no file in the .backup folder ?

On Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 1:00:45 AM UTC-5 jr wrote:

hi,

On Sun, 8 Mar 2026 at 03:28, Riza Dindir <riza....@gmail.com> wrote:
> As Eric Marceau pointed out, the double forward slash (//) in the path ("backupdir"=//etc/.backup) might be a problem.
>
> Also the double quotes in "backupdir"=//etc/.backup might be a problem. I would use "set backupdir=/etc/.backup" (without the double quotes) in the ~/.vimrc file or wherever your rc file is. I have something similar in my settings file: "set bakupdir=/tmp" (without the double quotes).
>
> The other thing might be that you have to create the /etc/.backup directory, and you might need write permissions to that directory. It is odd to use the /etc directory for this IMHO. It might be a good idea to move this to the home folder of your choosing (as Badli al Rashid has suggested). This can be something like ~/tmp/.backup or something else...

just to add, conventionally '/etc' is a system directory and a
non-root user would be permitted to read, not write.

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Re: Backup Directory

"set backupdir=/etc/.backup

On Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 3:15:17 PM UTC-4 Christian Brabandt wrote:

> I tried your suggestion but I don't see any files in the .backup
> folder ?

Let me repeat:

> Please show what exactly you set

Thanks,
Christian
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