# Vim documentation: recover

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    *recover.txt*	For Vim version 9.2.  Last change: 2026 Feb 14

    		  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*

    Or you can use the |swapname()| function, which also allows for seeing the
    swap file name of other buffers.

    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-Windows 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, that user will not see your swap file and will not get the ATTENTION
      warning 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 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.  And the
    |:noswapfile| modifier can be used to not create a swapfile for a new buffer.

    :nos[wapfile]   {command}			*:nos* *:noswapfile*
    		Execute {command}.  If it contains a command that loads a new
    		buffer, it will be loaded without creating a swapfile and the
    		'swapfile' option will be reset.  If a buffer already had a
    		swapfile it is not removed and 'swapfile' is not reset.

    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-Windows, 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 the current buffer into its swap
    			file.  The original file is no longer needed for
    			recovery.  This sets a flag in the current buffer.
    			When the '&' flag is present in 'cpoptions' the swap
    			file will not be deleted for this buffer when Vim
    			exits and the buffer is still loaded |cpo-&|.

    A Vim swap file can be recognized by the first six characters: "b0VIM ".
    After that comes the version number, e.g., "3.0".

    Links and symbolic links

    On Unix it is possible to have two names for the same file.  This can be done
    with hard links and with symbolic links (symlinks).

    For hard links Vim does not know the other name of the file.  Therefore, the
    name of the swapfile will be based on the name you used to edit the file.
    There is no check for editing the same file by the other name too, because Vim
    cannot find the other swapfile (except for searching all of your harddisk,
    which would be very slow).

    For symbolic links Vim resolves the links to find the name of the actual file.
    The swap file name is based on that name.  Thus it doesn't matter by what name
    you edit the file, the swap file name will normally be the same.  However,
    there are exceptions:
    - When the directory of the actual file is not writable the swapfile is put
      elsewhere.

    - When the symbolic links somehow create a loop you get an *E773* error
      message and the unmodified file name will be used.  You won't be able to
      save your file normally.

    ==============================================================================

    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* *E1364*
    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.  Or use |:DiffOrig|.

    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.

    Note: Recovering swap files is best-effort.  Vim attempts to validate fields
    and skip corrupted sections, but the swap file format is intended for files
    you trust.  A crafted swap file may trigger parser bugs; such reports are
    treated as robustness issues rather than security vulnerabilities.

    ENCRYPTION AND THE SWAP FILE				*:recover-crypt*

    When the text file is encrypted the swap file is encrypted as well.  This
    makes recovery a bit more complicated.  When recovering from a swap file and
    encryption has been used, you will be asked to enter one or two crypt keys.

    If the text file does not exist you will only be asked to enter the crypt key
    for the swap file.

    If the text file does exist, it may be encrypted in a different way than the
    swap file.  You will be asked for the crypt key twice:

    	Need encryption key for "/tmp/tt"
    	Enter encryption key: ******
    	"/tmp/tt" [crypted] 23200L, 522129C
    	Using swap file "/tmp/.tt.swp"
    	Original file "/tmp/tt"
    	Swap file is encrypted: "/tmp/.tt.swp"
    	If you entered a new crypt key but did not write the text file,
    	enter the new crypt key.
    	If you wrote the text file after changing the crypt key press enter
    	to use the same key for text file and swap file
    	Enter encryption key:

    You can be in one of these two situations:

    1. The encryption key was not changed, or after changing the key the text file
       was written.  You will be prompted for the crypt key twice.  The second
       time you can simply press Enter.  That means the same key is used for the
       text file and the swap file.
    2. You entered a new encryption key, but did not save the text file.  Vim will
       then use the new key for the swap file, and the text file will still be
       encrypted with the old key.  At the second prompt enter the new key.

    Note that after recovery the key of the swap file will be used for the text
    file.  Thus if you write the text file, you need to use that new key.

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